Balance

I used to be a huge Clive Barker fan, but I've since lost weight.  (Sorry.)  Seriously though.  He was among the first writers whose work I impatiently anticipated.  When I heard he had a new book (or movie) on the way I ran out and picked it up (or saw the movie) right away.  I've seen him read twice, and he was great both times.  

But somewhere along the line I stopped reading his books, though I would still pick up copies of his stuff that I hadn't read.  Granted, I no longer spent $24.95 (or more) on the hardcovers; I'd usually find them at the Brown Elephant for a buck or two then place them on my too-read stack, only to move them to a bookshelf after not even opening the cover for months.

Last week I found a copy of one of his more recent titles, Mister B. Gone.  The premise is clever enough; a demon (from the Demonation, of course) tells his (first person) tale of, well, demony deeds, while repeatedly (and repeatedly) imploring you to burn the book, his manuscript, you now hold in your hands, for he is trapped in the pages and is just trying to save you from your own morbid and dangerous curiosity.  (Why couldn't someone have done this with the bible?)

I'm about 100 pages in (more or less halfway) and the only word I can think to describe my thoughts is 'disappointing.'  The demon has no demonic powers other than a high threshold for pain (inflicted in either burns or cuts) and a piercing scream that he calls his mommy voice, or some such thing. 

While researching other readers' responses (on Goodreads and Amazon) I noticed a peculiar balance of responses.  It seems that there's no concensus on this book whatsoever:

105 Reviews 5 star:  (25) 4 star:  (21) 3 star:  (20) 2 star:  (19) 1 star:  (20)

Now I don't feel so bad about my ambivalence.