00007309

00007310

Picked up from the juvenile section of the library purely for the title, The Devil's Toenail is yet another trip for me into the mind of a demented young man. Unlike Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and the main character of Inexcusable, this one is only slightly demented and does have his bit of redemption by the book's end.

Pressured by his "friends" to become part of a gang, and haunted by a horrific act of torture against him, young Stevie reincarnates himself as a terror-artist in training when he finds a Devil's Toenail on holiday at the beach. Though it is really only a seashell, Stevie begins to hear the Devil's voice coercing him into becoming a hellion, and nearly loses himself in the process. Stevie's struggle and blind ambition are reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange and Catcher in the Rye, yet are a bit more naive and more capable of an absolution.

There are some very important plot points that seem to be left out or merely skimmed over, but this works well because the narrator is so unreliable. All in all, a very short, very good read. Especially for any young men you may know, troubled or not. ( )