Spare Key [Paperback]

It's hard to assess a book like `Spare Key' without addressing the intensely graphic and disturbing nature of the content. Up front I'd have to say that this isn't for everyone. Most people of sound mind would actively seek to avoid such content and I certainly wouldn't blame them. The word that keeps popping up again and again while reading `Spare Key' is `disturbing'. The graphic (often sexualized) violence is gut churning and the taste left in your mouth afterward is foul.

So why read this book? Simply put, `Spare Key' is a wonderfully realized story that completely reverberates within you. It's not often that I have such a visceral reaction to a book. The story itself follows a fairly standard formula and concerns a mentally disturbed man named Ben who is released from care earlier than advisable. He moves next door to a seemingly "average" woman named Rachel. Ben soon proceeds to form an obsession with Rachel who, according to his warped mind, looks just like the mother who abused him during childhood. Ben has concocted a "red room" in his mind wherein he performs the most vulgar acts of violence upon facsimiles of his childhood tormentor. Rachel is the perfect facsimile.

Using this framework, R. Frederick Hamilton proceeds to decimate everything in his path with the raw power of his disturbing prose. I winced on numerous occasions throughout.

This book is topped off with two short stories that if anything, leave an even more unpleasant taste. The first of these, `The Filmmakers' may rate as the most unpleasant story I've ever read. It's a story about a group of teens who (as the product description says) "degenerate into sadism" and an omnipotent being who watches over the teens as they perform their vile acts. There's no reason to linger on the details of the sadism, suffice to say it involves snuff-like home movies starring local children. I read a review of this book recently that wrote this story off as exploitation but I think that's a little too simplistic. This story is a (much) more extreme version of events that occur daily thanks to the ubiquity of recording devices and bored teens. Just check youtube and you'll be bombarded with footage of teens terrorizing people for the camera. If anything, `The Filmmakers' is a statement against a genuine problem that exists today.

The final story here is `Writer's Block' which is a supremely surreal, uncomfortable story about a son held hostage by his bodybuilding mother. The mother is convinced her son will write a masterpiece and the torment she hurls his way is just a part of the process. `Writer's Block' is about as unpleasant as a story concerning a mother kidnapping her own son should be. There is something pathetically amusing about the narrator's plight and it's certainly nice to get a reprieve from the sickening events of the earlier stories.

All in all, `Spare Key; is highly recommended for fans of extreme fiction. However, there's a strong warning: it's not a nice book; it's not a happy book. Quite simply put, It's sickening. Proceed with caution.

I hadn't heard of this book before a couple of weeks ago. I was lucky enough to accompany a friend to a local signing where I got the meet the author behind Spare Key.

First thing's first; this book is a nasty piece of work in the best possible way! Many scenes leave you wanting to take a shower but for whatever reason, you're unable to put the devious thing down. I walked away as sickened as I was exhilarated.

Also of note are the two short stories that close this book out. 'The Filmmakers' is repulsively brilliant. Then there's 'Writer's Block', which enters into the realm of the surreal. A kid's kept hostage by his body building mother for christsake!

Spare Key is an amazingly written and conceived slab of true horror for anyone who prefers their fiction especially nasty. I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for any future books by R. Frederick Hamilton. Highest recommendation.

Ben just got out of the loony bin and moved into a hideous lime-green apartment. The lime green perhaps an attempt to subdue the encroaching red. He needed his pills, especially with the pretty neighbor next door, Rachel. Rachel has had her share of wack-job neighbors and naturally is apprehensive about this one as well - and for good reason.
The story takes you into the depths of psychosis, obsession, deranged fantasy, and finally relief...but not the kind you would expect. "Spare Key" spares no detail on the depravities taking place. The book also includes two shorter stories - "The Filmmakers" and "Writer's Block" - both fun reads, almost like icky aftershocks from the main story.
It's gooey, warped and will leave you feeling sticky. Now buy it and shower.