A Paperback From Hell! MANTIS by K.W. Jeter

Publisher TOR
Length 281 pages
Format paperback

Published 1987

Series Standalone
My Copy I bought it

My Review

Mantis is not the kind of 1980's horror book you'd expect, certainly not from the synopsis, nor the sample at the beginning of book which invokes horrifying images of a female mantis devouring her mate shortly after copulation. 

Rather, Mantis, is an intense psychological horror derived from madness and a warped sense of reality, thanks to a schizophrenic subtext and an unreliable narrator. 

Michael Turner is a graphic designer of sorts who seems to have over capitalized on his business venture, with clients slowly departing for his competitors and his estranged wife making things difficult with their son, Michael turns to the red-light district for some escapism from the daily grind. 

It's among the street walkers, pimps, and thugs who own the night that he becomes obsessed with a couple of bar hoping regulars; his namesake, Michael (a tough guy with a penchant for killing women), and Rae (a boyish woman on the night who likes to live on the knife edge between life and death). It's this obsession which leads him into oblivion.

I liked Mantis but did find the reading tough going in the earlier stages of the book. It takes some time getting used to the writing style and then to understand that the book's narrator isn't to be relied upon. However, once everything clicked into place, Mantis didn't disappoint.

My rating: 3/5 stars. Mantis won't appeal to everyone, however I enjoyed the different aspect to 1980's horror this book brought.