With WICKED THINGS, Thomas Tessier delivers his first original novel in a decade. Welcome back, Mr. T.
Under a somewhat misleading cover which makes the book look like a BASIC INSTINCT knock-off, we get the story of Jack Carlson, an insurance investigator whose boss sends him to the quiet, tiny town of Winship to check into some suspicious practices. Namely, 16 recent deaths, all insured by an agent who had taken out policies on the unfortunate victims all over the country. There’s nothing illegal about it per se, but it’s fishy enough to merit a look-see.
Going about his business, Carlson asks some questions. Answers are not forthcoming, however, once the agent turns up dead. And so does the agent’s secretary, with whom Carlson had enjoyed a one-nighter. The police and the Winship residents didn’t like Carlson as soon as he had arrived in town, and now his penchant for talking to people just before they are found murdered only compounds the problem.
What appears to be a straightforward mystery takes a trip into luridville – typical of Tessier – as Carlson starts romancing a stripper from the sex-trade side of town. And then there’s an absolutely bizarre angle introduced involving mysterious lights in the middle of the forest, perhaps accounting for the recent rash of missing hookers.
If there’s one thing you can expect from Tessier, it’s the unexpected. Is WICKED THINGS a procedural or a thriller or a fantasy? It’s all these things, but ultimately adding up to a work of horror – not fitting your typical definition of horror, either, but the kind that heavily treads into WICKER MAN territory. Like the protagonist of Tessier’s FINISHING TOUCHES, Carlson is a man who puts his penis into the wrong women in the wrong place at the wrong time, and pays for it, resulting in suspenseful entertainment for you.
As a bonus, the book closes with the novella SCRAMBURG, U.S.A., in which bullheaded Howie, the adopted son of a minister and his wife, is run out of a small town by the cops for hitting his mama. But the angry young man corrals his friends to take revenge on the town’s authority figures via firebombings and whatnot, until the tables are turned. And then turned again.
There’s not enough in SCRAMBURG to flesh out a full novel, but in roughly 90 pages, it’s a savage tale of vengeance, not to mention a nice capper to an already fine read. It’s like finding a dollar on your birthday. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• FINISHING TOUCHES by Thomas Tessier
• RAPTURE by Thomas Tessier
Related posts:
- Finishing Touches
- Rapture
- The Wicked West II: Abomination & Other Tales
- Wicked Karnival Halloween Horror
- O, BROTHER, where ODD thou?, asks Koontz
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I’ve always been somewhat puzzled by Tessier, specifically the lack of attention his work has received. He wrote three of the best horror novels of the last century in “The Nightwalker”, “Phantom”, and “Finishing Touches”. “The Nightwalker” may well be the best werewolf novel ever written. Yet until Leisure reprinted “Finishing Touches” a few months ago all his best work was out of print. I haven’t gotten to “Wicked Things” yet, but it’s high on my TBR stack. Those who haven’t read him should get “Finishing Touches” immediately, and before you’re finished with it you’ll be searching for his O/P work.
I’m with you, although I think taking a decade off certainly doesn’t help increase your profile. If Leisure hadn’t continued to reissue his books in the last couple years, I might never had heard of him.