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I got a tattoo when I was 19, two more in my 20s. All three are small and I forget I have them most of the time. I only have my ears pierced but I’ve gone with a friend to get her bellybutton pierced and know many who have gotten body piercings. I’m not an expert on tattooing, but I do feel comfortable in that world.

“A Good and Useful Hurt” is centered around a tattoo parlor in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mike, the owner is a gifted artist, still reeling from the suicide of his late girlfriend, Sid. Mike works with Lamar, another tattoo artist, and Becky, who runs the counter. In need of a piercer, he hires Deb. Romance was the last thing Mike was expecting, but he can’t help being drawn to his new hire.

While his relationship with Deb evolves, Mike starts a new practice at the shop. People ask him to mix the ashes of deceased loved ones into ink and tattoo them with the mixture. Though strange, Mike continues to tattoo ashes on customers, never dreaming that this will help him in the long run.

These customers periodically narrate chapters where they experience intense dreams about their dead family members which seem so real it’s as if the tattoo brought them back to life.

Meanwhile, Phil, a serial killer is raping and murdering young women in the city. Phil hates women and dreams of killing one particular woman while her baby daughter watches. He relives the killing of each of his victims intensely until the memories start to fade and he is desperate for a new fix. At first, the two stories seem unconnected until a woman Mike has tattooed becomes one of Phil’s victims.

Annie was Doc’s niece. Doc is a professor obsessed with tattoos who used Mike regularly. Mike tells Doc about the ash tattoos, drawing the two storylines together. When tragedy finds its way to the tattoo shop, the two men team up to find the killer before he is able to attack his dream woman.

“A Good and Useful Hurt” is a very interesting book. The writing and pace are tight, without endless description. The dialogue seemed a little juvenile in places. The story is fascinating. There was a lot I didn’t know about tattoo shops and more specifically piercing (and some of the things piercing artists do, which I found disturbing).

It made me think about why I got tattoos and what they mean to me. I enjoyed reading about the choices other people made when they came to Mike’s shop. Tattooing is a real art, which is touched upon in this novel. It’s one that is often overlooked or dismissed.

There’s an element of the supernatural. The idea that being tattooed with ashes can bring a deceased person back to his or her loved ones in their dreams in lovely. The author never explains why this happens. Is it a gift Mike has? Is it something about the ashes themselves? Whatever the reason, it’s irrelevant to the book. It just happens and becomes the solution for everyone grieving in the story.

There are some graphic and gruesome details, which makes sense given the serial killer storyline. Phil narrates his own chapters and often recounts what he did to each victim in detail. I never thought these descriptions were over the top or used for shock value. They worked well within the plot.

“A Good and Useful Hurt” is a different type of book than I normally read, but one I found gripping; sad, haunting and lovely all at once. There’s an underlying message in this novel: society tends to remember its monsters, the Mansons, the Dahmers, etc., but the victims are seldom recalled. This is a book dedicated to victims.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_dorothy.jpg.optimal.jpg

Aric Davis’ “A Good and Useful Hurt” explores concepts of life and death.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Good-and-Useful.jpg.optimal.jpgAric Davis’ “A Good and Useful Hurt” explores concepts of life and death. Submitted photo

By Dorothy Sasso

On the Books

“A Good and Useful Hurt”

Author: Aric Davis

Page Number: 302

Publisher: 47North

Rating:♦♦♦♦

Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her daughter.