This is the most frightening thing I’ve seen in a while. It’s not like Nick Nolte’s 
mad scientist mug shot, which was just plain funny. But this is scary.
mad scientist mug shot, which was just plain funny. But this is scary.Maybe, deep down, I’m jealous, jealous of that hair the way a bully is jealous of the smart kid. Secretly I want big hair—or at least the ability to make big hair like Phil Spector’s locks of terror. Diana Ross has some hair from the netherworld as well. So does that guy from Wolfmother. Sadly, my thinking Satan was their hair stylist falls right into that old cliché.
But bad hair, like a crappy pink cover on a book, can cause the same judgemental effect.
Think about a book you saw, one where the cover had absolutely nothing to do with the story, or the title. Did you buy the book because the artwork or was it because the back cover blurb was so intriguing? Or are you like me? Will you steer clear of a book that is pastel pink, shoe covered, or depicts the “bodice ripping clinch” most people associate with Romance novels?
I don’t know why marketing departments for movies get it right and marketing departments in publishing houses get it so wrong. Remember what the posters looked like for Star Wars, Fatal Attraction? Man, one look and you knew what you were in for. Books aren’t like that.
Cognitively, I know the cover, is not the author, just as Phil’s hair is not him—on second thought, after seeing a few more Phil photos, maybe it is—I know cover has nothing to do with the story, but I still look for a some association. It’s a useless endeavour to ask why, but come on! The romantic suspense novel I just finished had about the jade trade had a soft blue and pearl gray Adirondack type chair sitting on a beach for its cover. That cover says “relax on your Pacific Northwest VACATION”, not “hold on to the edge of your seat”.
Now here’s a simple cover that says it all. It’s a thriller. It’s hard to see, but That red mitten and the lonely white house on the cover appear in the story. Hair is a feature as well.