Out of Body

March 2, 2020
Ford’s dark fantasy (after Ahab’s Return) is a thrilling supernatural slugfest acted out by sleeping souls in the “night world” of the astral plane. Owen Hapstead, a librarian in the quiet town of Westwend, survives a pistol-whipping during a convenience store holdup and (possibly as a result of the head trauma) discovers that his ethereal self can break free to roam the town while his corporeal self sleeps. During his discarnate jaunts he meets Melody, a fellow sleeper who mentors him through the night world’s possibilities and perils—among them “cutters,” beings who can fatally sever the intangible cord tethering the sleep self to the body, and an even more horrifying killer whose true identity comes as a late surprise and whose predations add frightening complexity and purpose to the couple’s nocturnal adventures. Ford’s elaboration of the night world is wildly imaginative and his depiction of Owen’s invisible explorations of it verges on the voyeuristic, adding unusual piquancy to the story. Readers will find this well-wrought tale of a mysterious world both eerie and bewitching. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

April 1, 2020

Small-town librarian Owen is a man of routine, until the day his regular morning stop at the local store is interrupted by a violent robbery, an event that leaves one person dead and Owen with PTSD in the form of sleep paralysis, during which he leaves his body behind and travels to the world of "the sleepers." As Owen is taught the rules of this night world by a new friend, he is both tempted and repulsed by the dark allure of voyeurism; his nocturnal adventures reveal the secrets of the townspeople he thought he knew so well. He soon discovers a centuries-old serial killer and is determined to use his powers to help put an end to the reign of terror. VERDICT Nebula and Shirley Jackson Award winner Ford (A Natural History of Hell, The Girl in the Glass) offers a short, captivating tale about strength and sacrifice. For fans of Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane, Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream, and Keith Donohue's The Motion of Puppets.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2020
Librarian Owen's quiet small-town life in Westwend is upended when he witnesses a murder during his habitual convenience-store stop. After being pistol-whipped, his sleep paralysis is transformed. Now, he moves through the night as a sleeper able to project himself out of body and into an invisible plane right alongside our own. He meets Melody, another sleeper, who helps him avoid the dangers of the night. Together, they begin to investigate the murder with a small clue plucked from the crime scene. But Owen's voyeuristic journey leads him to see things more sinister than he had imagined. His sleepy hamlet is hiding a killer who knows about the dream plane and is determined to eliminate any threat to his continuing carnage. Ford (A Natural History of Hell, 2016) conjures a mesmerizing dream state for his main character that only serves to heighten the sense that Owen's waking life is like moving through a dream, too. Juxtaposing the horrific and the mundane, Ford's tale will prickle readers' arm hairs and inspire them to check over their shoulders a little more often.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)