Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
by Stephen Graham Jones
I love Stephen Graham Jones's writing style. It is conversational and youthful, and works well for the teenage main characters in Night of the Mannequins.
The story is about Sawyer and his three friends who attempt a prank on another friend at her job in a movie theater. Previously they had all gotten her into trouble and in order to pay off her debt, she (Shanna) has to work in a theater which her friends frequent.
The prank involves setting up a mannequin the group found earlier in the summer in a seat in the theater. But Sawyer sees the prank go awry when the mannequin fails to disturb the assistant manager, and actually gets up to walk out of the theater. Later that same week a tragedy befalls Shanna's family, and the group believes her to be dead. This leads Sawyer to conclude that the mannequin, Manny, is out to kill the friends because they decided not to "play" with him anymore, not to take him on adventures, or to involve him in their antics. Surely Manny will pick them off one by one, leaving Sawyer for last.
In order to prevent the families of his friends from falling victim to Manny, as he believes happened to Shanna's family, Sawyer decides to do the "right" thing, by killing off his friends. If Manny sees his friends are dead, he won't harm their families, right? This is Sawyer's logic. He almost succeeds in doing this, gets finished with the final kill, when a surprising guest shows up at the end, causing Sawyer to question his good deeds.
This was a great story. The writing was excellent and full of teenage bravado, impulsivity, sarcasm, and logic. Sawyer was believable and likeable, even though he was killing his friends. His relationship with his friends, his father, and the way he mocks his father's stories and isms was fun and felt true. Though the idea of a mannequin coming to life is farfetched, the mental gymnastics displayed by a teenager with a frontal cortex that's not fully formed made the story not only palpable, but believable. Stephen Graham Jones is becoming a new favorite write.
I give Night of the Mannequins 5 stars!
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