The Burn Palace

The sleepy community of Brewster, Rhode Island, is just like any other small American town. Its a place where most of the population will likely die blocks from where they were born; where gossip spreads like wildfire, and the big entertainment on weekends is the inevitable fight at the local bar. But recently, something out of the ordinary — perhaps even supernatural — has been stirring in Brewster. While packs of coyotes gather on back roads and the news spreads that a baby has been stolen from Memorial Hospital (and replaced in its bassinet by a snake), a series of inexplicably violent acts begins to confound Detective Woody Potter and the local police — and inspire terror in the hearts and minds of the locals.

From award-winning author Stephen Dobyns comes a sardonic yet chillingly suspenseful novel: the literary equivalent of a Richard Russo small-town tableau crossed with a Stephen King thriller. The Burn Palace is a darkly funny, twisted portrait of chaos and paranoia, with an impressive host of richly rendered, larger-than-life characters and a thrilling plot that will keep readers guessing until the final pages.

"The latest from the prolific Dobyns (after Eating Naked) is by turns an affectionate portrait of smalltown life, a terrifying supernatural thriller, and a sly horror comedy. Brewster, R.I., is a sleepy burg populated with a cast of lovable eccentrics. But something is wrong in this prototypical New England town. First, a baby is stolen from a local hospital and a huge striped snake put in the bassinet in its place. Then a body is found scalped in the woods. Meanwhile, packs of murderous coyotes make increasingly daring attacks on the townspeople. Most disturbing of all, locals begin coming forward with stories of strange rituals in the woods. For detective Woody Potter and acting police chief Fred Bonaldo, it's obvious something evil is afoot, perhaps to do with the town's new yoga center, or maybe linked to suspicious goings-on at the nearby funeral home. As the authorities descend from multiple jurisdictions creating chaos, it takes the help of young Hercel McGarity Jr., a 10-year-old who may possess the town's only benign magical powers, to give the people of Brewster a chance to defend themselves against something far darker than anyone imagined. Despite the novel's complexity, Dobyns gives his many characters space to come alive and allows each of the spooky subplots time to build maximum suspense. Scenes of young Hercel being menaced by a madman start out merely disturbing, but turn into some of the scariest in recent literature. Dobyn's tone, shifting from amused to sinister and back again, elevates the material by buttressing the horror with pitch black humor. A tour de force genre buster that could be a breakout. Agent: Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

"[Dobyns] possesses a sensibility that is worth capturing in the amber of fiction, thoughtful but not devoid of sentiment, intelligent but not sterile." The Washington Post

"Using plain but always precise language, [Dobyns] plumbs the reservoirs of emotion lurking beneath the events of everyday life." Booklist

"His writing is honest, toughminded, and as uncompromising as his unforgettable hero. There's not a false sentence anywhere, not a moment where interest flags." Washington Post Book World

"Stephen Dobyns's mystery novels have two major assets that accumulate high rates of interest from book to book: his setting, Saratoga Springs, and his private detective, Charlie Bradshaw....Unlike most fictional detectives, who give the same flawless performance over and over again in a world outside time, Charlie is allowed by his creator to suffer changes and even to age. He is mortal, like us, and his struggles and successes matter." The New York Times Book Review

"An utterly believable tale, and Dobyns isn't above scaring the reader silly with surprise twists and turns....Nicely done — and you may never look at doctors the same way again." Kirkus Reviews

"Veteran novelist Stephen Dobyns reveals how easily people can get worked up into hysterics about evil they can only imagine, even as they miss the evil right in front of their eyes. Buy it." New York Magazine

From award-winning author Stephen Dobyns comes a sardonic yet chilling literary novel of suspense about a small New England town beset by all manner of inexplicable — and perhaps supernatural — criminal acts.