QUANDARY

In this paranormal thriller, a writer’s evolving story about killers turns doubly horrifying when she realizes these fictitious murders are occurring in real life.

Londoner Anna St. John arrives in New Orleans with her husband. She’s a novelist hoping the French Quarter will provide inspiration for her latest book. In no time, she crafts the tale of Voodoo practitioner Bartholomew DuCuir XVII, who calls on his ancestors’ spirits to help enact revenge. He and his love, Wren, lead repugnant men, including a rapist, to a basement they’ll likely never leave. But the culprit the pair truly wants is Wren’s former foster guardian, who’s responsible for vile acts committed against her when she was a teenager. The story flows, and Anna’s happy with her progress until she hears of a brutal death in real life just like the one she wrote about. When it happens again, she searches the French Quarter for Bartholomew and Wren, on the off chance the two actually exist. In Anna’s novel, Bartholomew performs a ritual to summon a writer, who will record his “epic tale.” If Anna is that author, she’s inexorably tied to a vicious killer—in the flesh. Laningham quickly establishes a relentless, unnerving tone, opening with Bartholomew’s brutal plan. This taut novella boasts strong dual characters. Bartholomew is descended from an enslaved African who was sexually assaulted, and Anna has grown weary of the husband she caught cheating. Despite Bartholomew’s seeking vengeance for Wren, she takes a back seat to her partner. As readers know little about her, the revenge story isn’t as “epic” as her lover repeatedly asserts. Still, Laningham’s tale enthralls, especially once Anna starts agonizing over what’s unfolding and starts speculating about hackers, coincidences, and whether her fictional characters are frighteningly real. Savage, drawn-out murders in plain sight (though never excessively graphic) spawn an effectively understated final act and a genuinely disturbing conclusion.

A compact but unforgettable tale as a novelist’s chilling creation seemingly comes to life.