Son of Destruction

January 28, 2013
This fascinating paranormal detective novel from literary fantasist Reed (What Wolves Know) shows a young man pursuing dangerous family secrets. The death of Dan Carteret’s mother frees him to track down the father he never knew. Pretending to research a series of deaths by spontaneous human combustion, Dan travels to the Florida town of Fort Jude and starts asking residents whether they knew his mother. They all did—but they try to hide guilty memories of what they did to her or didn’t do for her. Dan’s father knows that his anger probably gives him the ability to ignite people with his mind, so he is desperate to acknowledge his son while also protecting him from knowledge of the terrible power he may have inherited. The characters reveal themselves in overlapping chapters that give a convincing picture of community interaction. The story is only marred by a disappointing ending: when father and son do connect at last, the emotional conflagration is much less intense than readers would expect. Agent: John Silbersack, Trident Media Group.

February 1, 2013
A reporter's cover story on spontaneous human combustion hits uncomfortably close to home. Apart from a faded photograph he once found hidden in her room, reporter Dan Carteret knows next to nothing about his mother, Lucy. Now that Lucy has passed away, the photograph is all Dan has to guide him through her past. Pretending to be tracking a story about three ancient, unexplained cases of spontaneous combustion in Lucy's hometown of Fort Jude, Fla., he plans to uncover his roots. When he rolls into town, he's greeted by a close-knit community that appears friendly and welcoming, even though no one seems to have information about the men in the picture Dan's been showing around town. Dan's not one to give up, however, and when he finds an abandoned house where local student Steffy McCall whiles away her school hours, he senses that he may be onto something. His hunch is confirmed when a meditative session in the house makes him feel as though he's communing with past inhabitants, although the message they're sending him isn't clear. He's even more thrown off his stride when he realizes that the residents not only recognize him, but have been trying to hide their own connections to his mother. Now Dan must figure out why. Parceling out her story among numerous narrators, Reed (Enclave, 2009, etc.) focuses less on suspense or surprise than on serving condign justice.

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January 1, 2013
After his mother dies without ever revealing to Dan Carteret the identity of his biological father, the young Los Angeles Times reporter becomes intent on uncovering his paternity. An old photo of four young men taken when his mother was a teenager may provide a lead for his search. And an old news clipping about a woman who spontaneously combusted in the insular Florida town of Fort Jude, where Lucy Carteret grew up, gives him the perfect excuse to poke around in old records and interview people who may have known his mother 30 years earlier. He finds that the town, with its entrenched caste system, harbors many secrets and an ugly history. Reed tells this tale from several different viewpoints, providing a deep look into the lives of insiders and outsiders, and the successes and failures of those who knew Lucy Carteret back then. This contemporary gothic mystery will keep readers guessing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)