A spoiler Free Review of The Handy Man Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan
When I hear the name Nick Cutter, DISTURBING is the first word that pops into my head. Sorry Mr. Cutter. I’ve read three of his books now and all of them neatly fall under the “disturbing horror’ category.
You’d think I’d know better, but I tried eating Ben & Jerry’s Bossin’ Cream Pie ice cream while listen to this audiobook and nearly vomited during a certain description of an infected pus filled fingernail. I don’t recommend eating while reading this book and I don’t recommend that particular flavor of Ben & Jerry’s.
I’m not familiar with Andrew F. Sullivan’s writing, as this is the first of his books that I’ve read so far. While the body and psychological aspects of this horror seem on par for Cutter, this book had a strong technology component as well, and I wonder if Sullivan is responsible for that thread of storytelling.
This story has an interesting premise and I liked the idea of our tech being used as avenue for archaic horrors to reach us in the modern world, but this story was over steeped in themes of toxic masculinity, to the point that it was hard to get through the first half or so. Overall this story felt longer than it needed to be. However, It did pick up for me in the end, and I was glad I stuck it out.
I’m just going to say this now. Trent is the worst. Truly one of the most unlikable characters I have ever read, and while I believe he is meant to be an unlikable character, the authors really outdid themselves here.
Trent has just moved in to his newly constructed home with his wife Rita (who he calls Reets) and his son Milo. Trent is feeling totally emasculated by his new role as stay at home hubby and his wife’s role as successful lawyer/breadwinner. He quickly goes to work fixing up a crack he found in his closet and immediately gets sucked into a DIY blackhole. Trent becomes obsessed with Handyman Hank, a man on Youtube who convinces him to embark on all kinds of DIY projects, including but not limited to manscaping his balls… which doesn’t go well. Trent goes to Home Depot multiple times a day and gets in fights with contractors. In fact, Trent’s ego is so fragile, he’ll pick a fight with anyone who looks at him the wrong way.
This book deals HEAVILY with toxic masculinity and Trent is dripping with the toxic substance. He is constantly thinking horrible things about Milo, and he has a real problem with his literal child showing any sort of weakness, or emotion or for acting like a boy instead of a grown man. Trent is not a good dad, or husband, or person.
There’s something very wrong with Handyman Hank and it’s getting to Trent, its changing him, but if you ask me, there is no way Trent was ever a decent person. Trent may deserve what’s coming to him but Milo is being influenced by Little Boy Blue, the character on his tablet who tells him to build strange contraptions and to do bad things to his pet turtle.
Which brings me to my question for Nick Cutter: What the hell did turtles ever do to you man?!
Clearly, there’s something very wrong with the house but it’s not haunted in the typical sense, after all its a new construction, right? But there is an ancient evil causing that crack in the foundation and it’s getting to the Saban boys through their tech. Rita on the other hand seems to be immune.
There is some pretty gory body horror, that involves a drain in the basement. But for me, this is where things turned around and started getting good. The drain is our portal into the lore of the story. Personally, what I look for in horror is either some good lore and an exceptional backstory or a horror that actually scares me. I’m talking scared to shower when I’m home alone, or too scared to walk the dogs outside at night. There’s only been a couple books that were able to achieve that, and this was not one of them.
However, I did enjoy the lore behind this technilogically cursed house, but I wish they had spent so much more time on that and so much less time piling on the toxic masculinity and endless trips to Home Depot.
You know what I hate doing? Following my boyfriend around Lowes while he browses the tool section and looks at drill bits. This felt a lot like that.
When it comes to Nick Cutter’s books The Deep wasn’t my favorite but the disturbing, claustrophobic psychological horror was superior and when it comes to body horror, well, it’s hard to top The Troop. One thing they all have in common? They’re all highly disturbing and animals do not fare well.
This one fell short of my expectations for sure, as I was really looking forward to reading this before it came out. However, the chunk of this book that I did like, I liked enough that I ended up rating it four out of five stars and I think the audiobook format was a big contributor to that rating.
I’m looking forward to more solo Nick Cutter and wouldn’t mind checking out more of Andrew F. Sullivan’s writing as well since I’m not sure I got a good sense of his style in this co-authored novel.