Eric Loesch returns to the small New York town in which he was born, and purchases an isolated plot of land. He is unsure why he is returning to his hometown, which has long since suffered the declines of shuttered industry, and we, the readers, are unsure what Eric is running from. We know he is exhausted and extremely antisocial, but we don’t know what events have transpired in his recent past. Initially, as Eric purchases his land and goes about re-roofing the house, solving electrical problems, and otherwise fitting up the place, J. Robert Lennon’s Castle seems likely to be a Walden-esque meditation on dropping out and returning to nature.
But then, a mystery is introduced. In looking over his purchasing documents, Eric realizes that there is about an acre in the middle of his property that he does not own, and the owner’s name is blacked out on all of the documents. It now seems that Castle might be a mystery story. But then, it isn’t, quite. Ultimately, it becomes something altogether different, both sharply focused and bewilderingly surreal. The slender novel reveals itself slowly, and the story defies genre. Lennon explores behavior modification; psychological manipulation; control and respect for authority; constructed masculinity; and these concepts’ intersection with recent events in America’s wars, and he gets there through some masterful storytelling. Further explanation would ruin the adventure; just read this one. Lennon’s scope is ambitious, and while in the end, he might not really have the chops to make it thoroughly convincing, still, the book is truly original, and hard to put down.
