The Interloper - A Novel (Paperback)

One man's quest to avenge a relative's murder becomes an obsession in this lame debut novel.Narrator Owen Patterson, a software-manual writer in Los Angeles, meets Patricia Stocking on the Lake Tahoe ski slopes; after a whirlwind romance, they marry. But their honeymoon is interrupted by a tragedy. Patty's younger brother Calvin Junior (CJ) has been murdered. Her parents (aggressively masculine Calvin Senior, daffy Minerva) are devastated; Patty wears black year-round and spends her time watching old videos of CJ. The killer, Henry Joseph Raven, though not admitting guilt, gets a sentence of 20 years. Owen decides to ease his wife's misery by punishing Raven himself. He plans to entrap Raven emotionally through letters supposedly written by a lonely, available female; once Raven is hooked, the woman will end the relationship, Raven will be crushed and Patty will find closure; until then, Owen will keep his "mission" secret. It's as far-fetched as it sounds. For starters, Owen is a wimp, incapable of a bold ruse; it's Patty who calls the shots. Secondly, he has reason to believe Raven already has a woman of his own. Nonetheless, he goes ahead, inventing a woman, Lily, who with the help of computer-generated photos arouses Raven's interest. He even dons Patty's panties to feel like a woman, but a would-be humorous scene, when he's caught wearing the panties in a restroom, falls flat. Their correspondence and its ramifications take up much of the novel. We also learn more about the crime (a botched carjacking) and CJ (a bratty college kid, quite unsympathetic). As Patty heals, discarding black and boxing the videos, Owen deteriorates, getting a guilty thrill out of writing to a killer, and even identifying with Raven in a sexual fantasy he has created. When Patty discovers the letters, she leaves, and Owen becomes further isolated from reality. The novel ends with a series of improbable surprises that land Owen in the slammer.Both creepy and dull. (Kirkus Reviews)

A novel about obsession that makes for obsessive reading.
All Owen Patterson wants is a normal life, a happy marriage, and a stable family. But following the brutal and random murder of his brother-in-law, that dream is shattered. A year later, his wife is still in mourning and his in-laws won't talk about anything but their dead son.
The murderer, Henry Joseph Raven, has been put in prison, but as far as Owen is concerned, prison isn't punishment enough. He embarks on a quest to "balance the scales of justice," writing letters to Henry Raven under the pseudonym Lily Hazelton. His plan: to seduce the murderer, make him fall in love with his fictional correspondent, and then break his heart.
From one letter to the next, Lily Hazelton develops into a curious amalgam of details from Owen's imagination, snatches of his difficult childhood, and memories of his cousin Eileen, a suicide who was his first true love. Not entirely in control of his own creation, Owen dives headfirst into the correspondence, only to find himself caught in the trap he's set for Henry Raven.
Bringing together an epistolary game of cat and mouse with the harrowing record of one man's psychological collapse, "The Interloper" is a compelling and original debut from a bold new writer.

General

Imprint:	Other Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	May 2007
First published:	May 2007
Authors:	Antoine Wilson
Dimensions:	216 x 140 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	272
ISBN-13:	978-1-59051-263-0
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction
LSN:	1-59051-263-4
Barcode:	9781590512630

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