Initially, I wasn't going to post anything about this book on my blog, but then I was like, meh. Let's talk about it. As most people know, I'm into horror, but that comes with a caveat: I do not care for gore or torture. To me, that is not scary it's gross. So you won't catch me talking about 'Hostel' or 'Saw' or anything where you're chopping off toes or anything like that. Gross. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, in that I liked Texas Chainsaw Massacre and there were gratuitous amounts of violence in that, but I digress.
I'm talking about Security by Gina Wohlsdorf. Basically, you have this swank hotel called Manderley with the highest of the high tech security systems and a day before its lavish opening, all of the people working inside are getting systematically and graphically murdered, all the while the person narrating this is some unnamed person. There's a love story thrown in, there's some sex. There's all the makings of a decent B-Horror movie in book form.
Anyway, I got to thinking about this book and while, overall, I was disappointed in the character development and the sections of rambling introspectiveness by some unidentified narrator, as a slasher book, this was good and inventive. When you get right down to it, you don't really get any concrete answers from the killers as to who they are or why. They just murder. That also made me think, do we ever really know why someone kills? Do we ever really understand a motive? Not really. They just do. Something just snapped and they just decided that killing people was the best way to handle their angst.
So, the underdeveloped characters irritated me because they were whiny. I really wanted to feel for Tessa and Brian, the main characters, I really, really wanted to, but like, shut up. That's all I kept coming back to. Just shut up. I guess part of my feeling is, if you're going to give me a slasher book, don't throw in some love story tripe and hope it pushes the story line. It didn't. They were flat and uninteresting. It was a little like the author tried so hard to push the girl as some strong, independent, workaholic, take no prisoners kind of woman and the guy was some over-emoting, knight in shining armor, desperate, albeit smart, dude. The author kind of tried too hard to reverse your typical horror stereotype of girl needs saving by the smart strapping guy and it felt too forced.
Now, having said that, there were things I really did enjoy. I really like the movies/books where you're seeing the story from the perspective of someone and you don't know who they are or what they role play. Plus, the unnamed narrator was funny. A little comedy in your gross. Win, win. I also liked the juxtaposition of graphic violence and graphic sex, showing how the two can very closely mirror the other. I hear collective giggling, but we're all adults here. It's true. Violence knows no bounds and in some ways, neither does sex. Violence, love, and sex are some of the things in life that transcend all barriers. You can experience them regardless of sexuality, race, social standing, religion, etc.
And in some ways, you can experience them because of those things.
Anyway, I'm rambling. In short, if you're looking for something earth shattering and thoughtful, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a good slasher book, I recommend this for sure, especially with Halloween on the horizon.
Enjoy your stay at Manderley...
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