Customer Reviews

Toyer

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I don't spend much time with thrillers, but reading Gardner McKay's Toyer was time well spent. Some readers will object to his obvious blending of conventional narrative and playwriting techniques, but it worked for me. In fact, more novelists should study dramatic writing with an eye to getting rid of tedious description which serves no end. His playwriting backround is particularly noticeable in the handling of dialogue. Note, for example, the very sparing use of 'he said', 'she said'. It's not necessary.

The story is consuming. Once I picked it up I was hooked. Nothing else was read until I finished. As for believability... believable enough. That's what good fiction writing is after all -- the suspension of disbelief.

It's rare to find a thriller that isn't badly written, despite a strong story, or pretentious and badly written. Toyer is that rare find.

Not a book is not for the faint of heart, 'Toyer' is both poetry and, (I think any way), deep satire all wrapped up in a relentless psycho/sexual tale that is going to scare your pants off. Be warned, this is old school, dark side stuff where no concessions are made to the current batch of thought police. Some women will be critical because most of the violence is visited upon female characters (although the heroes are female too and, except for Toyer himself, the men are pretty uniformly lightweight). Moreover, everyone is liable to face some squirmy questions about themselves by the time the book has run it's course. The poetry is mostly about Los Angeles with it's gutters full or oranges and furry tennis balls and so on, and is a very nice bonus you don't get with most books in the genre. You won't have to feel guilty about reading trashy thrillers with this one, it is exquisitely written. Anyway, not to worry about the poetry; nothing long or heavy, but resonating in it's cumulative effects. The man knows LA and he has got it down here. As to satire, someone said with really good satire you can't really tell if it is or not which I guess is true here. Well, maybe it's not satire. See what I mean? Anyway, as far as I can see our culture is so over the top now that real satire is virtually impossible. Take a walk down any street in America and tell me I'm wrong.

As to the gruesome operative (no pun) facts of the story, as if their dramatic value were not enough, we are presented with the standard proposition that the enemy is really us, demanding and lapping up the gory details the way we do. And, the usual corrollary is trotted out too, that it's all the big manipulative institutions that are doing it to us. A drooling, uneducatated herd being driven by greedy, unscrupulous shepherds. Well, it's not an important part of the book and we are so used to it it's not really distracting. Besides, where would we be without these literary 'blankies' for security?

As mentioned in other reviews, the serial "killer" here doesn't kill, he "maims"(...to say the least). He puts his victims into a hopless, deep coma forever. Healthy beautiful vegetables. It wasn't entirely clear to me whether any of the Toyer victims have any sense or understanding of what is going on around them, (maybe because no one knows), only that to outward appearances they are unreachable and insentient. If they are, if they do hear, if they do have their wits and can see the flies on the ceiling and so forth but can't communicate in any way, well, I guess that is my idea of real horror. 60 or 70 years of that would be a long stretch of bad road.

I should say, before I give my wholehearted recommendation to this book for anyone who wants a first rate non-stop read and a good dose of adrenalin, that although I only knew vaguely that he was writing a book, I have known Gardner McKay for a number of years. He is quite a remarkable man of considerable accomplishments in a number of fields, and with this book I would have to say, if it wasn't already, his future is assured. I have heard his readings for Public Radio of his stories, and if he is doing his own narration for the audio version of the book, that ought to be a real treat too.

In three years I've not picked up a novel that kept me interested past the first few pages. But that changed with TOYER! Actor turned author, Gardner McKay (Adventures in Paradise) has a great style--concise, crisp, provocative. He withholds and surprises with every chapter. And what an intriging, inventive character/plot he has created. I've told five friends about this book. What a thrill to get back to pleasure reading, that is scary, intense, sexy and frightening, all at once.

I can't believe that this book has so many readers "enthralled" and up all night. I really didn't like this book and reading it was a chore. If you want to read a really good thriller check out "Messiah" by Boris Starling. Now that's a good read!

A mediocre story, poorly written and horribly read (by the author).The monotone of the reader is so bad that it takes a while to realize the shortcomings of the actual story. The characters are one-dimensional, and the items that might make them more interesting are only hinted at, never explored. There are far more well-written thrillers out there. Take the time to find one of them, and leave Toyer on the shelf.

I think that this book was beautifully written, and deserves ever single star it gets. I picked it up, and I had it finished in 2 days. I'll admit, at first I thought it was slow, but then once I got into the plot,I felt like I was a part of it. Every chance I got to read, my nose was buried in it. I couldnt put it down. Bravo to McKay. I think a sequel would be ideal. It was a very believable story, with great characters. McKay involves the reader. Very high sexual content, very sexy. Very good imagery, one feels like they're a part of the story. Recommended to anyone who loves psycho-thrillers.

Don't plan on getting anything else done until you've finished this book! I picked it up on Saturday afternoon and read the last page on Sunday night! Here it is 2 days later and I'm still thinking about it...loved the ending...did she or didn't she? I truly enjoyed McKay's "screenwriting" style because it's short and to the point without a lot of descriptive prose. This book is for the intelligent reader who loves crisp dialogue, a believable plot and villan and lots of surprises along the way. I loved the cat - he added great visuals to the Maude scenes. This book is sexy and horrifying at the same time. Bravo, Garner!

This book was written like it was a play. The story was not "real" at all. Maude, she was smart and then so dumb. The best part of the book is the last chapter, because you want to find out what is going to happen to Toyer. Telen, how can you fall in love with your X-lovers friend so quickly?? The books was just not believable.

The concept of the book is great: a serial killer who doesn't actually kill, but renders his victims permanently incapacitated. Wonderful!

But then the author populates it with unbelievable characters making stupid decisions that aren't based in reality. He pushes style over substance, and his style is amazingly irritating: he likes run-on sentences, he doesn't believe in conjunctions, he appreciates commas, he does this sort of thing a lot, the words are more important than how they're written, I hate this technique, I'm using it to show how annoying it can be.

The main problem, though, is that the book is so unbelievably pretentious. McKay likes to casually drop in terms such as "Javanese shadow puppets" into his narration -- because, of COURSE everyone knows Javanese shadow puppets and how they differ from any OTHER culture's shadow puppets, right? McKay is clearly aspiring to take the junky serial-killer novel and elevate it to literature, but he forgets the first rule of literature: show, don't tell. He TELLS us that the killer is scary and sexy and twisted, but he forgets to take the time to flesh this out.

Bottom line: the characters are inconsistent, the plot relies on people making stupid choices and REMARKABLY unrealistic police/medical work, and the style is downright painful. I've never written a review for Amazon before, and I chose to do so for this just to beg you to not waste your time on this book. It gets one star because I can't give it zero.

I am a long time fan of Gardner McKay the author, I met him when he performed a play back in the early 1960's when I was a teenager. This story scared me so much I was afraid to even reply but I enjoyed the book very much. It is beautifully written and so real. The characters are very believable and seem to come alive on the written page. I want to read more of the author's books, anything he has written or performed. I have been writing all my life and wrote the last chapter of a murder mystery. The main character of the book sort of reminds me of the character in my book, but more intense and frighting. I hope this book becomes a movie.I'm am thrilled that Mr. Mckay has made such a success with his writings. Also the audio cassette is very dramatic and well performed. A must for all old time fans and new ones as well.