Jonathan Baudet Baudet itibaren Apserde, Elkšņu pagasts, LV-5217, Letonya itibaren Apserde, Elkšņu pagasts, LV-5217, Letonya

J. Robert Lennon's fourth novel starts out in a familiar territory, but quickly strays from the path, following signs and markers from ghost stories and fairy tales. Eric Loesch has returned to rural upstate New York to renovate a house on a large parcel of land he has purchased. Although it's not clear why Loesch has come home, it quickly becomes apparent that something is very wrong. The forest behind his house beckons, but it rebuffs Loesch's efforts to explore it with inexplicable hostility. When he does manage to penetrate the perimeter, Loesch quickly finds himself disoriented in a dark and preternaturally quiet wood, calling to mind stories of New England's haunted forests. He's infatuated with an elusive and seemingly sentient white deer, but the discovery of a malevolent presence in his domain threatens to upset the peace Loesch craves. Or does he want something else? At home, Loesch goes about his business with admirable efficiency, but his interactions with the people in town range from brusque to outright offensive. Some believe family secrets brought him back; others suspect he's involved in an infamous military scandal; but everyone agrees that he's wound too tight. When his search to learn the identity of the land's previous owner reveals that a mysterious figure owns a strange castle in the heart of his property, Loesch all but becomes unhinged. Castle is a masterpiece of mood with an atmosphere suffused with dread. Even the discovery of a pile of moldy old books is freighted with the hysterical realism of Gothic horror. Loesch's isolation and decline are reminiscent of Irish Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea — the story of a man whose view of the world and his place in it dominates the narrative but proves to be utterly unreliable. In the second half of the novel, Lennon weaves the multiple strands of Loesch's bizarre past with the strange hell of his present. In many respects, Castle mines the same territory as Paul Auster's Man in the Dark, but is a vastly superior book. Not every novelist has the courage to embrace a protagonist who has deceived himself in precisely the same way thuggish theocrats deceive their citizens.

This was horrible in so many overused ways.

Though this isn't the sort of book I'd normally read, I'm a big fan of the authors. And, luckily, it was totally worth it! So funny! Highly recommend for fun simple read.