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The Manipulator
Bobbie Topin may have moved on to a new life with his foster family in Slopetown, Missouri, but he has not been able to shake "the Manipulator," the evil that is murderously pursuing him
- GenresHorror
286 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 13, 2022
After his grandfather passes away, Bobbie Topin leaves Edgar Falls to live with a foster family, the Llewellyn's. He and fifteen other foster siblings live in a sprawling farmhouse, on the edge of the woods, and although he has been through a lot of tragedy in the past few years, life is good now.
About a year ago, Bobbie battled 'The Soul-Eater,' in his old town, and still has nightmares about it. He's even found he's developed a bit of intuition - and there are certain things he just knows. Lately, there have been some pretty horrible things happening around the neighboring towns - couples in their home viciously ravaged by creatures, a group of young girls torn apart and eaten, old ladies killed by a hoard of flies, lovers falling into sinkholes.
Because of all this, and the dreams he is having, Bobbie has a horrible gut feeling the evil powering the Soul-Eater is not dead. This evil, he comes to refer to as 'The Manipulator.'
"Demons. Creatures The Manipulator created countless years ago. Servants. Mindless. With no other purpose than to do its bidding. Maybe they lie dormant a lot of the time. Until The Manipulator needs them."
Bobbie knows he is the one The Manipulator truly wants - it is mad he managed to kill one of its servants and escape it long ago - but he has vowed he will never in his life return to Edgar Falls. However, once the evil starts closing in on his town, he starts to worry about his foster family. Will he find the courage to return and fight evil again, once and for all?
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I'm really glad the author decided on a sequel, because I didn't love the original for some reason, but I thought this was a great part 2. There were a lot of subplots (which I loved) about people getting attacked/killed by the flies, worms, creatures, etc - which was confusing, because you don't really realize how they connect to the main character at first. But now it makes sense. I would have loved the ending to have given more detail about what happened to Bobbie in the end, but I guess that's really my only complaint.
About a year ago, Bobbie battled 'The Soul-Eater,' in his old town, and still has nightmares about it. He's even found he's developed a bit of intuition - and there are certain things he just knows. Lately, there have been some pretty horrible things happening around the neighboring towns - couples in their home viciously ravaged by creatures, a group of young girls torn apart and eaten, old ladies killed by a hoard of flies, lovers falling into sinkholes.
Because of all this, and the dreams he is having, Bobbie has a horrible gut feeling the evil powering the Soul-Eater is not dead. This evil, he comes to refer to as 'The Manipulator.'
"Demons. Creatures The Manipulator created countless years ago. Servants. Mindless. With no other purpose than to do its bidding. Maybe they lie dormant a lot of the time. Until The Manipulator needs them."
Bobbie knows he is the one The Manipulator truly wants - it is mad he managed to kill one of its servants and escape it long ago - but he has vowed he will never in his life return to Edgar Falls. However, once the evil starts closing in on his town, he starts to worry about his foster family. Will he find the courage to return and fight evil again, once and for all?
--------------------
I'm really glad the author decided on a sequel, because I didn't love the original for some reason, but I thought this was a great part 2. There were a lot of subplots (which I loved) about people getting attacked/killed by the flies, worms, creatures, etc - which was confusing, because you don't really realize how they connect to the main character at first. But now it makes sense. I would have loved the ending to have given more detail about what happened to Bobbie in the end, but I guess that's really my only complaint.
May 27, 2023
Brookins returns to the tale she began with Soul-Eater with The Manipulator taking place a few years later. Our main protagonist, little Bobby, is now 14 or so, and living in a foster home a few towns over from Edgar Falls, where the foo took place last time.
Unlike the charming prose and with the last novel started with, Brookins here begins here with several short, quick and dirty stories, the only commonality seems to be that they take place in Missouri. In fact, we do not even return to Bobby until about a quarter of the way through the novel. I first thought this was simply a loose novel of themed short stories!
The Soul-Eater has a pretty neat premise (spoilers for it follow!). A 'white trash' woman who left Edgar Falls married into money and as revenge for the torment she suffered there as a child, gifted the town with a mansion, which she paid to have imported and rebuilt. There was a nasty presence for lack of a better word in the mansion, however, one that could call forth the latent evil in people and have them commit atrocious acts and murder. Only Bobby, with his incipient and untrained psychic powers sensed the evil in the house, and, being just a boy, no one would listen to him, even while numerous people were dying right and left in the town very strangely (accidents happen after all). In the denouement, Bobby burned the house and hopefully the evil within it as well.
The first several chapters of The Manipulator serve to introduce several other evils, which will ultimately find their way back to Edgar Falls to take revenge on Bobby; but this only becomes apparent about halfway through the novel. Total editing fail! This should have started with Bobby's new life, and then have interludes where the other evil monsters were 'hatched' if you will. It just lacks any type of continuity as it stands. We start off with a lengthy chapter of a young woman, whose hazing ritual is to camp by a river right where legend has it the Black River Creature took and ate a young boy 60 years ago. Then, we move to Russia circa 1900 to a rural farm where the only college graduate has returned and is being celebrated, until a werewolf takes them all out.
It felt like both of these stories were stand alones, and decent, but then Brookins decided to make a mashup novel containing these takes and a few others, including one where a giant worm like thing eats some people, and one where huge flies kill a few more people. The connect? Each of these stories gave us an introduction to the evil monsters-- the river monster, the werewolf, a giant worm thing and a horde of flies-- that are making their way to get revenge on Bobby. Somehow, he will have to kill them all or perish.
Besides needing editing for continuity, this needs better editing period as the pacing was erratic to say the least (not to mention typos). This does have occasional bits of charm and brief flares of the witty and charming prose that Soul Eater started with, but as a novel, it is a bit of a fail. 2 manipulated stars!
Unlike the charming prose and with the last novel started with, Brookins here begins here with several short, quick and dirty stories, the only commonality seems to be that they take place in Missouri. In fact, we do not even return to Bobby until about a quarter of the way through the novel. I first thought this was simply a loose novel of themed short stories!
The Soul-Eater has a pretty neat premise (spoilers for it follow!). A 'white trash' woman who left Edgar Falls married into money and as revenge for the torment she suffered there as a child, gifted the town with a mansion, which she paid to have imported and rebuilt. There was a nasty presence for lack of a better word in the mansion, however, one that could call forth the latent evil in people and have them commit atrocious acts and murder. Only Bobby, with his incipient and untrained psychic powers sensed the evil in the house, and, being just a boy, no one would listen to him, even while numerous people were dying right and left in the town very strangely (accidents happen after all). In the denouement, Bobby burned the house and hopefully the evil within it as well.
The first several chapters of The Manipulator serve to introduce several other evils, which will ultimately find their way back to Edgar Falls to take revenge on Bobby; but this only becomes apparent about halfway through the novel. Total editing fail! This should have started with Bobby's new life, and then have interludes where the other evil monsters were 'hatched' if you will. It just lacks any type of continuity as it stands. We start off with a lengthy chapter of a young woman, whose hazing ritual is to camp by a river right where legend has it the Black River Creature took and ate a young boy 60 years ago. Then, we move to Russia circa 1900 to a rural farm where the only college graduate has returned and is being celebrated, until a werewolf takes them all out.
It felt like both of these stories were stand alones, and decent, but then Brookins decided to make a mashup novel containing these takes and a few others, including one where a giant worm like thing eats some people, and one where huge flies kill a few more people. The connect? Each of these stories gave us an introduction to the evil monsters-- the river monster, the werewolf, a giant worm thing and a horde of flies-- that are making their way to get revenge on Bobby. Somehow, he will have to kill them all or perish.
Besides needing editing for continuity, this needs better editing period as the pacing was erratic to say the least (not to mention typos). This does have occasional bits of charm and brief flares of the witty and charming prose that Soul Eater started with, but as a novel, it is a bit of a fail. 2 manipulated stars!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews