A Circle in the Woodshttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B0075CG636A strange present-tense opening describes a creek pool set deep in the Kentucky woods, in the shade of a high cliff. Sitting by this creek pool is a man named Phil, and he has a knife in his hand. In a sudden sub-chapter switch to past tense, we see Phil discover a young girl struggling to climb a steep and muddy hill above him. Phil bathes the girl and plucks the deer ticks off her body and then takes her to the sheriff's station. In a cruel and violent display involving the young girl's dog, Phil reveals himself as abnormal, likely dangerous. Then his true nature is confirmed in a beautiful first chapter closing paragraph, where we see what lay under the surface of that creek pool all along.
I won't say anything else about the story, except that you should go buy it right now. This book is unlike anything I have ever read. It's frightening, it's dark, it has a twisted and cruel sense of humor that makes you cringe and laugh at the same time. Phil is such a strong, powerful character you can't help but be entranced by him. You quickly come to hate him, but in a way you want him to succeed.
To a point, anyway. There's a slow shift in the way the author presents this character. More and more your concern shifts to the well-being of the girl, Brittany, whom we see grow from a five-year-old soon to be enrolled in "kittergarten" to a lovely, thoughtful, intelligent, and mysterious fifteen-year-old whose perspective on the world - and especially on Phil - is far more developed and mature than that of a normal teenager. Because, just like Phil, Brittany isn't normal.
The cast of characters is outstanding. Marley, Brittany's mother, a one-eyed slut who seems determined to anger Phil and who treats her daughter terribly.
Jacob Kerouac (not crazy about the name, considering the similarity), an old man who has moved to the rural south from New York to retire after the death of his wife.
Sheriff Thomas, whom we first meet as a young deputy, again as an aged sheriff, worn down by his inability to solve a long string of local disappearances spanning a decade and a half.
And a surprise character I won't mention, because if I reveal certain aspects of this character I'll give away too much of the book.
And the ending . . . oh my god. It's one of those endings that has you rushing back through the book looking for all the things you know you missed along the way. An ending you can possibly predict, if you read slowly and carefully.
Have a look, guys. I'd love to hear what others think.
<merged with existing thread. Please, one thread per book, thanks! --Betsy>
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