He Laughs

by G.A. Johnson

Columbine. Sandy Hook. Isaac’s life began on the day of the first shooting and his mother put a gun to his head the night of the last. What happens between those tragic dates is Isaac’s life, and the story of a mother convinced her son would commit mass murder. Emma was ordinary, educated, and middle-class; how she dawned that ghastly duty lies in a saga of infidelity, divorce, greed, and financial ruin. Isaac was a side note in a family torn apart. He took sanctuary in the realm of his imagination, but it came under siege. At school Isaac’s withdrawn nature pegged him as ‘special needs’. Their solution: a regimen of prescription drugs with side-effects…a twitch…man-boobs…and a set of devoted tormentors. Isaac endured to freshmen year. Emma was drowning in wine and self-loathing. At school teasing turned to threats of an “epic YouTube ass-beating” Seemingly alone in the world, Isaac writes revenge-fiction to escape reality. Relics from his hidden family history—a pistol and a bag of pictures—become the props for his stories. Stories never meant to be seen but such are the nature of secrets. Is he the next school shooter? Or has Emma lost touch with reality?

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

I was born on the third of August in the year of our lord nineteen-hundred and eighty-six. If not for a hot check my mother wrote for gasoline, I would have been born in the back of a black Z-28 Camaro. My grandfather danced a jig in the hospital when I was announced to the family as a boy; this was a time when only the rich were able to find out the sex of their unborn babe ahead of time. A writer could not have wished for a better family to grow up in, I come from the most brilliant set of people to ever be mired in the struggles of everyday life. When the beer was poured around the table the stories flowed, and the cast of characters I was born to read like a Steinbeck novel. Death and hardships were abound. We were poor but we were not trash. Some of the sweetest memories I have are nights where my family dared to be joyful in the face of tragedy. I've spent a lifetime trying to figure out how my mother and the rest of us managed to pull through, and that is why I write. You may say that my style is a bit moralist in a sense, and although I write Christian allegory my work would never be found in a Christian bookstore. Come sit by my side and I’ll tell you things that could make a whore blush, but I promise there is no dingy alley of the human experience I’ll take you down without leading you to the light at the other side.

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He Laughs" by G.A. Johnson ranks up right next to Lionel Shriver's "We Need to Talk About Kevin".

Meet Emma and Kaleb Smith, and introducing their son: Isaac who was born on the day of the Columbine School shooting. The Smith's are your average family, from your average town, living an average life; at least that's what it seems.

"He Laughs" explores the complexities and intricacies of the ties that bind us--be it family or friend. Are there markers that denote future violence? To what degree are the intergenerational conflicts to be blamed? Can the sins of the past ever be addressed to meet the present? Is media hysteria to blame for a swathe of overly medicated children? Heart-breakingly real and in your face, G.A. Johnson tackles the notion of a family tragedy by exploring every nook and cranny of their sordid past. All the while, Isaac hides in his head, the only place he's free of criticism from his mother, extended family, and the ever-present bullies that haunt his waking moments.

Raw and real, "He Laughs" will leave you asking hard questions about the society we live in, and how it's progressed since that fateful day in 1999.