This was so promising and wound up being such a mess, I'm not sure what to say, especially since I thought Absolution, his first novel, was very very strong. As a dystopian piece of fiction about the rise of the surveillance security state and the infiltration of the penal system on education, there's some real brilliance here. But at 400 pages, many sloggy passages, a Magical Negro and a precocious child, not one but two adults who suffered abusive childhoods.........it's simply too much.

When it's good it's good but when it's bad, it's a real stinker. Very disappointing.

I predict that this novel will end up in my top 5 for 2015, it’s that good. It’s been on my wishlist for a while and I wish I could remember where I first heard of it. Like all the other “glowing” reviews I have written, this one is going to be tough. I always know why I don’t like something, but can’t always articulate why I do like something. Luckily, I took plenty of notes while reading so here goes.

The presence of a cheesy prologue (it isn’t labeled one, but it is) gave me pause. We’re made to understand that the horrible incident it describes will somehow poison the land which will end up poisoning the people who live on it. I was put off; as if Tobe Hooper had showed the last indian being buried and then the bulldozers moving in to create the neighborhood in Poltergeist. It didn’t bode well, but luckily the story didn’t go where I thought it would and the ‘prologue’ was merely set dressing and a reminder of the land’s history.

None of the characters is particularly sympathetic apart from Louise, who through bad luck and circumstances has to sell her ancestral land to Paul; incompetent and supremely insane land developer. Louise’s connection to the land is well drawn and I totally understood her pain about the felling of the trees. Louise is not faultless though and her bad decision to remain in her condemned house and fight the town’s eminent domain claim is tragic. It puts her in place for a larger role, however and I see why it was done.

That larger role is with Nathaniel, Julia and the unfortunately named Copley. Nathaniel is a ninny of the highest water and I never understood much about his relationship with Julia, but he practically fears Copley. Fears that his horrible upbringing will ooze forth and destroy the kid. His complete change of attitude by the end of the book was genuinely chilling as is his utter conviction that his son is a liar. Never once does he take his kid’s side. The company he works for, his boss and mommy’s intact apron strings were terrifying, but so starkly told that the dread wasn’t visceral; you didn’t feel it in your gut, you felt it in your psyche. It was clinical. Restrained. I loved Flanery’s creativity when it came to presenting different aspects of the story. Copley’s timeline, Julia’s report, the babble of morning voices.

Copley’s psychiatrist notes his flat affect and that could accurately describe the book’s writing as well. It’s very matter-of-fact, but so well done that nothing is confusing or misunderstood. The parallels of the prior events and the tree in the sinkhole with Paul’s burrow are plain and not overly emphasized; he doesn’t keep bringing it up. He handles the complexity of the situation and the psychology very well. It must have been one hell of a story to outline.

Paul’s character surprised me. I thought that he’d spy and haunt the family more overtly. It’s a predictable way to take things and one I’ve read before. Thankfully Flanery doesn’t go there, making Paul menacing in other ways. His obsession with the house and the land mimics Louise’s; she above ground and he under it. The hunting/butchering and the baffle construction were great additions to his lunacy. His actions at the end reflected his mental conflict and struggle well. From the start we know he ends in prison, but his crime remains shadowy until toward the end. There’s enough foreshadowing and set up that it’s not a shock, sad though it is. There is one detail at the end that I wish had been omitted; the new child and his origins. I thought that was gratuitous and unreal. Julia would have woken. I just don’t believe any woman could sleep through a rape.

Another surprise was how Copley’s parents related to him. Nathaniel’s complete about face from concerned parent to hostile enemy was unexpected as was Julia’s reaction to it as it grew and became more severe. She was so disconnected from the story that her analytical report, written to her SON of all people, was really fitting. She made everyone’s disconnectedness really apparent. They were all so detached from one another that they couldn’t help each other, even when they asked for it directly, as Copley does on more than one occasion.

I haven’t even touched on other aspects of the story like the privatization of the prison system and the parallels to Copley’s school. It gave the novel a dystopian tinge that contributed much the overall feel of desolation and fear. People who need likable characters (zzzzz) and sunshine and puppies need not apply, but if you like dark stories that challenge your suppositions and notions, Fallen Land fits the bill perfectly. ( )

Just outside a large Midwestern city Louise Washington attempts to hang on to the last pieces of Poplar Farm, which has been in her family for generations, as architect Paul Krovik develops a luxury suburb on tiny tracts around her. Though their creation has cost Paul his family and savings, the poorly constructed Victorian style homes fail to sell, pushing him to the edge of insanity. While Louise and Paul feel like they are losing everything, Boston couple Nathaniel and Julia excitedly purchase one of the suburb's foreclosed homes after Nathaniel’s job moves them to the area. But the family’s idyllic situation soon shifts when their son Copley’s behavior begins to change and he becomes convinced that someone is living in the house with them.

Though he exposes the house’s secrets early on, Flanery fills Fallen Land with an eerie sense of dread that is nearly impossible to shake. That feeling is not caused by spirits or the supernatural, however; it comes from a blend of competition, greed and inevitable failure. Flanery’s characters speak to the American mindset of recent years, constantly grasping for more and eventually feeling the fallout in an incredibly written parallel.

"They do not know the beauty of blackness, the glory of the dark earth. Their lights are everywhere, flooding gardens and houses, blocking out stars. For the first time, I knew summer evenings with no fireflies, as though the creatures saw the light of those blazing houses and realized they were outmatched."

Louise is the callback to previous generations and the single, graceful exception to the excess of the novel's other characters. Instead of writing a bitter woman determined to distance herself from the world, Flanery allows Louise to express her sadness over the loss of both her husband and her land while also creating a close bond with young Copley.

With marvelous passages, well developed characters and a driving plot, Fallen Land has the trifeca that instantly shoots a novel to my list of favorites. Patrick Flanery has penned a book both disturbing and astute that should be penciled in on every summer reading list.

Blog: www.rivercityreading.com ( )

“Danger is everywhere, especially in the suburbs.”

This dark, disturbing novel is fascinating as well as psychologically complex. Some of the characters are certifiably crazy, and perhaps the ones who have been certified as crazy are not. We know from the beginning that this story is going to be a huge train wreck, but we just don't know how it will all play out.

At one point, it takes a Big Brother/1984 turn, especially regarding incarceration of criminals. And those who would be criminals. But that is only a small part of the story. The people who buy into society's foibles and those who fight them are the bigger part.

We want so much for people to believe the young protagonist, Copley, and his outrageous tales. We wonder why two other main characters, not friends, are meeting in a prison visitors' room at the beginning of the book, and we don't really know until the end. The book explores individuals' rights versus public rights, crumbling society exemplified by shoddy McMansions and rotten land, historical evil hidden, modern evil justified. Lives of quiet desperation.

“I am the last tree standing on a clear-cut slope, the saws all pointed at my feet.”

There is much to be taken from this book. In itself, it is a complex, layered story, not in the sense of a complex plot but in the workings of human minds. It's beautifully written. Dark. Yes, very. And worth reading every word.

I was given an advance readers copy of this novel, and the quotes may have changed in the published edition. ( )

Fallen Land by Flannery was just not my cuppa tea. The book left a bad taste in my mouth after every time I finished a reading session. I finally decided to evoke my reader's rights and ditch it after about 100 pages. There were no likable characters and the story was slow. Though I was close to 1/2 way through, it felt as if the story was just being introduced. I guess if you are a fan of Flannery or slow moving, bizarre stories you may have better luck than I did. I am very surprised by the large numbers of highly positive reviews for this work, I wish someone would explain to me what I should be looking for or the secret to enjoying this one. My advice, skip it! ( )