Ink

“. . . a slow burn . . . certain to earn Ms. Grintalis her fair share of new devotees.”

“At first glance, nothing made the man in the tailored suit memorable—no cleft chin, no razor-sharp cheekbones, no scars. An ordinary face, an unremarkable man, albeit dressed in an expensive suit and a silk tie—the second-best part of being William, in his opinion. He doubted the previous owner, the real William, felt the same.

“He moved with a hitching stride, a sort of low-slung walk as if unaccustomed to the fit of the pants. A far from ordinary gait. The city buzzed and hummed around him, but he paid it no mind; he had things to do.

“Baltimore smelled of overflowing trashcans, stagnant water and dog excrement. Old, familiar smells, although it had been a long time since his last visit. He walked until he came to a row of brick buildings with darkened windows and a door with faded paint, a door a hundred passersby would never notice.

“He did not bother to lock it behind him. Anyone who wandered in would find nothing at all if they were lucky, a bit of darkness and pain if they weren’t. A narrow staircase with old, scuffed wooden stairs led up and up and up, and at the very top, another door swung open with a long, high-pitched creak.

“‘Had a girl and she sure was fine,’ he sang out in a deep, gravelly voice. ‘She was fine, fine, fine.’

“Once inside the room, his words echoed away. The floorboards were warped and stained, the wallpaper hung in tattered shreds and a smell lingered in the air, faint but somehow liquid. The stink of rot and ruin, of old dreams, broken screams and wicked, dirty little things.

“With a sigh, he peeled off his suit and smiled a terrible smile. He was ash and cinder, pain and sorrow, and he was always clever.”

After kicking off Ink by introducing us to the villain, author Damien Walters Grintalis throws us right into the middle of the action.

Jason, the bad guy’s unwitting catch of the day, is three beers into celebrating his separation from his domineering wife, Shelley; the wounds are so fresh, she hasn’t yet moved her belongings out of his home. He makes the acquaintance of a fellow barfly, a man Jason nicknames “Sailor,” due to his rolling, seaman’s gait.

Sailor is a tattoo artist by trade. After waking up the next morning with a hangover, Jason decides to stick it to Shelley and shout his independence to the world by getting a tattoo. Sailor designs a custom work of art for Jason, a griffin, the finished quality of which exceeds the promise of the initial sketch. The griffin just might be Sailor’s best work yet, according to the man himself.

At first Jason agrees. After a couple days of odd sensations in his arm, frightened responses from animals and children, severed animal parts found in his yard and on his front porch, and an assortment of other bizarre and grisly happenings, Jason discovers the truth about his tattoo and the true identity of the man he calls Sailor. It might be too late for Jason to do anything now, though; tattoos, after all, are permanent.

Ms. Grintalis’ debut novel is well written and compact in a manner encouraging long reading sessions. Those familiar with her short stories will notice a marked departure from the more “artsy” and dreamlike style she tends to use in those, so there isn’t a whole lot standing between the reader and the story.

The characters themselves are well written and not in the least stock. Ms. Grintalis still treats the reader to her flair for the surreal during several dream sequences and the like, but in such dosages as to be welcome and appreciated rather than overwhelmed.

Once revealed, the true identity of the antagonist doesn’t come as a surprise—most likely by design. The version Ms. Grintalis draws on, however, and the mythology she builds around him, are welcome and original. The methods by which Jason addresses his horrific dilemma were some of only a handful of realistic options, depicted in a brutal and intense manner.

Ink is definitely a slow burn, the last two chapters or so downright explosive—a debut novel certain to earn Ms. Grintalis her fair share of new devotees.