All Things Cease to Appear

All Things Cease to Appear shouldn't be read while alone. It shouldn't be read when it's dark and stormy. And it shouldn't be read in the company of someone you don't quite trust, who's peering at you with an odd expression on his face.

From the opening scene, when George arrives at his neighbor's home carrying his young daughter, Franny, who's barefoot even though they're in the midst of a blizzard, you can feel the presence of something dark and sinister. The landscape is desolate; the old farmhouse to which George, Catherine and Franny have moved after leaving New York City may be haunted; the patriarch of the family is allergic to the truth. Oh, and the characters feel as if they could as easily inhabit the cast of the movie Fargo. (And can it be an accident that the town where this transpires is Chosen?)

If stories involving axes and ghosts and cars being purposely nudged off cliffs aren't for you, avoid this mesmerizing novel at all costs. If being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a man you think may have something sinister on his mind makes you think The Shining, by all means steer clear.

However, if you crave a creepy literary thriller you can easily envision on the big screen, turn on all the lights, settle into a comfy chair near a blazing fire, and meet the eerie protagonists of this sexy, chilling, work of fiction. Brrrrrr.