The Burn Palace
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- نقد و بررسی
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نقد و بررسی
Starred review from December 17, 2012
The latest from the prolific Dobyns (after Eating Naked) is by turns an affectionate portrait of smalltown life, a terrifying supernatural thriller, and a sly horror comedy. Brewster, R.I., is a sleepy burg populated with a cast of lovable eccentrics. But something is wrong in this prototypical New England town. First, a baby is stolen from a local hospital and a huge striped snake put in the bassinet in its place. Then a body is found scalped in the woods. Meanwhile, packs of murderous coyotes make increasingly daring attacks on the townspeople. Most disturbing of all, locals begin coming forward with stories of strange rituals in the woods. For detective Woody Potter and acting police chief Fred Bonaldo, it’s obvious something evil is afoot, perhaps to do with the town’s new yoga center, or maybe linked to suspicious goings-on at the nearby funeral home. As the authorities descend from multiple jurisdictions creating chaos, it takes the help of young Hercel McGarity Jr., a 10-year-old who may possess the town’s only benign magical powers, to give the people of Brewster a chance to defend themselves against something far darker than anyone imagined. Despite the novel’s complexity, Dobyns gives his many characters space to come alive and allows each of the spooky subplots time to build maximum suspense. Scenes of young Hercel being menaced by a madman start out merely disturbing, but turn into some of the scariest in recent literature. Dobyn’s tone, shifting from amused to sinister and back again, elevates the material by buttressing the horror with pitch black humor. A tour de force genre buster that could be a breakout. Agent: Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates.
December 1, 2012
Atmospheric New England supernaturalism from not-Stephen King, but a latter-day disciple who deservedly earns the master's praise. Nurse Spandex is a size-10 woman in size-two garb, but that doesn't keep her from making a career of seducing the docs on the floor of the Rhode Island hospital at which she works. Bad idea, since one fervent night, a newborn goes missing from the incubator, with a big scary snake wriggling around in the baby's place. Cue screaming and jiggling, for as Dobyns (Eating Naked, 2000, etc.) rightly and elegantly notes, "Surely fear is the oldest emotion. Not love, not pride, not greed. The emotion urging you to run is older than the one telling you to embrace." True that. Woody Potter, world-weary local cop and damaged Iraq veteran, has not just the case of the substitute snake to worry about, but also that of a dead insurance agent. MacGuffins abound, but then so do red herrings: Does the key to the mystery lie with a local funeral-home denizen who has suddenly taken to communing with the coyotes and is a rather surly chap ("What the fuck would I hang a cat for?"), with the neighborhood Wiccan coven, with Ouroboros worshippers or with James Earl Jones in his Conan the Barbarian role? Well, the last doesn't figure, but with Dobyns' catholic approach to possibilities, he might just as well. Finally, Woody pulls together enough evidence to lead him in a different and altogether more sinister direction that, suffice it to say, may make a reader think twice about spending a night in the hospital. An utterly believable tale, and Dobyns isn't above scaring the reader silly with surprise twists and turns. Nicely done--and you may never look at doctors the same way again.
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January 1, 2013
Brewster, RI, is a small town in a small state, and seems an unlikely place for drama. But this is New England, and how better to stir hysteria and cover up a crime ring than to invoke witchcraft? Poet and novelist Dobyns performs just this bit of magic in his first novel since 1999's Boy in the Water. State trooper Woody Potter is called to Brewster when a baby disappears from the hospital, with a snake left in its bassinet instead. As Halloween approaches, the baby snatching turns out to be the first in a string of strange occurrences in town, including satanic ceremonies, coyotes in the streets, and murder. The mayhem borders on complete chaos until Woody, his partner Bobby, and other state troopers start to put the pieces together and discover the real-world sources of the related crimes. VERDICT This is an intricate who-done-it with richly drawn characters, a superb sense of place, and just enough otherworldly action to tantalize. Requiring close attention, it is not for those looking for a quick read but should appeal to readers of literary mysteries and lovers of New England fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 8/3/12]--Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 15, 2012
Award-winning poet and veteran novelist Dobyns, who also pens the Charlie Bradshaw mystery series, sets his latest thriller in Brewster, Rhode Island, a small town beset by a series of strange occurrences that may be supernatural in nature. Detective Woody Potter has been wracked by emotional turmoil ever since his girlfriend left him. But he knows he's in for an even rougher patch on the job when he's called to the hospital in the middle of the night. Someone has stolen a newborn baby and left a huge red-and-yellow snake in the infant's crib. Then the scalped corpse of an insurance investigator turns up in a parking lot. Throw in a local Wiccan sect, some out-of-control coyotes, and an unemployed plumber who has taken to growling at people, and you have a recipe for small-town hysteria. Dobyns peoples this literary chiller with a fully rounded cast of memorable characters, from an eerily self-possessed 10-year-old with an unusual gift to an opera-loving policeman who secretly longs to be a set designer. Expertly paced and smoothly written, this should appeal to both thriller and horror fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
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