Customer Reviews

Scissors

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ray Garton's "Scissors" is a highly original tale deeply rooted in a very human fear: that of psychosis, of losing one's hold on reality. In a work that is in turns emotional, disturbing and bittersweet, Garton proves once again that the most effective horror - the kind that resonates - comes not from without but within, from the darkened corners of our own hearts and minds.

Lingering discontent defines Stuart Mullond's existence. Raised in a religious family with a skewed definition of "truth", dismissed as unimportant in school and now trapped in an uninspiring job, depression dogs his heels. He's found a measure of happiness with new girlfriend Amelia but is reminded often of his ex-wife's hurtful infidelity - especially since his ex Molly and Amelia have become friends, something that irritates him endlessly. Pestered by his widowed mother, ineffectual at work and alarmed by the growing distance between him and his son James, Stuart grapples with a crushing sense of defeat.

Worse, he can't forget a traumatic, childhood medical procedure. Nightmares of what Dr. Ferguson did fills his nights; the metallic snick-snick of his scissors ringing around every corner. Soon Stuart's nightmares become flesh, and he sees Dr. Ferguson everywhere. Is he dreaming? Hallucinating? Or has the good doctor returned to practice his twisted medicine on Stuart's son, James? What will Stuart do to protect his family from those awful, cutting scissors?

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this work is Garton's deep, sympathetic characters. Though he paints them very realistically with all too human faults, by the novel's end it's hard to find anyone to blame. There are no easy answers, here; just the echoing reminder that life is hard, cruel, and unfair...and that sacrifice is too often required to survive it. Also: things are never what they seem.

Stuart Mullond seems like your normal, average, everyday guy. He's got a job he hates, an ex-wife he hates, a new girlfriend, and a son who ignores him. Stuart also happens to be paranoid and slightly delusional.

As a child, Stuart's overly religious mother aided in putting him through an operation done by Dr. Furgeson. This operation traumatized him so badly that he now believes the doctor has come back to do the same thing to his son.

Stuart begins seeing the doctor everywhere he goes and each sighting is accompanied by the snick-snick of scissors. Does this mean Stuart is crazy or is the nasty doctor really coming for his son?

Scissors is a fast-paced adrenaline rush that takes over and doesn't let go until the very end. With each chapter, you begin to feel as though your spiraling out of control right along with Stuart. And when you finally do discover what's really going on, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

Scissors is definitely one to read if you like your horror dipped in insanity and sprinkled with a healthy dose of love, loss, and the power of human nature.

Stuart Mullond is paranoid, depressed, and dangerous - more dangerous than anyone, even he himself - realizes. Stuart is an artist for a greeting card company counting the days until he loses his job after a disastrous marketing campaign. He's divorced, with a nasty ex-wife and a thirteen year old son who is falling in with the wrong crowd, and an overbearing church-lady mother. The only bright spot in his life is his girlfriend Amelia.

'Scissors' starts out with a bang - a flashback/dream of young Stuart undergoing a horrific surgical procedure as a young child, carried out by a sinister doctor named Furgeson. When Stuart wakes up, it is to find Furgeson watching Stuart from his own backyard. Who is Doctor Furgeson? What does he want?

As you read farther into the book, you find out that nothing is quite as it had seemed on the surface. False memories - and deliberately falsified memories - play a large role in the dysfunctional Mullond family. 'Scissors' is a morbid examination of a man's descent into madness, but at the same time it is also a touching look at the bonds between father and son and man and woman. The novel has plot echoes from a couple of different sources, including 'The Shining' and, believe it or not, the mid-1980s Alan Moore run on the comic book 'Swamp Thing', which is strangely appropriate as is revealed later in the novel when the mysterious Owl-Man is introduced.

A worthy, scary, and excellent addition to Ray Garton's body of work.

I started this book with an open mind, ready for Ray Garton to impress me. However, like most of the other books I've read by him - "The Loveliest Dead" and "Night Life" - I was fairly underwhelmed. Garton's "Live Girls" is the only one above average that has kept me coming back.

Besides not liking any of the characters in "Scissors", I felt a lot of the dialogue was unnecessary and repetitive, not adding to the characters or the story. Many passages seemed almost like filler, as if the word count of the first draft wasn't long enough and Garton had to go back and beef it up. The first hundred and fifty pages mainly consisted of the problems that occur when raising an adolescent who has just entered his teenage years, lots of bickering and arguing back and forth. Sure, it had a few pages of seemingly paranoid delusions from the father to meet the minimum horror criteria, but nothing even close to actual scares.

Garton's apparent hatred of organized religions seemed very exaggerated. I can only assume he had a bad experience growing up and now takes his anger out through his writing. Fortunately, I grew up going to church all the time and had very pleasant, fond memories with church friends, the youth group, etc. The reason I mention this, is that Garton does a disservice to his writing because it distracts from the story. He spends page after page of near ranting about the church, apparently forgetting he is supposed to be writing a horror novel.

Fortunately, at the halfway point in the book, during a character's visit to a nursing home, Garton finally goes to work and comes on strong. It is here where we begin a very creepy, fairly scary tale. I understand what Garton is trying to do by setting up the first half, but I feel it could have been edited down considerably and still had the same, if not stronger, effect. Without giving away spoilers, the concept Garton explores is a lot of fun, if a little odd, and for me, ultimately, saves the book. So while the first half gets 2 stars and the second half 4 stars, my final average is a solid 3. I must give Kudos to Garton for being able to pull this off, because just before the halfway point, I was about to stop reading. But in the end, I'm glad I stuck with it.

Kept me guessing from the start. Through much of the book I wasn't sure whether there were supernatural elements at work or whether the main character was sinking into insanity. Very original.