By Lewis Mallory
1984 Hamlyn
Paperback, 157 pages
This one isn’t terrible, but it
feels kind of like a contractual obligation book. The story, such as it is,
just meanders along until its somewhat predictable conclusion. There is no
passion in the storytelling. Maybe Mallory mailed it in or maybe this is just
how he writes: it is the first novel of his that I have read. The book moves
quickly enough and there are some excellent set-pieces but many of the settings
and characters are paper-thin. But then, I don’t ask for much, so I read on.
The book is about Gideon, a
young brat who wants to be left alone, wants things his way, and has the power
to make it happen. After torching his parents’ house with them in it, he winds
up in a hospital ward, locked away from his sister. She is the only person he
has any kind of need for and having survived the fire, she is the key to getting
him out. But it won’t be easy as he is fucking weird, and everybody sees it. He
remains silent when doctors (or anyone) ask him anything.
Gideon has the power to take a
person’s most intimate fear and turn it on them. Policeman Cooper is attacked
by spiders, Nurse Simpson has a run-in with a pack of dogs, his sister’s
boyfriend Phil was besieged by rats… or was it all in their heads? At any rate,
their fear killed them, and nobody knew it was Gideon’s fault except Phil, who
survived the rodent rage. Can he make Gideon’s sister see the light before he
destroys her, too?
As mentioned above, there are
some good set-pieces, such as when Gideon drives his hospital roommate over the
edge, and he cuts his own throat with a broken window. The animal attacks are
fun: they are the reason I bought the book in the first place. So, while
overall the writing seems kind of lazy, it’s still a quick, short novel that
delivers the goods as long as you’re not looking for anything too deep. As per
usual, Hamlyn gave this a corker of a cover!
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