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The Underneath
The Underneath | Melanie Finn
2 posts | 2 read | 2 to read
With the assurance and grace of her acclaimed novelThe Gloaming--which earned her comparisons to Patricia Highsmith--Melanie Finn returns with a precisely layered and tense new literary thriller. The Underneath follows Kay Ward, a former journalist struggling with the constraints of motherhood. Along with her husband and two children, she rents a quaint Vermont farmhouse for the summer. The idea is to disconnect from their work-based lifestyle--that had her doggedly pursuing a genocidal leader of child soldiers known as General Christmas, even through Kay's pregnancy and the birth of their second child--in an effort to repair their shaky marriage. It isn't long before Kay's husband is called away and she discovers a mysterious crawlspace in the rental with unsettling writing etched into the wall. Alongside some of the house's other curiosities and local sleuthing, Kay is led to believe that something terrible may have happened to the home's owners. Kay's investigation leads her to a local logger, Ben Comeau, a man beset with his own complicated and violent past. A product of the foster system and life-long resident of the Northeast Kingdom, Ben struggles to overcome his situation, and to help an abused child whose addict mother is too incapacitated to care about the boy's plight. The Underneath is an intelligent and considerate exploration of violence--both personal and social--and whether violence may ever be justified.
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Billypar
The Underneath | Melanie Finn
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Melanie Finn strikes me as one of those wonderful anomalies among authors. Are her books thrillers? Or literary fiction? Some people dismiss these as empty marketing terms, but most of us have our favorites, and how rare is it to find an author who isn't more one than the other? Both this and The Gloaming are steeped in an atmosphere of dread and feel a bit unreal even if nothing impossible happens. But they're also slow burns, so patience is key.

sarahbarnes This sounds very good. I haven‘t heard of this writer but this one sounds very intriguing. And a comparison to Patricia Highsmith. 13mo
batsy Great review. I've been meaning to read The Gloaming and this is another reminder! 13mo
Billypar @sarahbarnes The comparison to Highsmith is a good one - I can definitely see the similarities. 13mo
Billypar @batsy I liked this one, but The Gloaming is still my favorite of the two. I remember being very tense in some spots due to the suspense 😬 13mo
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Billypar
The Underneath | Melanie Finn
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That moment when your book calls you out 😳