I love an unreliable narrator and Sawyer ranks amongst the best fiction has to offer, mixing with Frank (my all-time favourite) from The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks), Alex from A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) and Tyler Durden from Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk). Hell, I was so engrossed I felt I was sitting in the same room as the teenager casually dropped his bombs. Night of the Mannequins features a classic unreliable narrator, Sawyer Grimes, who completely steals the show with the unburdening of his bizarre tale. It also had a strong whiff of YA and older teenagers may find much to enjoy, equally so with his excellent werewolf novel Mongrels. Rest assured, this beautifully constructed novella is incredibly dark, very funny, slightly twisted and arguably an upside down coming-of-age tale. It is hard to say much about the plot without spilling spoilers, so I will be relatively cryptic and refer to certain proceedings out of context. Stephen Graham Jones has written some terrific short stories and novellas, with Night of the Mannequins sitting comfortably alongside his best work.
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