Scissors

by Ray Garton

Book Overview

When he was a boy, Stuart Mullond's mother held him down while his urologist Dr. Ferguson performed a medical procedure on him that was so traumatizing and humiliating that its painful memory stayed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843961864
• ISBN13: 9780843961867
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Highly original tale

Ray Garton's "Scissors" is a highly original tale deeply rooted in a very human fear: that of psychosis, of losing one's hold on reality. In a work that is in turns emotional, disturbing and bittersweet, Garton proves once again that the most effective horror - the kind that resonates - comes not from without but within, from the darkened corners of our own hearts and minds. Lingering discontent defines Stuart Mullond's existence. Raised in a religious family with a skewed definition of "truth", dismissed as unimportant in school and now trapped in an uninspiring job, depression dogs his heels. He's found a measure of happiness with new girlfriend Amelia but is reminded often of his ex-wife's hurtful infidelity - especially since his ex Molly and Amelia have become friends, something that irritates him endlessly. Pestered by his widowed mother, ineffectual at work and alarmed by the growing distance between him and his son James, Stuart grapples with a crushing sense of defeat. Worse, he can't forget a traumatic, childhood medical procedure. Nightmares of what Dr. Ferguson did fills his nights; the metallic snick-snick of his scissors ringing around every corner. Soon Stuart's nightmares become flesh, and he sees Dr. Ferguson everywhere. Is he dreaming? Hallucinating? Or has the good doctor returned to practice his twisted medicine on Stuart's son, James? What will Stuart do to protect his family from those awful, cutting scissors? Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this work is Garton's deep, sympathetic characters. Though he paints them very realistically with all too human faults, by the novel's end it's hard to find anyone to blame. There are no easy answers, here; just the echoing reminder that life is hard, cruel, and unfair...and that sacrifice is too often required to survive it. Also: things are never what they seem.

A Thrill Ride Through Madness

Stuart Mullond seems like your normal, average, everyday guy. He's got a job he hates, an ex-wife he hates, a new girlfriend, and a son who ignores him. Stuart also happens to be paranoid and slightly delusional. As a child, Stuart's overly religious mother aided in putting him through an operation done by Dr. Furgeson. This operation traumatized him so badly that he now believes the doctor has come back to do the same thing to his son. Stuart begins seeing the doctor everywhere he goes and each sighting is accompanied by the snick-snick of scissors. Does this mean Stuart is crazy or is the nasty doctor really coming for his son? Scissors is a fast-paced adrenaline rush that takes over and doesn't let go until the very end. With each chapter, you begin to feel as though your spiraling out of control right along with Stuart. And when you finally do discover what's really going on, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Scissors is definitely one to read if you like your horror dipped in insanity and sprinkled with a healthy dose of love, loss, and the power of human nature.

Chilling

Stuart Mullond is paranoid, depressed, and dangerous - more dangerous than anyone, even he himself - realizes. Stuart is an artist for a greeting card company counting the days until he loses his job after a disastrous marketing campaign. He's divorced, with a nasty ex-wife and a thirteen year old son who is falling in with the wrong crowd, and an overbearing church-lady mother. The only bright spot in his life is his girlfriend Amelia. 'Scissors' starts out with a bang - a flashback/dream of young Stuart undergoing a horrific surgical procedure as a young child, carried out by a sinister doctor named Furgeson. When Stuart wakes up, it is to find Furgeson watching Stuart from his own backyard. Who is Doctor Furgeson? What does he want? As you read farther into the book, you find out that nothing is quite as it had seemed on the surface. False memories - and deliberately falsified memories - play a large role in the dysfunctional Mullond family. 'Scissors' is a morbid examination of a man's descent into madness, but at the same time it is also a touching look at the bonds between father and son and man and woman. The novel has plot echoes from a couple of different sources, including 'The Shining' and, believe it or not, the mid-1980s Alan Moore run on the comic book 'Swamp Thing', which is strangely appropriate as is revealed later in the novel when the mysterious Owl-Man is introduced. A worthy, scary, and excellent addition to Ray Garton's body of work.