Mayhem {Horror Novel Annotation}

Title: Mayhem
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Publisher: Jo Fletcher
Publication Date: April 25, 2013
Page Count: 339
Genre: Horror
Time Period: 1880's
Location: London, England

London, 1888. Jack the Ripper is terrorizing the fine, and not-so-fine, citizens of the city. As inspectors and scientists work tirelessly to discover who is doing the dirty work, another madman is on the loose committing his own murders. This murderer seems to enjoy mutilating the body of his victim's differently, however, and leaves parts of her, wrapped neatly, behind for detectives to find - but never the heads. Detectives are baffled, including forensic scientist Dr. Bond. While they are sure it isn't Jack the Ripper and they have dubbed this killer the Torso Killer, they struggle to find more clues for both killers in order to catch either of them. As the story progresses it becomes clear that their may be supernatural elements at work and, if Dr. Bond can believe, he may have what it takes to find one of the killers and he may just be closer to home than he finds comfortable. Can he save those close to him, and himself, in time?

Detectives
Forensic Scientists
Serial Murder Investigation
Supernatural

Characters

Brooding
Flawed
Sympathetic

Pacing

Fast-Paced

Storyline

Plot-driven
Intricately plotted

Tone

Creepy
Gruesome

Writing Style

Compelling
Descriptive

Tone - "The atmosphere in Horror novels must evoke an emotional response: dread and chill, a sense of menace, a feeling of terror" (Saricks 239). Pinborough delivers this response by the handful. From the first pages when we meet a woman who works the night away thinking she is going to make some money only to wind up dead and cut up by morning to the last few pages when the same befalls yet another woman in the same position, the feelings evoked are the same - fear and dread of what is to come.

Frame/Setting - The setting of the story is the infamous 1880's London when Jack the Ripper was stalking the area and evoking fear in every citizen. Who hasn't at least heard of Jack the Ripper and the terror he released on the city? That automatically helps to set a dark tone as the reader begins the story.

Story Line - In Mayhem, Pinborough does a great job at exploring both story lines that exist within the horror genre. She runs well with the supernatural tale of the ghostly monster as well as the the "deep-seated anxieties about human nature" asking what we, as humans, are capable of of handling and surviving (Saricks 241). 

Language/Style - Pinborough's writing style is very descriptive, but not to a point of being over the top and excessive like some horror authors have been known to be. I never had a problem feeling as if I were walking the streets of historic London with the characters or investigating a gruesome, graphic murder scene with them.

Characterization - I really enjoyed most of the characters in this book, even the flawed the ones (although not the stabby ones). One thing I enjoyed is that the fear is always there that the character you like could die at any given moment in the horror genre, so you should be prepared feel that sadness or disappointment. 

Pacing - Mayhem is fast-paced and a page turner. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and who was behind the murders! There were moments when the pacing would slow, which according to Saricks (243) is par for the course, but it would flip on a dime and I would be flying through the pages again. 

Based on Saricks' "Characteristics of Horror" (238), Mayhem hits pretty much all six points made:

1. There was definitely a nightmarish tone within the story. From the descriptions of the murders to the time the visions started happening, the descriptions and feelings they evoked were well done.
2. The graphic violence depicted from the Ripper and the Thames River murders along with the talk of the Upir along with the knowing that there was more to come definitely kept you on your toes.
3. Ah, the unresolved ending characteristic. I don't want to say too much, so as not to be spoilery, but I will just say that that the shoe fits this characteristic here as well. 
4. There were many times she did a wonderful job of describing scene (just enough detail, not too much) that I felt as if I were walking the streets of 1888 London searching with them for the Devil himself, or sitting across the dinner table as Dr. Bond had dinner with the Hebbert family (important spoiler-free detail left out there). Visceral reactions were had.
5. The main characters/protagonists were definitely haunted, shattered individuals in their own right. The antagonists definitely fit the bill of being sinister or monsters in some form.
6. The unexpected appearances and attacks - there were a few here and there, but not a great many, which fit. I think if she had thrown them in willy-nilly it would have been been pointless and annoying.

Hyde by Daniel Levine
Two gruesome stories, set in London. Both novels are intricately plotted and told in compelling and descriptive ways.

I, Ripper by Stephen Hunter
Both of these gruesome novels are intricately plotted tales that involve in some degree the re-imagining of Jack the Ripper and take place in late 1880's London.

Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell
Both stories are fast-paced historical fiction with compelling writing.

“Meet Your next Favorite Book.” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/.
NoveList | EBSCOhost. www.ebscohost.com/novelist.

Saricks, Joyce G., and Neal Wyatt. The Readers Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. ALA Editions, An Imprint of the American Library Association, 2019.

“The Monster Librarian.” Kelly Link Interview, monsterlibrarian.com/