John Darnielle s first novel, Wolf in White Van, was a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award nominee, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for first fiction, and widely hailed as one of the best novels of the year. He is the writer, composer, guitarist, and vocalist for the band the Mountain Goats. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and sons."
Brilliant...Darnielle is a master at building suspense, and his
writing is propulsive and urgent; it's nearly impossible to stop
reading. . . [Universal Harvester is] beyond worthwhile; it's a
major work by an author who is quickly becoming one of the
brightest stars in American fiction.
--Michael Schaub, Los Angeles Times"Grows in menace as the pages
stack up . . . [But] more sensitive than one would expect from a
more traditional tale of dread."
--Joe Hill, New York Times Book Review"The most unsettling book
I've read since House of Leaves."
--Adam Morgan, Electric LiteratureThis chilling literary thriller
follows a video store clerk as he deciphers a macabre mystery
through clues scattered among the tapes his customers rent. A
page-tuning homage to In Cold Blood and The Ring.
--O: The Oprah Magazine"A stellar encore after the success of
[Darnielle's] debut novel, Wolf in White Van . . . Beneath the
eerie gauze of this book, I felt an undercurrent of humanity and
hope."
--Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post"[Universal Harvester is]
so wonderfully strange, almost Lynchian in its juxtaposition of the
banal and the creepy, that my urge to know what the hell was going
on caused me to go full throttle . . . [But] Darnielle hides so
much beautiful commentary in the book's quieter moments that you
would be remiss not to slow down."
--Abram Scharf, MTV NewsFew books in recent memory have mastered
the Midwestern uncanny as well as John Darnielle's strange and
lyrical Universal Harvester...Like Midwestern cornfields, this book
haunts in many ways.
--Chicago Review of Books"Universal Harvester is a novel about
noticing hidden things, particularly the hurt and desperation that
people bear under their exterior of polite reserve . . . Mr.
Darnielle possesses the clairvoyant's gift for looking beneath the
surface."
--Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "[Universal Harvester is]
constantly unnerving, wrapped in a depressed dread that haunts
every passage. But it all pays off with surprising
emotionality."
--Kevin Nguyen, GQ.comTruly excellent...In an age of puffed up
literary doorstops, it feels vaguely miraculous that Darnielle
manages to pack this haunting novel...into less than 300 pages.
--Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman"Darnielle writes beautifully
. . . He builds a deep sense of foreboding by giving pieces of the
puzzle in such a way that you really can't see the solution until
that final piece is in place."
--Salem Macknee, News & Observer Eerie . . . unnerving . . .
Darnielle adeptly juggles multiple stories that collide with
chaotic consequences somewhere in the middle of nowhere. With a nod
to urban legends and friend-of-a-friend tales, the author prepares
readers for the surreal truth, the improbable events that 'have
form, and shape, and weight, and meaning --Publishers Weekly
(starred review)"Darnielle's masterfully disturbing follow-up to
the National Book Award-nominated Wolf in White Van reads like
several Twilight Zone scripts cut together by a poet . . . All the
while, [Darnielle's] grasp of the Iowan composure-above-all mindset
instills the book with agonizing heartbreak." --Daniel Kraus,
Booklist (starred review) "Darnielle's second novel opens like a
dark suspense story . . . but he ultimately pursues a softer and
more nuanced exploration of family and loss . . . Darnielle's prose
is consistently graceful and empathetic . . . [Universal Harvester
is] a smart and rangy yarn." --Kirkus Reviews
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