![]() ![]() As the tooth fairy points out to Sam, "This is not a one-way thing, you know. All this seems to revolve around Sam's personal experiences, sexual awakenings and frustrations. This noxious and vulgar creature exhibits erratic moods, uses coarse language, changes from male to female and back again, and exploits the angst of a developing young man. ![]() ![]() Sam will learn that this will be a recurring event throughout his childhood and adolescent years. Seven-year-old Sam looses a tooth and is surprised by a visit from this androgynous being. Unfortunately, rather than peeking around corners and jumping at the slightest creak of the house or howl of the wind, I instead felt slightly revolted. In the mood for a wicked scare during one of my favorite months of the year, I thought this book was just the ticket. Such a hideous, chilling and unconventional description of a favorite childhood fantasy figure seemed like a great start to this very bizarre novel. The teeth were perfect, but, unless he was mistaken, they were sharpened to fine dagger points." A row of teeth glimmered in the faint moonbeams, a mouthful of blue light. Tangled elf-locks framed high cheek bones and a swarthy complexion. The eyes were set deep, each in a squint counterpoised to the other, lurking under a matted shock of black hair. Two dark eyes, shiny like the green-black carapace of a beetle, flashed at him. It barely illumined the intruder's face, but what Sam could see he didn't like. "Through a window a broken fingernail of moon was visible. This novel shows that horror fiction doesn’t not have to be high octane ‘gore splatter’ serial killing zombies but that it can be beautiful, compulsive, hilarious, tragic, magical and very, very funny …oh very, very rude! The novel is brilliantly structured, well characterised and entirely compelling and the elegant writing at times is almost prose with a whimsical and nostalgic tone. Without the supernatural element, the adolescent adventures of Sam and his friends would have made a brilliantly funny ‘rites of passage’ novel…all petty vandalism (though making pipe bombs in your Dad’s shed is hardly petty), growing pains and awakening sexuality. The author skilfully coveys the wild, unpredictable primeval nature of the Tooth Fairy. The Fairy is a character in its own right with its own moods and emotions, jealously, lust, spite, anger and touching moments of tenderness. The Tooth Fairy, whose appearance, mood and sex change constantly makes for a rather unpredictable, mercurial companion - sometimes protecting Sam other times tormenting him, bullying and threatening him and his family. Thus begins a strange, disturbing sometimes touching relationship with the Tooth Fairy as it dogs Sam’s footsteps through childhood and into adolescence. Tinkerbelle this Fairy is not …it is an angry, bitter and viscous looking creature from nightmare. He wakes up during the night and first lays eyes on the Tooth Fairy “oddly dressed and smelling of horse’s sweat and chamomile”. ![]() …Sam puts the tooth under his pillow at bedtime…as you do Sam, Clive and Terry are ordinary (ish) boys growing up in the 1960s until one day when Clive punches Sam in the mouth and knocks out a tooth. ‘You come away from the book feeling your perception of the world has been just been knock slightly askew away from what you previously thought to be normal’ Graham refuses to come down on one side or the other of the ideas he presents in his novel, it is all about ambiguity and uncertainty He likes to instill in the reader a feeling of lingering uneasiness …. What ever he is his stories are strange, magical and original and he fast becoming one of my favourite authors. He plays the role of Gordon Wick, the CEO of a government contractor, on the Netflix series, The Night Agent.Graham Joyce surely is one of the most underrated authors.is this possibly because he is so hard to market? Is he horror? Is he fantasy? Or possibly `social surrealism'.? Image Copyright © Kharen Hill, CBS Broadcasting Inc.īen Cotton is pictured as Shane Pierce in a publicity still from the CBS series, Harper’s Island. ![]()
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