MOTHER'S BOYS

by Bernard Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 29, 1988

After three short but stinging occulters (The Godsend; Sweetheart, Sweetheart; The Moonstone Sickness), Taylor stumbled into slasherland with 1986's boring The Kindness of Strangers. In this second, brisker psycho outing, he regains his footing even as he treads contemporary-gothic ground littered with incest, homicide, and familial madness. The lads of the title are adolescents Kester and Michael Farrell--adoring sons of lovely, unstable Judith--and their kid brother, Ben. The legal decree that awarded custody of them--and young sister Daisy--to their dad, Robert, allows them to see Judith only at Robert's pleasure: about once a month. Neither Ben nor Daisy really minds the separations, but the two older boys miss Mom terribly, relieving their frustration by torturing small animals and humiliating the outcast Ben. When Judith makes a bid--promptly rejected by Robert--to reunite the family, Kester and Michael's frustration turns to hatred for Robert's new fiancee, the kind and plain Netta--a hatred that's fueled when Judith seduces son Kester in his bath. Finally, Kester decides to strike; when Robert is called away during a country holiday, the boy suggests that he, his siblings, and Netta play ""Trials""--a mock-courtroom game that winds up with Netta tied and gagged and charged with breaking up the Farrell family. A verbally sadistic trial ensues, resulting in a sentence of banishment--but as the violence brewing in Kester comes to a boil, a harsher sentence is imposed; and before this tale shudders to a close, an axe is bloodied twice and three are dead. Fast pacing, savage twists, and solid suspense keep interest high, despite the exceedingly distasteful incest scene and the graphic killings; but why, oh why, does a writer with Taylor's abilities waste them on such irredeemable sleaze?

Pub Date: Feb. 29, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION