Something Wicked

A Horatio Wilkes Mystery

by Alan Gratz



Something Wicked, by Alan Gratz, reintroduces amateur detective, Horatio Wilkes, first seen in Gratz’s Something Rotten.

The first Horatio Wilkes mystery was based on the Shakespeare play Hamlet, while the second is based on Macbeth. Since I’ve never read any Shakespeare, my review of Something Wicked isn't as full as it should be--I've missed all kinds of interesting points, I’m sure.

Neither have I read Sam Spade’s story or any other hard-boiled detective novels, and that probably limits my ability to write a good review, too.

I’m not about to read Hamlet or Hammett so I can do a better job reviewing Gratz’s books, though, so, without further ado, I give you my thoughts on Something Wicked.

Horatio has one of the coolest names in YA fiction, and it fits him, because he's also one of the coolest protagonists in YA fiction. The guy is smart and funny and in control of himself.

That last bit—the self-controlled bit—isn’t unimportant. It's not that Horatio never makes mistakes, but he is generally not driven by emotions. He's his own man. He doesn't drink no matter what the other kids are doing and he isn't afraid to tell his friends when he thinks they're wrong. He's the fast-thinking, self-aware character that makes a great hero.

And he makes the book work for me. I love mysteries, but while this one is well done, the plot wasn't what kept me in the story. Horatio kept me. I like the kid. I like his voice. I like the way he reasons. I like the way he thinks about girls, but….

The way he thinks about girls is kind of hard to believe. He’s very mature for a seventeen-year-old. At one point he checks into a hotel and later welcomes a girl into the room and they spend “one glorious night in bed” making love while listening to some great music. Hmm. Is that realistic high school sex? I thought high school sex was having your head smashed against a car door, and your knee slammed into a gear shift, while some sweaty Neanderthal…well, never mind. Horatio is a larger than life storybook hero--sex with him should be better than real life.

What about the sex his buddy Mac has with his gal Beth? Is their relationship such that the average high school reader can relate to? In his wildest Internet imaginings, perhaps.

I think teen boys are generally like Mac, the sex maniac, in their dreams; like Horatio, the sensitive guy who wants more than a one night stand, in their girlfriends’ dreams, and like Banks, the one who never gets any, in the harsh light of day.

The sex in Something Wicked bothers me because I think the book strives to normalize teen sex. It treats it as a matter of course and not a moral choice. Meet a girl, think she’s cute, take her to bed. No harm, no foul.

In real life, of course, sex is messy, and expensive. Babies are conceived and consciences are bruised and hearts are broken. Even when the sex is engaged in with respect, in a hotel room with good music, it's still messy and costly. There is no good teen sex. It always leaves a trail of destruction. Why? Because we can’t sin with impunity.

What does Gratz get right about the sex in his book? It’s not titillating, graphic, or gratuitous. It is a driving force in the book and without it, there would be no book. And while Horatio, our hero, didn't have to have sex for the book to work, his sensitive sex, plays as a contrast to the ugly sex between Mac and Beth. The book fails to point out that two people who have known each other only a day or two can’t really love and respect one another, but it does aim at a distinction, I think, between sex that is connected to love and sex that is connected to power.

Why am I spending so much time talking about teen sex, you ask? Well, here are the opening paragraphs of Something Wicked:

History is full of guys who did stupid things for women. Paris started the Trojan War over Helen. Mark Antony abandoned Rome for Cleopatra. John Lennon gave up the Beatles for Yoko Ono. You can say I'm a dreamer, but they're not the only ones. Like my friend, Joe Mackenzie: He was about to jump off a five-story building just to impress a girl.

"Come on, you wuss!" Mac's girlfriend Beth yelled. "If you don't jump off that tower, you're not getting any more of this!" She lifted her sweater up over her head, showing her bra and her extraordinary breasts to Mac, me, Banks, and the five or six other people milling around Kangaroo Kevin's Bungee Jump-O-Rama in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They actually inspired a small round of applause. I won't say what they did to me, but Beth's fun cushions certainly inspired Mac. With a Scottish war cry he charged the end of the platform and jumped headfirst, screaming all the way down. His kilt opened like a daisy as he fell, and everyone saw his stamen.

This novel is all about a lust for power and human depravity, and sex is the picture the author chooses to show some of that depravity. Unhealthy sexual relationships ruin lives. Woman make men do stupid things. It's important for men to feel powerful in front of the women in their lives. These messages come through. They're not bad topics for discussion in teen novels. Thankfully, what could have turned into a series of boring lectures all went down smoothly, because the author sugared the medicine with humor and tied everything together in a workable plot.

OK, then. Moving on.

Violence. Those of you who don’t like CSI might need to close your eyes or fast forward on parts of the book. It was a bit disturbing--there was a lot of blood and the murderer is so coldhearted. Then there's the fact that the protagonist's best friend is a prime suspect. This is not a pleasant little cozy mystery going on here. The sex is over the top and the violence is over the top, too, I think.

The mystery was pretty easy to figure out, but the story was still interesting. The setting was interesting, and following Horatio along as he proved who did it, was interesting. Horatio is such a great character, with such an interesting family, that I'd follow him anywhere, I think.

Weaknesses? I don't see any weaknesses in the writing at all.

Strengths? The characterization is great, the setting and descriptions are great, and the author is a wit. Alan Gratz is really a fine writer. I plan to read all of his books as they come out. I'm looking forward to reading his historical fiction to see how it is.

Will I recommend this book to my fifteen-year-old son? I think so. We've talked enough about sex and he has such a strong understanding of what God desires in this area, that I think he'll be able to see the truth of the matter--Banks, the guy who gets none, is the happiest, in the end. Horatio confused lust with love, and I think my son will be able to see that.

I'll even more heartily recommend it to my fifteen-year-old daughter, though. I love the message for her: Sleep with a guy, even a nice, sensitive guy, and look at where that will land you. heh heh The girls in the book didn't end up benefiting from their relations with the boys.

Do I recommend it for your children? No. I recommend you read it yourself and make your own decision on the matter.


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Copyright © 2008 Sally Apokedak