Toyer

by Gardner McKay

A manipulative, highly intelligent serial killer named Toyer charms his beautiful young victims and then severs the nerves at the base of their necks, leaving them comatose, and only Dr. Maude Garance, the neurologist caring for these lost women, is able and determined to stop him. A first novel. 200,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Plays, Mystery, Suspense

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Born George Cadogan Gardner McKay. McKay graduated from Cornell University, where he majored in art. He became a Hollywood heartthrob in the 1950s and 1960s. He landed the lead role in Adventures in Paradise, based loosely on the writings of James Michener. His character, Adam Troy, was a Korean War veteran who purchased the twin-masted 82-foot (25 m) schooner Tiki, and sailed the South Pacific.

McKay was under contract to MGM when he was spotted by Dominick Dunne, a television producer for Twentieth Century Fox who was searching for an actor to star in his planned Adventures in Paradise. Dunne put his business card on the table and said, "If you're interested in discussing a television series, call me." McKay competed in screen tests with nine other candidates, and won it because of his good looks and ability to sail. An accomplished sailor, he had made eight Atlantic crossings by the age of seventeen. Although previously unknown to the public, McKay appeared on the July 6, 1959, cover of Life Magazine just two months before the series premiered.

In the 1957-1958 season, McKay played Lieutenant Dan Kelly in the 38-episode syndicated western series, Boots and Saddles, with Jack Pickard and Patrick McVey.

After acting in more than 100 films for television, McKay left Hollywood to pursue his loves of photography, sculpture, and writing. He turned down the opportunity to star opposite Marilyn Monroe in Something's Got to Give, a film which was never completed. He exhibited his sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, besides holding individual exhibitions. His lifeboat rescue photographs of the Andrea Doria were published internationally. McKay wrote many plays and novels, and was a literary critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner between 1977 and 1982. He taught writing classes at the University of California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Alaska, University of Hawaii.

McKay's awards included three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for playwriting, the Drama Critics Circle Award Best Play, and Sidney Carrington Prize. He was a winner in Canadian Regional Drama Festival, and runner up in the Hemingway Short Story Contest.

McKay settled in Hawaii, where he died from prostate cancer in 2001, aged 69. He was survived by his wife Madeleine Madigan, a painter, and two children.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

We just saw a production of this very passable little thriller at Adelaide's Bakehouse Theatre. After an hour and half of assorted twists (Is he a psycho or a method actor? Did he really cut her phone line? Is she going to take any more of her clothes off? etc) the play appeared to reach a resolution, with the female psychiatrist, who's become just as crazy as the guy who's been stalking her, performing a home-made lobotomy on him in the comfort of her living room.

Someone in the audience started to clap and then thought better of it... could there be another twist left? It's possible that this had happened before, since the babe just said "The End!", helped her co-star wipe some of the fake blood off his face, and they both took their bows. Now that's the right way to do it. Quite the best thing we've seen at the Bakehouse.

[Alena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.

Thriller about a serial killer who doesn't quite kill but renders his female victims in a vegetative state and a doctor and a journalist who try to find him.

The beginning was quite interesting, to see the doctor, Maude, run up against all kinds of walls because the people in charge don't take the crimes really seriously, but it fails to build/keep suspension and is rather boring. I skipped a huge chunk in the middle and read the ending just to see what's going to happen and it is kind of predictable. The writing also left a lot to be desired. So. Meh.

[Sophie V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un peu long mais la fin était imprévisible. Drôle de style d’écriture, j’étais moins habituée mais j’ai apprécié

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never read a book I disliked as much as this one!!! And yet, I finished it! Go figger?!

[Jasper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uninteresting, and the killer was obviously based off of Ted Bundy.
Boring and dragged on info you didn't need to know.

[David Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Toyer by Gardner McKay (Little Brown & Co. 1998)(Fiction - Mystery) was a book I really wanted to like. Gardner McKay (the author) is apparently the guy cited by name in a Jimmy Buffett song (e.g. "Hey hey Gardner McKay - take me on the Leaky Tiki with you..."), because Jimmy Buffett is one of the named authors on the recommendations page. Unfortunately, this mystery whodunit is simply not compelling. I kept going...and kept going...and kept going but just finally gave up on page 393 of 437. It was that bad. I simply didn't care what happened to the villain or the protagonist. My rating: 2/10, finished 2/21/12.

["Jeff" Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. Very clever plot. Characters alternately tell the story in a chilling and compelling way. Mystery fans should seek out "Toyer."

I was intrigued by the fact that Gardner McKay was the author. I and most of my female friends were madly in love with him when he was in the tv series Adventures in Paradise. Curious, I read about McKay and found he was an educated, literate, creative man. He hated the tv series and quit acting afterwards. Wish he had written more books.

[Joanie Hebert]

Dnf!
Livre beaucoup trop long à mon goût. L’histoire en devient redondante. Beaucoup trop de personnages qui apporte pas nécessairement quelque chose d’utile à l’histoire. Les dialogues sont difficiles à suivre parfois. J’aurais aimé être en mesure de le terminer, mais bon.

[Lioba · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the scariest books I have ever read. Because it could be so true, you never know. Very thrilling.

[Amélie Tremblay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mal écrit. Mal traduit. Trop de détails pas nécessaires du tout. Difficile de suivre les conversations. Beaucoup trop long. Fin prévisible.

[Aline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sympa.

[Cynthia Parra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dès qu'un personnage est arrivé, je me suis dit que c'était lui le coupable et j'avais raison. Pas vraiment de surprise, assez vulgaire manque de finesse dans l'écriture. La fin est vraiment décevante. Je croyais que les crimes de Toyer étaient abominable, mais bof.

[suspense_books · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't manage to read it completely, as the sentences were strangely constructed - short, often unrelated to each other. It was difficult to become engaged in the story, I fell asleep few times. The overall idea of the story was really interesting, but the style made it impossible to focus on it.

[Alla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the scariest books I have ever read and made me check and double check my doors. Great read.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

frightening but riveting!

[Isabella Tugman - Audiobook Narrator · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't impressed with this book. It was just kind of....blah. Not thrilling or mysterious at all

[Anthony March · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's rather unique as far as mystery/thrillers are concerned. I thought the author gave life to a "killer" without being overly specific.

[Ben Brackett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Less creepy serial killer portrait and more unrealistic serial killer sexual fantasy.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the unique style of writing that Gardner McKay displays in Toyer. Unfortunately, this book is entirely flawed, but WOW! Did he know how to close this tale with an ending, or what!? This book doesn't really have any chapters, it has a rather unique format for that, also. You get the title of a name, and it focuses in on that character. The problem with Toyer, is none of these characters really come together, almost deliberately disconnected. Toyer, on the other hand, is the one doing the real disconnecting. All of his victims are female, and he leaves them all alive, except for one attribute: he performs a procedure on them all that pretty much leaves them a vegetable. The police supposedly cannot do anything to classify this as any sort of felony, since these aren't murders, hence, this is how he earns the name 'Toyer'. He's not a killer, and yet, he kills the part of women that makes them alive. Our protaganist ( I can't remember her name, I haven't read this since 2000) is a female surgeon, and instead of staying up all night worrying if she's going to be the next victim, she's up all night trying to save not only the victims, but any future victims as well. The book is littered with meaningless characters that have little to nothing to do with the book, almost an excuse to beef up the pages, I would reckon. For the most part, this was a fun but flawed read, you have to overlook the problems and just enjoy the ride. Trust me! The ending is to die for!

[Nora Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'ai apprécié que ce livre contienne de courts chapitres, ça m'a facilité la lecture. J'ai trouvé intéressant qu'on voit la psy "changer" au fur et à mesure de l'histoire, on voit vraiment l'impact que cette affaire a sur elle au quotidien. Et même si certains chapitres sont superflus, on a envie de lire la suite pour connaître le dénouement.
Par contre, je trouve que la bande des "Incastables" vient comme un cheveu dans la soupe, on se doute évidemment que leur apparition soudaine n'est pas anodine. A un moment donné, je trouve qu'il y a beaucoup d'indices qui incriminent un personnage en particulier de cette bande là, j'ai donc pensé pendant de nombreuses pages qu'il s'agissait de Toyer, à tort. J'ose espérer que c'est volontaire de la part de l'auteur sinon j'y vois pas l'intérêt.
Et je trouve cela dommage de toujours mettre des histoires d'amour et/ou de sexe dans les thrillers. Une passe encore mais là entre la psy qui couche avec son supérieur et avec le tueur (!), la journaliste qui couche avec un ami et avec son sup��rieur,... Ca commence à faire beaucoup et ce n'est pas toujours nécessaire à l'histoire.
Au final, même si je trouve la fin assez bien, je ne recommande pas ce livre, ça fait beaucoup de pages à lire pour pas grand chose.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intricate serial killer thriller, with some good writing and a certain amount of excess. The serial killer is somewhat like Ted Bundy, sometimes using the technique of disabling his victims' cars and then posing as a good samaritan. He is not technically a killer, since he "only" paralyzes his victims, leaving them disabled and catatonic for life. His adversary is a psychologist, who is tortured by the victim's plight, but also perversely attracted to him. A bit too long for a thriller, but not one I wanted to put down before I knew what happened to him.

[Matthew Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

Amateurish writing and the serial killer who calls himself "Toyer" is an odd one, to say the least. Is he supernatural or is he psychological? For the first 45 pages and it reads less like a suspense novel amd more like a stilted script for a bad play. Dominick Dunne actually liked this book? 🤔 After 70 pages in, i stopped caring about all the characters after a while I can now see why this novel is always in many a thrift and bargain bin store evetywhere!

[Kim Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’est bien parce que c’était un défi entre Littereures que j’ai lu cette énorme brique de 760 pages.

L’histoire est bonne, un thriller-psychologique. Ce que je n’aime pas des gros livres : plusieurs chapitres ne sont pas nécessaires à la compréhension de l’histoire et viennent donner des longueurs à celle-ci.

L’histoire de Toyer est intéressante et bien exploitée. Elle vient déranger et obséder plusieurs personnes. J’aurais pris plus d’action comme celle des derniers chapitres.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enfin fini.
Même si on devine le tueur à la moitié du livre, je me suis donné comme défi de le terminer.

Beaucoup trop long pour rien, beaucoup de longueur. Il aurait pu y avoir 200 pages de moins et ça n’aurait rien changé à l’histoire.

J’ai beaucoup aimé les petits chapitres qui alternaient d’un personnage à l’autre. L’histoire du tueur en série est bonne, ce qu’il fait à ses victimes est particulier.

Ça se lit bien et l’intrigue est bonne même si on devine la fin.

[Charlotte Broadwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Was wanting to see how each character would end up in this story. Trying to find out who toyer was and how he would end up. The ending was ok but it left you wondering What happened. The ending left questions instead of answering them. Good book for anyone who like criminal minds.

[Stéphanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On m'avait parlé en bien de ce livre. Mais, j'ai été déçue. Bien que le début m'avait mise sur les dents, j'ai trouvé qu'il y avait beaucoup de longueurs, de moments qui auraient pu ne pas y être et qui aurait accéléré le rythme. La fin m'a aussi laissé sur ma faim. Bref, peu impressionnée.

[Catherine Krencs Montross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the only books I've read multiple times and still enjoy it fully. Right away I was taken with the idea of a predator who doesn't kill his victims but makes them incapacitated, sentenced to live but not be able to move or communicate.

[Nathan Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was recommended to me back in 2001. I finally got around to reading it. It’s a fine thriller. Very 90s. Not very twisty, but at times pleasantly disturbing. Surprised it’s never been made into a film.

[Vanessa McDuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai adoré cette lecture: l'histoire, les personnages, l'avancement. Cependant, j'ai deux déceptions. Il y a une longueur entre Maude et Toyer à la fin. C'était redondant. De plus, j'aurais aimé savoir si les filles s'en sortent... surtout Mélissa.

Tout de même, je ne regrette pas cette lecture.

[Marie-Eve Anctil · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre m'a tenu en haleine du début à la fin