Brian Evenson isn’t your run-of-the-mill horror novelist. First of all, his work draws more material from Christian scripture and lore than it does from H.P. Lovecraft. Also, unlike most shock novelists, Evenson is a rigorous stylist, writing sentences that remain clear and stunning even when they’re conveying absolute terror. His new book, Last Days, is perhaps his most intense work yet, a noirish story about an ex-detective who is summoned (kidnapped, really) to a Christian cult’s compound, where we learn through a series of slapstickish exchanges that a murder has allegedly taken place. The fact that this cult treats amputations as holy acts is only the first bit of evidence suggesting that the characters are too extreme to be trusted. In fact, even though Evenson’s story feels tactile, gripping, suspenseful and violent, it calls its own reality into question. Did any of the terrible events described herein actually happen to our hero? Or is he lost in a not-so-fun house? Discuss.
Read an excerpt.
