Recommended reading: 'Mister B. Gone' by Clive Barker

Filed by: Darren Turpin on February 24, 2008 at 20:13
Filed under: Books

'Mister B Gone' by Clive Barker - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukBit of an odd one, this. Billed as a 'bone-chilling novel' I think it's fair to say that it's actually neither of those. At 248 pages of line-and-a-half print, I'd guess it's closer to novella or novelette in terms of word-count. And it's not particularly 'bone-chilling', either; if you're hoping for a return to the heady, intense, gore-soaked, genuinely scary early work of Barker's Books of Blood, then you'd be better off moving along... this isn't the book you're looking for.

But Mister B. Gone - despite the slight mis-marketing perpetrated by the blurb-writer - is an entertaining read. It's a whimsical fictional biography that tells the life story (or parts of it anyhow) of a demon from the ninth circle of hell who goes by the name of Jakabok Botch, or 'Mister B' to his one friend in the world: fellow demon Quitoon.

Barker employs a conceit throughout Mister B Gone in which the narrator, Mister B, begs you, the reader, to burn the book; employing all sorts of threats and blandishments to get you to destroy the papery vessel that apparently holds his demonic essence imprisoned. It gives a quirky, personal tone to the narrative voice, but I rather felt that it was over-done in places. I think I would have preferred a few more tales of demonic shennanigans and a little less of the chatting, in order to keep the narrative moving along.

The plot of the book is fairly simple one - demon spirit is imprisoned in book, read on to find out how - but of course the book is also a vehicle for Barker's philosophical musings on good and evil, the duality of human nature and so forth. Once again though, a quick blurb-based caveat: the "shocking truth of the battle between Good and Evil" promised on the inside flap really isn't all that shocking, and has already been done a time or two before.

Still, nit-picking aside, Mister B. Gone was, as I said, an entertaining read, and a light and easy one that I had no problem whizzing through. The Heaven vs Hell motif is one I've been intrigued by since reading some of the early Sandman and Hellblazer story-lines and I do enjoy re-visiting it every so often. Mister B Gone doesn't offer a blindingly original take on the theme, but it is an intriguing enough addition to the canon to make it worth picking up, if you're likewise that way inclined.

Filed on: February 24, 2008
Filed under: Books
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Comments

2 Responses to 'Recommended reading: 'Mister B. Gone' by Clive Barker'

  1. Ed on February 24th, 2008 11:37 pm

    Got this one on the shelf already :)

    Should also add that for a relativley cheap hardback it's very nicely put together, comes complete with ribbon bookmark, for less than a tenner from certain on-line retailers.

  2. Darren on February 25th, 2008 10:42 am

    That's very true, it is a handsome little volume.

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