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Post by Vaughan on Oct 16, 2009 14:48:53 GMT
Hybrid just about describes hat this book is - it's a hybrid.
And to be perfectly honest, it's the structure of the thing that makes it most interesting, not the plot itself.
Think of this - there's a writer who has writer's block. Yet every morning he wakes up to find 30 pages of a new novel written. He has no memory of having written it. So who is doing it? And what's more, what are those strange shapes - like gorillas - moving in the shadows of his garden at night?
Even so, even that isn't too original. We've heard similar themes before. What makes this one a little different is that Hutson really does have another novel ready - and it's embedded INSIDE this one. The mysterious novel that is magically appearing on his desk is reprinted for us here - and you're going to have to read it as well. Kind of a two in one. And it's not even a horror novel, it's a spy novel about the IRA and some dude named "Doyle".
I kid you not, the majority of pages here are the IRA story, not the bookended mystery of who is writing it. And you can either get through that or not.
The IRA story was engaging enough for me, and I did get through. And there is a pay-off that is "okay" - but definitely NOT all that original.
I'm not sure how many of you would be willing to trawl through 458 pages of this though.
Not a bad read. A failure as a horror story - but an interesting bit of construction. No classic though.
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