The Troupe

George Carole is a sixteen-year-old boy searching for a father he has never known. He suspects that he is one Heironomo Silenus, leader of a vaudeville troupe. George's only clue is that he once saw his grandmother spit on a playbill advertising a Silenus performance. When George catches up with SIlenus, their first encounter sets the tone for the rest of Bennett't enjoyable and very strange third novel. George watches the act and sees that during the final musical performance, he is the only audience member who does not go into a trance. Their spirits are uplifted, and they leave the theater in a pleasant daze. George hears both the music performed onstage and the echo of another song beneath that music. By the end of the evening, George will have revealed himself to the troupe and also warned them that the men in gray suits and black bowlers have surrounded their hotel, something George instinctively knows is not a good thing. During the hasty retreat the troupe makes for the train station, George is with Silenus as they are pursued by invisible wolves that are only distracted when Silenus makes an outline of his and George's reflections in a mixture of blood and dirt, peels it off a storefront window, and sends the wolves in pursuit of it.

This is no ordinary vaudeville act. Their song could be all that stands between our world and the chaotic darkness that would engulf it if the wolves had their way. Bennett's plot does some meandering, but his characters are well-drawn and I didn't mind the looseness of the narrative since it involved multi-dimensional travel, some grave robbing, creepy puppets, and decadent fairies. That no one is quite who they appear to be goes without saying, but Bennett is still able to surprise the reader. This is also a coming-of-age story that takes place in most unusual circumstances, and in which the fate of all we know as creation hangs in the balance.