The Skull Cage Key by Michel Marriott
By Phyllis Rhodes • Mar 1st, 2008 • Category: Book Review •
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I was thoroughly pleased when offered a copy of The Skull Cage Key as a review book because I had recently read a glowing endorsement in Essence magazine for the debut novel by Michael Marriott. I am a fan of the Sci-Fi/Paranormal genre and have enjoyed Patrik’s Picks tremendously in the past, so I anxiously settled in with this latest recommendation. Unfortunately, after reading the last page, I am not as enthusiastic about the book as Patrik.
The novel opens strongly enough with a young, virile man, Army, engaged in an unfulfilling affair with his demanding employer during the celebration of the Chinese New Year in a posh hotel suite in 2041 New York City. Within a few pages, Army is rendered unconscious and awakens to find his lover’s decapitated body in the tub and himself in police custody as a person of interest. Fast forward a few days later when his boss’s decomposing head literally lands on his parents’ home, he recognizes a setup when he sees one. Fleeing as a prime suspect, he goes on the lam determined to clear his name and find the real murderer(s). In a parallel plotline, there is Reagan, an ousted, racist cop with a shady past who is obsessed with the dark, exotic, and extremely beautiful pleasurist (akin to a futuristic prostitute), Oona, who just happened to bedazzle Army from afar minutes before his boss’s beheading.
The selling of joy/happiness is the craze behind the new, highly addictive drug, Hedz. However, harvesting joy comes with a fatal blow as the drug is derived from freshly obtained brain matter. The rich and happy are targeted for their endorphin-rich memories of lavish vacations and lush lifestyles. When wealthy and often high-profile targets command the attention of the police to address their murders, Reagan is hired as a private consultant to work the most recent case involving Army’s boss.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly where I started losing interest, but I think it could very well be I never truly connected with Army, Oona or their plight – there just was not enough there for me to care about them as individuals or as a potential couple. Although Reagan was intentionally an unlikeable character, I found his storyline a tad more interesting than Army and Oona’s. It was truly the intrigue surrounding the new drug, Hedz, and Reagan’s shady underworld involvement with the sleazy Harlemite drug dealers that kept me reading as it proved to be more interesting than Army (including his family), Oona, and Reagan combined. At times, the story read somewhat like a screenplay with numerous chase scenes, weapons-fire and multiple explosions. Factor in a sexy, handsome protagonist and irresistible, highly desirable pleasurist hovering about, there was little doubt that the requisite sex scenes were dutifully (and tastefully) infused throughout the novel.
For me, the most notable aspect (and possibly an unintentional by-product) of the novel is the author’s keen rendering of an underlying political landscape, cultural amalgamation, and the complex social constructs in the not too distant future. He effortlessly folds in the concepts of Terrorist Wars, the migration of racial classifications/identities to simply Lights and Darks, the everlasting War on Drugs (same modus operandi, different drug), the use of lotteries in education, and the Maternal Order concept where surrogate motherhood is taken to another level. Such notions and speculation surrounding the evolution and morphing of unresolved contemporary social problems are, at a minimum, thought-provoking. The infusion of authentic historical references from Renaissance Harlem to current events adds a sense of nostalgia and relevance.
The Skull Cage Key is well-written, well-imagined, and fairly well-paced (there were some slow passages for me). It is a novel that I recommend with caveats – from a positive angle, it has smatterings of SciFi elements in terms of cool innovative gadgetry, artificial intelligence, very light erotica in terms of few sex scenes and the introduction of “jellies” in the sex trade of the future, and intrigue in the murder, mayhem, and pursuit to find the real Hedz culprits. From a negative angle, because of the broad coverage across three or so genres, a “true” fan of any singular genre might not be satisfied with the offering as a whole. Thus the middle of the road rating and encouragement to just give it a try and decide for yourself.
Reviewed by Phyllis Rhodes
APOOO BookClub
March 23, 2008
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Phyllis Rhodes is a systems engineer with a major defense contractor and adjunct professor at two local universities in Orlando, Florida. A lifelong bibliophile, she founded the Nubian Circle Book Club in 2001 and is a freelance book reviewer for the Orlando Sentinel, APOOO Exchange Team, and Amazon.com. As a consummate fan of the arts, she supports local and national theatre, literary events, and Afrocentric festivals, exhibits, and historical tributes. When not traveling, teaching, or reading, she researches her family history and applies her talents across a host of professional organizations chartered to sustain and uplift the African American community
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