Spare Key

LegumeMan Books (2009)
ISBN: 9780980593808
$21.95
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Reviewed by Ross Murray, Jul 2009


Spare Key consists of three stories - the novella length “Spare Key”, and two short stories, “The Filmmakers” and “Writers Block”.

“Spare Key” sees recently released criminal Ben moving into a run-down apartment, armed with medication to curb his violent tendencies, determined to start a new life. Unfortunately, after spotting his next-door neighbour Rachel, he quickly falls back into old habits despite his medication.

“The Filmmakers” follows a group of sadistic teenage boys with a violent and deranged pack mentality. Their first assault is the physical and sexual abuse of a mentally impaired young girl. Further “fun” for them is derived from filming the assault and distributing DVDs of it to classmates at school. When a lethargic community and policeforce fail to punish the boys, their violence escalates.

“Writers Block” is a riff on Stephen King’s Misery. An exercise fanatic mother has imprisoned her son in the basement of their house after he wrote a story for class which exposed his stepfather as a child molester. This caused the stepfather to be sent away and convicted, and in the process ruining the mother’s chance of a happy life. As further punishment she forces him to keep writing.

There is potential in Hamilton’s work. Kudos goes to him for not shying away from such dark material that most writers wouldn’t even dream of attempting. His work addresses the themes of bad, abusive parents, impotent authority figures, and impulsive, violent sexual behaviour. Spare Key is a sincere and genuine attempt to climb into the minds of disturbed individuals with a writing style that is confident and adept. His characters at times elicit both sympathy and antipathy from the reader.

But don’t be fooled. Hamilton sets out to shock and disgust, making this material limited to a tailored horror audience. The violent sexual nature of many events throughout these stories may see readers placing Spare Key in the “too nasty” basket. So what realm of disgusting and shocking are we talking here? Probably somewhere between Stephen King’s darker moments and Bret Easton Ellis’s least shocking, and I’m not surprised to find these two authors on Hamilton’s list of influences.

Many readers will be shocked and disgusted. However, shocking and disgusting scenes don’t make a story. Like a car crash, we find it difficult to look away, but afterwards we want to know what caused the accident. The shocking scene on its own isn’t a story.

Thus Hamilton’s three stories feel like they’re missing a final third act that takes them into the realm of the truly horrific. “Spare Key” doesn’t really work as a novella and probably would’ve been better served as a short story. While I see why “Spare Key” is the length it is, there’s not enough substance to sustain the story to this length. On the other hand, with a few more twists, the story could easily have stretched to novel length. There is a twist in the end but, with only two main characters involved, the twist is telegraphed and fairly easily deciphered early on.

“The Filmmakers” - with a starting point, if I’m correct, based on true events - doesn’t know how to get around the moral dilemma of the content. While Hamilton is clearly disgusted with the behaviour of the boys, the desire to produce an horrific story pulls the narrative in opposite directions leaving the climax straddling an unsatisfying middle ground. Similarly “Writers Block” is a good idea which needed to be explored further but simply fizzles out.

Material of this kind is strictly for the horror fan. Hamilton describes himself as a 'young up and comer', and with more writing experience and more interrogation of his stories he will become more than that.

Congratulations should also go to LegumeMan books for having the courage to take it upon themselves to publish in this unforgiving genre.

For more information on R. Frederick Hamilton head to http://www.myspace.com/rfrederickhamilton or http://www.legumeman.com where a free short story of Hamilton’s “The Birthday Present” is available for download.