A novel that opens with a kidnapping invites certain questions. Who is the victim? Why have they been put in this unfortunate position? Who are the kidnappers? Are they simple villains acting out of greed or spite, or is there (at least in their own minds) a higher motivation at work? The conventions of the crime novel dictate that these questions must be answered in such a way that the ending, when it comes, feels thrilling and organic — the working out of a dialectic between chaos and order. The challenge lies in using surprise and suspense to keep the reader engaged while the grim machinery of the plot grinds on underneath.
It takes self-confidence to subvert these expectations, and Colin Barrett proves himself a self-confident novelist with Wild Houses. It begins when Dev Hendrick, a kind-hearted but aimless high school dropout, gets a visit from the brothers Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, minor gangsters who regularly pay him to store drugs in his shed. This...
André Forget edited After Realism: 24 Stories for the 21st Century and wrote In the City of Pigs. He lives in Sheffield, United Kingdom.
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