A review by chloseencounter
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Night of the Mannequins was one of the shortest stories on my TBR so I decided to throw it in to my Halloween reads and this was probably the worst book I’ve read in awhile. I actually really wanted to DNF it but I hate to do that especially to a novel that’s only roughly 140 pages, so I stuck it out and it was all pretty lackluster. 

The description of the book sounds so fun and interesting, I think this could have been a fun teen romp slasher style
but truthfully it was only a psychotic boy’s ramblings. I disliked the main character so much that just having him narrate the book was sort of irritating. Also for a book seemingly advertised as a slasher, every kill was the exact same which isn’t very interesting or fun. I feel like if you’re gonna do it, take it all the way and make it way more gory and ridiculous. If the author did that, I think this could’ve been more enjoyable but mostly it was just boring and for such a short novel, felt repetitive.
 

I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you’re super desperate for a short story, it was mostly unexciting and unremarkable. 
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