The Handyman Method

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

The Handyman Method: A Story of Terror by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan

On the surface this is a top-rate haunted house story. Under the surface, it's an unflinching look at the unattainable standards around the performance of masculinity, and how that standard is used to insight our main character into a 'Jack Nicholson from the Shining' level of unhinged.

We're introduced to this story through the eyes of our main character, Trevor, a middle aged 'family man', who has just moved into a new house in a neighbourhood currently under development, with his wife and young son. The 'neighbourhood' isn't completed and they are the only family who has moved in. Not even the sod has been laid yet, which irritates Trevor and has him wondering what else hasn't been completed in 'his' new home.

Trevor finds a small hole in the wall in a closet and decides he'll fix it himself. However, his training in law has not equipped him with the skills and knowledge to fix it, so he goes onto YouTube and finds 'The Handyman Method' hosted by Hank. Hank is essentially bogan-Jordan Peterson, if he only wore plaid while also teaching you how to put up drywall or unclog a drain. The videos start with small comments about how a man should know a few basics about fixing his own home. Sounds innocuous, but that's how idealogues build their community both in real-life and the book.

What hits home the hardest, reading this as a woman, is how I've heard these exact ideologies and 'jokes' from men in real life. Cutter and Sullivan don't need to exaggerate or embellish the misogyny shared by Handyman Hank and absorbed by T-Man (Trevor), because it's insidious and terrifying as is.

Thank you to Andrew Sullivan for signing my copy of this book with, 'Log off' - great advice that I intend to take as often as possible.

This book is best read in the parking lot of your local Home Depot, in the largest, least fuel efficient vehicle legal on roads. And make sure you're double parked in the 'reserved for families with young children' section.