13 Jan / Reprieve by James Han Mattson [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
A multi-generational family home of horrors looms throughout James Han Mattson’s (The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves) spellbinding latest. Ever-versatile narrator JD Jackson chills and thrills, underscoring the slyly literary, intensifying the social commentary, enhancing the utterly gory.
John Forrester began his house of frights with dollar-store junk. He eventually built his “lucrative vision”: a full-contact escape challenge showcasing impressive automation and trained actors so affecting that Quigley House became a national destination; the hefty finishing prize drew the most avid thrill-seekers all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Now John – and others – stand trial: the bloodbath turned real. The final escapee-quartet included Victor, who years before taught English in Thailand, and his girlfriend, Jane; they managed to coincidentally recruit Victor’s former Thai student Jaidee, who’s a University of Nebraska freshman, and Victor’s roommate, Bryan. Bryan’s cousin Kendra, a recent Washington, DC-transplant since her father’s sudden death, was a Quigley parking attendant. She took the job to hold her not-exactly-boyfriend’s long-distance attention; murder was never part of the plan.
Provocatively entertaining, Mattson adroitly confronts cringe-inducing assumptions about race, identity, sexual politics, racial fetishism, and the multi-billion-dollar scare industry. The inside safe-word is “reprieve,” but that’s something everyone needs, especially POC. The narrative prongs are many – and Jackson ensures the labyrinthine exposition remains riveting.
Review: Media, Booklist Online, January 12, 2022
Readers: Adult
Published: 2021