Finishing Touches

One of the most frightening reading experiences anyone can encounter. I am an avid horror reader and have been hard put to find a really good read lately. Tessier's "Finishing Touches" is perfect. A truly great read. I am going right out and read all I can by this wonderful writer.

Thomas Tessier has been called a master of "quiet" horror. Maybe so. He certainly is a smooth writer, good with pacing, dialogue and description. But when it comes to horror, he certainly yields no ground to any other writer. Actually his brand of horror is far worse. It gets into the mind, because there is a philosophy behind it. No better example of this is his short novel "Finishing Touches." "Finishing Touches" tells the story of doctor to be Tom Sutherland. Sutherland has inherited a bit of money, and feeling he's lived in an educational "cocoon" for so many years, he's anxious to experience life before settling down to the suburban existence of a general practitioner. Events unfold in such a way however as to have him residing in London for a 6 month stay. It is there he soon meets Dr. Roger Nordhagen, who is of course insane. But the good (evil) doctor recognizes a like soul when he sees one, perhaps even one who can take his vision of "Now" to the next post modern level. Before long Tom and Dr. Nordhagen are crawling through the more exotic English clubs, and Tom soon meets Nordhagen's assistant, Lina. There is sex, which is the initial bait for Tom. And there is lots of it, but it's the kind of sex you might find in a Kubrick film. Detached, part of a larger Power game, that Tom senses the outlines of. And the game is one that is removed from any morality. Indeed, Nordhagen's whole philosophy is based upon immediate experience. And in a world where you have your Jeffrey Dahmers and Bin Ladens, who, he would say, can fault him? He just wants his piece of the Terror pie. This is grim, unrelenting and poison filled stuff, wrapped in flawless prose. On a technical level Tessier succeeds brilliantly, which is why I'm giving this 5 stars. But if you allow for a human factor, you might want to give this a zero. Tessier is a superb connoisseur of atrocity, but for any serious follower of current events - isn't that more of the same? At some time Dr. Sutherland and Lina will encounter that question when the kicks of killing become endless reruns. And at that point, hopefully, they too will "return their tickets" to God.

It only takes a few pages for readers of Tom Tessier's Finishing Touches to realize they're in the hands of master, as he quickly and expertly establishes his characters and milieu, all the while setting the stage for the shocking surprises he has in store. A key element in coming to this realization is how easy it is to sympathize with his main character, Dr. Tom Sutherland, an American in London who, after completing his medical education, decides to spend some time in Europe before embarking on his career. At a major crossroads on his life, the twenty eight year old Sutherland is in a place many of us have been ourselves, unsure of himself as he embarks in a new direction. While in London, Sutherland meets the enigmatic Roger Nordhagen, a plastic surgeon who sees himself as the man who puts the "finishing touches" on his patients. Intrigued by the strange old man, Sutherland allows Nordhagen to show him a hidden London. His education is furthered by the lovely and dangerous Lina Ravachol, Nordhagen's assistant. Together, Nordhagen and Ravachol provide some unique and decidedly disturbing "finishing touches" to Sutherland's personality and psyche. The horror in Finishing Touches arrives relatively deep into the story, as Sutherland is seduced into accepting another reality one step at a time; how convincing this process is to you personally will depend on your belief in the transforming power of love. The intriguing thing is how Tessier ratchets up the terror-just when you're convinced it can't get worse, it does. That's the beauty and horror of reading this book-you become as hypnotized by Tessier's prose as Sutherland is mesmerized by the exquisite Lina and the new world to which she introduces him. This book has gained a certain reputation over the years, such that it's recently been included as a "best book" in Stephen Jones and Kim Newman's follow-up to their exquisite 1998 anthology Horror: 100 Best Books, Horror: 100 More Best Books. There's a reason a Tessier novel has been featured in each of these volumes (the other one is the horror classic The Nightwalker): he's THAT good.

This novel is undoubtedly the best fictional exploration of human evil I have ever read; nothin supernatural here. It still haunts me nearly 16 years after I read it. I remember reading while riding the bus to work as a junior law firm associate down California Blvd., with the bus interminably stopped at the Montgomery Street light. It was winter and the bus was crowded, with the heating blowing, and after reading the particularly gruesome passage about "the whisk" I just needed to get out immediately in order to breath.

This is a book I've read twice and will probably do so again. It creeps its way steadily into the inner psychological horror of our minds (some of us). Intelligent. Lets out all the stops at the end. Very satisfying read.