Laughing Man

"Laughing Man" is the fifth in Mr. Wright's "Strange Seed" ("children of the earth") series, begun, of course, with "Strange Seed" (1978, Everest House, then pb by Playboy and TOR Books), and followed by "Nursery Tale," "The Children of the Island," and "The People of the Dark." Those who haven't read at least one of these books won't completely understand "Laughing Man." I've read all of them and I found "Laughing Man" quite absorbing.

Some 'horror' authors just want to build suspense and scare you, which is fine because that's all many of us ask. However, there are a few authors that have a little extra going for them. T.M. Wright is one of the latter.Jack Erthmun is a New York homicide detective with an odd way of gathering information at crime scenes - he gets it by reading the corpse, a sort of bonding with the deceased. His partner thinks he's crazy, and finally he is taken off a troublesome serial murder case due to his escalating bizarreness. For a while he is even a suspect.Flashbacks to Jack's childhood help reveal some of what's going on. We meet his angry father, his haunted mother, his sisters...and the creatures in the woods. But even at book's end, not everything is clearly explained, which may frustrate some people, although it shouldn't. Some things cannot be explained, or are better left to the imagination, making this novel ideal for contemplation and discussion.There is much pain and violence in LAUGHING MAN, but it's a book with a beating heart, and it bestows upon the reader flashes of insight into the human condition. Not bad for a 'horror' novel.