I have been reading T.M. Gray’s short stories for many years now, so my appetite was definitely whet for a full length novel. Mr. Crisper, her first, is a tale of delicious terror set in Maine (where the author lives… kind of like that “other horror writer” from the nation’s smallest state). Mr. Crisper, a Satanic figure who runs the local snack food plant, has some rather unusual ingredients in pork rinds “secret recipe” (and you thought the grease-laden pigskins themselves were gross enough!). When the townspeople develop a hell of an appetite for the snacks, they become powerless to the cravings and wind up in a fight to the death for their souls (not mention their waistlines).

What an idea – with our weight-obsessed society already in place, it fits perfectly in with what is really an underexploited subgenre of horror (think: Sweeny Todd or Soylent Green). T.M. Gray is a truly gifted writer. She has a knack for making you laugh out loud, even as your knees are knocking in terror. Let me put it this way: You’ll never look at that sack of pork rinds in the grocery store the same way again! (I always suspected the devil created those crispity, crunchity snack foods…)

You get an extra bonus with this novel, as it’s fully illustrated throughout, by the talented author herself.