Clay McLeod Chapman has really nailed the world of obsession and addiction. In this book, Erin, our “heroine,” I suppose, has not lived the life her parents hoped she would. There was always Silas, and their small circle of associates. Trouble, time and again, a relationship that swirled around a drain even as she tried desperately to pull free.
Then Silas died, and things got really weird. Weaving through a life being torn apart, job, family fading into the background, Chapman drives nail after nail into Erin’s psyche until she can barely tell what is real, and what is not, who to trust, and who is not even the person she thought they were.
And there are the dead. The revenants, the ghosts… so many others like her yearning to contact those they’ve lost…
This is a very dark book. The concept, and the images will stick with you like something wet plastered to the surface of your brain that you can’t shake off. One of the best books I’ve read this year. Highly recommended.
I listened to the unabridged audio, and narrator Elisabeth Rodgers brings the characters to life seamlessly, never going overboard on voices, but keeping them distinct. I cannot say how annoying I found Toby… who was annoying, as well, to Erin. It was perfect.
Highly Recommended.