Diana Henstell

I should not have finished this book. I resolved to myself not to read bad books, so what do I do? Keep plodding through this doorstop to the end.

I rented "Deadly Friend" on Netflix and was surprised to find that it was based on a novel. I thought "a story about a robot AND a Frankenstein girl? Yes, please." But no, I should have stopped there. It's an idea that better rests in the mind than in tangible form. It is so overwritten it's obviously trying to stand on the same pedestal as the Stephen King mass market paperback thrillers of 1985 (it's even got alcoholism and a small New England town). And it's just as overwritten. SO overwritten. Every thought a character has, every nuance of movement, every past detail is rehashed, sometimes six or seven times. As if the reader is too stupid and needs a review every POV switch.

In the book, the robot is a lot less "Johnny Five" and more "1980's robot" from the Muppets. It doesn't even talk. And its creator is a twelve-year-old kid who brings it everywhere he goes -- to school, the grocery store -- like it's his security blanket. It's no retelling of Frankenstein and it's no thriller. It's slow, it's stupid, and it ain't got no style. Not a single character is likable, least of all the main one. His mother should be taking him to therapy, not to a genius academy. His mother calls him "Piggy" for chrissakes. The science is appalling, the dialogue is cheesy. It makes one wonder how this idea passed muster in the agent's room.… (more)