The Houseboat
A Novel
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
This "impossible to forget" psychological thriller set in small town Iowa in the 1960s pits a detective struggling with his own demons against a mysterious outcast who may or may not be a serial killer (The Wall Street Journal)
James Sallis meets Mindhunter in this stylish and atmospheric noir, a midcentury heartland gothic with abounding twists and a feverish conclusion.
Local outcast Rigby Sellers lives in squalor on a dilapidated houseboat moored on the Mississippi River. With only stolen mannequins and the river to keep him company, Rigby begins to spiral from the bizarre to the threatening. As a year of drought gives way to a season of squalls, a girl is found trembling on the side of the road, claiming her boyfriend was murdered. The townspeople of nearby Oscar turn their suspicions toward Sellers.
Town sheriff Amos Fielding knows this crime is more than he can handle alone. He calls on the regional marshal up in Minnesota, and detective Edward Ness arrives in Oscar to help him investigate the homicide and defuse the growing unrest. Ness, suffering his own demons, is determined to put his past behind him and solve the case. But soon more bodies are found. As Ness and Fielding uncover disturbing facts about Sellers, and a great storm floods the Mississippi, threatening the town, Oscar is pushed to a breaking point even Ness may not be able to prevent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
One day in 1960, police detective Edward Ness, the central investigator in Bahr's assured debut, is nursing a hangover behind his desk in downtown Minneapolis when he gets a call from a Deputy Clinton in Oscar, Iowa, a town "about as plain as a white wall." Clinton needs Ness's expertise in the case of Billy Rose, a high school senior who was murdered while camping with his girlfriend, Hannah Dahl, who survived the attack. In Oscar, Ness focuses on the prime suspect, Rigby Sellers, who lives alone on a houseboat on the Mississippi with female mannequins for companions and is described as a "weirdn" in one of the short anonymous witness accounts that dot the novel. Bahr's feel for place and people, such as the creepy Sellers, creates a moody atmosphere. That Dahl is never questioned about the details of her boyfriend's murder, or Ness's particular expertise fully explained, leaves certain practical elements of the story wanting. Bahr's convincing regional dialect and spot-on depiction of a small, mid-century town are the book's main draw. Readers will be curious to see what this talented author does next.
