You have to admit, darlings, the cover is eye catching, and perfect for Halloween! When I perused this in the book store, I thought I was hitting pay dirt, with another story about a psycho kid on the prowl. This would have been fun, but what I got instead was a literary package wrapped in ambiguity.
This is Justin Evans' first novel. It is the story of George Davies, and goes back and forth, in time. In the present, he is married to a lovely woman named Maggie, and they have just had an infant son...whom George, for reasons unknown, cannot seem to bond with, touch, or go near. It just about costs him his marriage, as Maggie thinks he is nuts. So he seeks psychiatric help, and, through a series of notebooks detailing George's childhood past, we learn about his growing up years in Preston, Virginia.
These years include having a father who was into religious mysticism, so much so he wrote a book that was dismissed by the academic community he once was part of. He goes off to South America, where he dies mysteriously? Of what? Did someone want him dead? Is this a "Hamlet" scenario, with George's mother being the Gertrude of the piece,with her men? Or, is George possessed by a demon, as a group of fellow mystics in his town seem to think, and want to help him with. Does George need therapy or an exorcism? And people seem to die around George; who is doing this, an evil, psychopathic child, or someone possessed by a demon he sees?
Evans skirts the ambiguity channel, never offering a satisfactory explanation. By the time a character named Kurt is found dead, in a tree, I was convinced George is a child psychopath, who, as an adult, fears he may harm his son, or that his son may turn out to be what he was, since he inherited much of his behavior from his own father.
The ending is the capper. I am not sure if Evans is going for affection or death, at the end! Does George finally bond with the child? Or does he grab it, and hurl them both out the window, ending their harm to society? I tend to favor this last, but if anyone wants to try and prove me wrong, please go ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, a novel I was hoping to be fun and innovative is just more variations on tried but true themes. Evans writes well enough, but does not clarify his ideas. Still, the cover art is outstanding, and perfect for Halloween. The novel is skilled enough, but never approaches the level of adding another novel to the gallery of horror classics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This one is a trick, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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