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One thing Stewart O'Nan cannot be accused of, girls, is being a literary lightweight. Having read "The Circus Fire," "Songs For The Missing," and now "The Night Country," I can attest he is not afraid to venture into darker realms. Where this book stands out is a touch of the supernatural is added, so that the book becomes, in addition to a ghost story, a meditation on Life, Death, Survival, and which, if any, are better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Halloween, the year before, in a small, New England-ish town called Avon, a group of teenagers, speeding, crashed into a tree. Four of those kids were killed--one (Tim) survived unharmed, while another, Kyle, suffered irreparable mental and physical damage.
Both Tim and Brooks, the police officer first on the scene, are consumed by guilt. And so, on the First Anniversary of the Tragic Event--the following Halloween--forces convene. The spirits of Danielle, Marco, and Toe appear to watch over the town and its inhabitants on that day. Will Tim's survivor guilt drive him to kill both he and Tim, the way he feels they should have died, last year? And how are the parents of both the deceased and the remaining effected? The book gets a little "Final Destination-ish," at this point. What will Brooks do to ease the guilt he feels at having been unable to save everyone? And what, if anything, can the Spirits of the Departed do, and what is it like, hypothetically, to be one?
O'Nan touches on all these issues, as he weaves a spell of almost philosophical mysticism over a narrative, that, in lesser hands, would simply have the urban legendry of a Sixties teenage death song. That he goes well beyond this makes "The Night Country" unsettling, and not so easy to shake, once the last page is turned.
For O'Nan and macabre devotees, it is not to be missed!
You'll be sure to watch your speedometer, next time you drive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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