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Satan Sublets
A cruel resident demon tortures the innocent tenants of a haunted apartment.
- GenresHorror
190 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 21, 2019
What can I say about this book? The artwork is included in the wonderful Paperbacks from Hell, and the cover *is* pretty great... but that's about where any positive aspects end, sadly.
In Satan Sublets, Mr. Younger presents us with three tales of various tenants that move through the same apartment in New York City, sublet through one Mr. Devlin (yup). Of course the apartment is an absolute steal - and all the renters pat themselves on the back for finding such a rare gem in the competitive New York real estate market - but we find out this deal comes at a terrible price, as it is actually the apartment of .......SATAN!
I won't get into the details of the three tales (they're really terrible). What is fascinating to me about this novel is that I don't think I've ever read anything where that golden rule of writing 'show, don't tell' is so completely and utterly thrown out the window. Mr. Younger does not possess any original ideas at all (the first story is particularly cliche), and indeed no writing skills as far as I can tell. The reader also gets the sense of two truths about Mr. Younger: 1) He hates New York City and 2) He hates doctors. Across the stories he paints pictures of the stifling humidity of the city in the summer, the pollution and decay (okay, we get it, the city is dirty). Then he has his characters go on multiple diatribes against doctors, including twice pointing out that no one says "the Doctor" anymore; they drop the article "the" so it is just "Doctor". For example: "Doctor will be with you in a minute", "Doctor is out". Is this really a thing? I don't know, but apparently it irritated the hell out of the author.
Is Satan Sublets so bad it's good? No, not exactly... though I did laugh out loud in the third story, when the main character - who has gone deaf as a result of living in the evil apartment (or at least , I think that is why it happened) - has an illegal operation to fix his hearing; the doctor performing the operation tries to ease his patient's anxiety by explaining the procedure: "It is quite minor, Mr. Fuller. I am going to replace your auditory nerves." (WHAT?!?!? Okay....) But there is something entertaining in this nonsense, so I give it two stars instead of one; but it is most definitely teetering on the brink of one stardom.
In Satan Sublets, Mr. Younger presents us with three tales of various tenants that move through the same apartment in New York City, sublet through one Mr. Devlin (yup). Of course the apartment is an absolute steal - and all the renters pat themselves on the back for finding such a rare gem in the competitive New York real estate market - but we find out this deal comes at a terrible price, as it is actually the apartment of .......SATAN!
I won't get into the details of the three tales (they're really terrible). What is fascinating to me about this novel is that I don't think I've ever read anything where that golden rule of writing 'show, don't tell' is so completely and utterly thrown out the window. Mr. Younger does not possess any original ideas at all (the first story is particularly cliche), and indeed no writing skills as far as I can tell. The reader also gets the sense of two truths about Mr. Younger: 1) He hates New York City and 2) He hates doctors. Across the stories he paints pictures of the stifling humidity of the city in the summer, the pollution and decay (okay, we get it, the city is dirty). Then he has his characters go on multiple diatribes against doctors, including twice pointing out that no one says "the Doctor" anymore; they drop the article "the" so it is just "Doctor". For example: "Doctor will be with you in a minute", "Doctor is out". Is this really a thing? I don't know, but apparently it irritated the hell out of the author.
Is Satan Sublets so bad it's good? No, not exactly... though I did laugh out loud in the third story, when the main character - who has gone deaf as a result of living in the evil apartment (or at least , I think that is why it happened) - has an illegal operation to fix his hearing; the doctor performing the operation tries to ease his patient's anxiety by explaining the procedure: "It is quite minor, Mr. Fuller. I am going to replace your auditory nerves." (WHAT?!?!? Okay....) But there is something entertaining in this nonsense, so I give it two stars instead of one; but it is most definitely teetering on the brink of one stardom.
Displaying 1 of 1 review