Mr. Shivers

Almost every review of this book mentions the reader's disappointment with the second half. I will have to join that crowd.

Bennett does a great job setting up the Depression era setting of hobo encampments, drought, and deserted towns. Connolly, his main character, rides in on the side of a cattle car. He is pursuing the badly scarred killer of his young daughter back in Memphis. Any description of the man with his facial scars prompts stories of Mr. Shivers from Connolly's fellow drifters. He finds more people searching for what seems increasingly to be a serial killer with possibly supernatural powers.

Bennett spends half the book setting up this situation, with few but very unsettling appearances by the killer. As the narrative moves into increasingly mythic realms, with visions of an evil older than mankind, Bennett is not quite able to suggest the psychic deeps he want to conjure. His success is in his major protagonists, men who prove to be weak or tragic or brutal as the situation develops.

This was Bennett's first novel. It won the Shirley Jackson award, and his second novel Company Man is nominated for the 2011 Philip K. Dick award. He is a writer worth staying with.