Turning Face: A Tale of Horror, Comedy and Wrestling
Terry M. West
2015
Reviewed by Wayne C. Rogers
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I read the new novella by Terry M. West, Turning Face: A Tale of Horror, Comedy and Wrestling. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I’d like the story, but I did. After just a page of reading, the story of Tojo Smith, the Crimson Demon, grabbed me in a tight bear hug, lifted me up into the air, and then body slammed me into the mat. I groaned and struggled, but it didn’t do any good. The story had a hold of me and wouldn’t let go.
So, this novella is not only good, it’s fantastic, and that is an understatement!
The story is about Tojo Smith, who’s a demon disguised as a human being. Tojo’s parents are also demons and were sent to the earth plane to stir up hate and discontent amongst the human populace. Tojo’s fate is much the same. When he grows up, his mission is to also instigate hate, anger and discontent. Of course, the main question for Tojo and his parents is how will he accomplish this?
As a child, Tojo Smith watched a lot of television so he could learn the ways of human beings. One television program caught his undivided attention — Championship Wrestling. From that point on, Tojo knew he wanted to be a professional wrestler when he grew up.
When Tojo is old enough, he goes to wrestling boot camp and learns the ropes so to speak. Because of his huge size, he’s automatically classified as the villain and is named The Crimson Demon. This is perfect for Tojo. As the villain he can get the crowds to hate and boo him. The only problem with this is that Tojo is a pretty nice guy for a demon. He’s friendly, has a good heart, and loves the audience. But, more importantly, he loves professional wrestling and will do whatever it takes to make the audience happy.
In time, the audience begins to chant Tojo’s name every time he appears in the ring: Tojo, Tojo, Tojo! The giant wrestler doesn’t know what to do or think about the situation. Even his manager begins to suggest to him that he turn face, or become the good guy as many villainous wrestlers have done in their careers. But Tojo doesn’t want to be the good guy. He likes being the villain. The Crimson Demon just doesn’t know how to get the audience to boo him again like in the old days.
All of this changes when a representative from Hell visits Tojo with new instructions for him. Tojo is told that it’s time for him to retire whether he wants to or not. Hell will provide his replacement (Werner Haas), and it will be up to Tojo to sell this gigantic person to the head of his wrestling organization. On the outside, Werner appears to be a friendly sort of person. Secretly, however, he likes to hurt people in a serious way and has his eyes zeroed in on Tojo and the young man Tojo has mentored.
It won’t be long before Tojo has to make a tough decision between doing what’s right and doing what Hell expects of him.
It’s not easy being a demon!
I have to tell you that Turning Face is fun as hell (no pun intended) to read. You find yourself laughing out loud at some of the antics Tojo goes through, and then suddenly shouting to yourself: Tojo, Tojo, Tojo!
Make no mistake in that Tojo Smith is a reluctant hero, but a hero never the less. You find yourself forgiving Tojo for being a demon and hissing whenever Werner Haas appears in the story. You’ll find yourself cheering for Tojo, much like I and millions of others did for Rocky back in the seventies and then for Rudy in the nineties.
If you love wrestling, then this is definitely the book for you. If you don’t know anything about the sport and entertainment of championship wrestling, then you will before the book is finished. The author, Terry M. West, knows his stuff and has put his love for wrestling into every single sentence. You can instantly tell just how much he enjoys writing about the subject, even in a horror novel that is also part comedy.
The author’s prose isn’t pretentious, but rather smooth and easy going like music to one’s ears. You can find yourself reading forty pages and then wondering where the time went.
Like the title says, Turning Face: A Tale of Horror, Comedy and Wrestling combines all three elements into this exciting story of right and wrong. It definitely offers the reader hours of pure enjoyment. You won’t go wrong in reading this and might just learn how to a body slam on your cat, if you can catch the damn animal!
Excellent summer reading!
- Predestination – Movie Review - September 11, 2015
- Turning Face – Book Review - July 1, 2015
- The Devil’s Detective – Book Review - June 29, 2015
