Methods of Madness

Stories about the hidden, twisted sides of human nature include "Fat," "Active Member," "Something Kinky," "Sinema," "Shock Radio," and "Dr. Krusadian's Method"

From Publishers Weekly

This is the first fiction collection from Garton, who has previously published four horror novels. A writer of some rough power, he is not in total control of his material: his stories are often crude, their various elements poorly integrated. His writing is compelling, however, particularly when he explores psychopathologies. A fascination with the effects of sexual repression figures importantly in several of the six tales. In "Active Member," a man is dissociated from and terrorized by his own sexuality. "Something Kinky," the most polished story here, is a Hitchcockian account of a man who, after allowing himself to stray one night following years of an unsatisfying marriage, is inadvertently drawn into blackmail and murder. In "Sinema," a boy being raised by strict Seventh Day Adventist grandparents is befriended by an older man who has a VCR and an extensive library of illicit tapes. Other stories concern a radical therapy for child abusers; the revenge a man's body fat takes on the woman who has rejected him; and an account of bloody poetic justice. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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