Sawyer and his closest friends decide to pull one last prank as the summer comes to an end. One friend works at the local Megaplex, and after the main crew gets kicked out when trying to sneak in, they decide to make things really uncomfortable for their friend’s boss. Stored in Sawyer’s garage is a mannequin they found out in the woods. The teens disassemble the mannequin and each sneak a piece of it into the theater, this time with a paid ticket so they can’t get kicked out. The kids assemble the mannequin, and the prank seems to work. That is, until the mannequin stands up on its own and walks out when the movie ends. Terrified, Sawyer racks his brain to figure out how on earth a mannequin could come to life. When their movie theater employee friend is killed by a semitruck running through her home, Sawyer is convinced the mannequin has returned to kill them all. Determined to protect his family, Sawyer takes it upon himself to remove the mannequin’s targets one by one.
Night of the Mannequins is a novella and a quick way to spend a Friday night. Sawyer is a fascinating character that pretty quickly has the reader getting that “oh no” feeling. Stephen Graham Jones captures that strange black and white thinking that teenagers possess, giving Sawyer a type of tunnel vision that, while unhinged, feels believable in a truly terrifying way.
Night of the Mannequins is available February 24, 2026 from Tor Publishing.
