The Horned Man
A Novel
-
-
3.1 • 10 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
"Unputdownable…a masterpiece of chilling, mesmerizing control." —Michael Dirda, Washington Post
The Horned Man opens with a man losing his place in a book, then deepens into a dark and terrifying tale of a man losing his place in the world. As Lawrence Miller—an English expatriate and professor of gender studies—tells the story of what appears to be an elaborate conspiracy to frame him for a series of brutal killings, we descend into a world of subtly deceptive appearances where persecutor and victim continually shift roles, where paranoia assumes an air of calm rationality, and where enlightenment itself casts a darkness in which the most nightmarish acts occur. As the novel races to its shocking conclusion, we follow Miller as he traverses the streets of Manhattan and the decaying suburbs beyond, in terrified pursuit of his pursuers. Written with sinuous grace and intellectual acuity, The Horned Man is an extraordinary, unforgettable first novel by an acclaimed writer and poet of unusual power.
Customer Reviews
Good start, then tedious on the way to crazy
I liked "Give Me Everything You Have," so I jumped on this one. I took the story to be an imagined account of the workings of a psychotic mind, a story told from the inside, looking out. The story is told in the first person. You read the main character's thoughts about what he sees and what he perceives others to be doing. You quickly understand that what he perceives is not reality.
After a good start, the story just slipped away from me. It might have been better if partly told from the outside, looking in, through the eyes of other characters telling what reality is for them.
In the end, reading this book felt like arguing with someone who's irrational on some point, when you start optimistically, methodically, and sincerely, but then it gets tedious on the way to crazy.