Laughing Man [Mass Market Paperback]

T. M. Wright (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Jack Erthmun, 37, is a preternaturally good NYPD homicide detective and a weird man. Unmarried, asocial, humorless, he has a habit of, unless he monitors himself, echoing the last words said to him. He doesn't dream but sleeps like a lump of earth, naked, under a mound of blankets with the heat set so high his upstairs neighbor hates him. Fortunately for his work, he seems not to mind odors that sicken his detective partner, Patricia David. As the pair investigates a series of cannibalistic murders, however, he starts to change. He dreams of his early childhood in the foothills of the Adirondacks, and he makes up jokes. Wright stresses the importance of Jack's origins by frequent visits to their locale in the present as well as flashbacks to Jack's toddlerhood. Meanwhile, the murders continue, committed by perps of both genders. The women, all drop-dead gorgeous, prefer to attack nude, and all the culprits attack so fast that they seem to de- and re-materialize. Jack can move awfully fast, too, Patricia discovers. Wright is justly known as a master of quiet horror, conjuring unforgettably creepy atmospheres without indulging in much mayhem (see The School, 1990). That he can quietly creep you out and deluge you with blood is brilliantly demonstrated by this unsettling yarn, which refuses to answer its mysteries (e.g., what laughing man?). Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843950846
• ISBN-13: 978-0843950847
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,129,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book by its cover!, March 23, 2003

By 

"urthfireair" (St. Louis Park, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laughing Man (Mass Market Paperback)

Some 'horror' authors just want to build suspense and scare you, which is fine because that's all many of us ask. However, there are a few authors that have a little extra going for them. T.M. Wright is one of the latter.

Jack Erthmun is a New York homicide detective with an odd way of gathering information at crime scenes - he gets it by reading the corpse, a sort of bonding with the deceased. His partner thinks he's crazy, and finally he is taken off a troublesome serial murder case due to his escalating bizarreness. For a while he is even a suspect.

Flashbacks to Jack's childhood help reveal some of what's going on. We meet his angry father, his haunted mother, his sisters...and the creatures in the woods. But even at book's end, not everything is clearly explained, which may frustrate some people, although it shouldn't. Some things cannot be explained, or are better left to the imagination, making this novel ideal for contemplation and discussion.

There is much pain and violence in LAUGHING MAN, but it's a book with a beating heart, and it bestows upon the reader flashes of insight into the human condition. Not bad for a 'horror' novel.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some people don't seem to realize...., February 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Laughing Man (Mass Market Paperback)

"Laughing Man" is the fifth in Mr. Wright's "Strange Seed" ("children of the earth") series, begun, of course, with "Strange Seed" (1978, Everest House, then pb by Playboy and TOR Books), and followed by "Nursery Tale," "The Children of the Island," and "The People of the Dark." Those who haven't read at least one of these books won't completely understand "Laughing Man." I've read all of them and I found "Laughing Man" quite absorbing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Never Sure What Point Was Being Made, March 8, 2006

By 

BamaGeo "George H." (Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laughing Man (Mass Market Paperback)

I pride myself in finishing what I start. Reading this book was one of those times where I had to put in an "effort" to finish what I began. The writing was good, but too often nonsensical. To those who say "but it's part of a series," I say, why didn't the publisher note this on the cover. I realize the answer is few people will first buy and read the fifth book in a series without reading the first. That is why I would have chosen to know it was part of a series. The entire time I read about Jack Erthmun, the echoing detective, I felt as though I had missed something. Horrific murders, half eaten corpses with their mouths full of chocalate, beautiful nude murderesses, a haunted small cabin in the country.....were all interesting in and of themselves, but there was no narrative flow and this kept me from "getting into" the book. It almost seemed as though I was reading a book of short stories with no common theme. Maybe Mr. Wright could set me straight and explain what the point was.