Synopses & Reviews
In this seductive and chilling debut novel from the acclaimed author of
The King of Limbo, girls, mostly Native, are vanishing from the sides of a notorious highway in isolated British Columbia. Leo Kreutzer and his four friends are barely touched by these disappearances until a series of mysterious and troublesome outsiders come to town. Then it seems as if the devil himself has appeared among them.
In this intoxicatingly lush debut novel, Adrianne Harun weaves together folklore, mythology, and elements of magical realism to create a compelling and unsettling portrait of life in a dead-end town. A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain is atmospheric and evocative of place and a group of people, much in the way that Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones conjures the South, or Charles Bock's Beautiful Children provides a glimpse of the Las Vegas underworld: kids left to fend for themselves in a broken world rendered with grit and poetry in equal measure.
Review
“In mesmerizing prose, debut novelist Harun spins a chilling tale shot through with both aching realism and age-old folktales, melding them together to capture a landscape lush with possibility and imagination and terrifying in its vast emptiness.” Booklist, starred review
Review
“Through a complex narrative structure, Harun manages to invest all of her action — slow as it sometimes is — with an aura of myth and folk legend that raises it above the lurid and sensational.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Harun's mastery clearly lies in establishing atmosphere and mood. Much as it does to the novels characters, the gothic ambiance wraps around the reader and won't let go. Laced with local color, this debut will please fans of the macabre.” Library Journal
Review
“Harun creates a masterfully bleak and spooky mood, and succinctly captures the desperation of the young people's lives…[a] promising debut.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“Mythical, magical, and chillingly real.” Jess Walter, New York Times bestselling author of We Live in Water
Review
"I have long been a fan of Adrianne Harun's work, and A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain has raised my admiration to new heights. Writing with astonishing vividness, Harun weaves her own myths and magic as she plots her amazing tale." Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Synopsis
"Harun is heir apparent to Louise Erdrich and Harry Crews.... Readers will be swept away by this breathless, absorbing novel." --Claire Vaye Watkins, The New York Times Book ReviewIn this mysterious and chilling novel, girls, mostly Native, are vanishing from the sides of a notorious highway in the isolated Pacific Northwest. Leo Kreutzer and his friends are barely touched by these disappearances--until a series of enigmatic strangers arrive in their remote mountain town, beguiling and bewitching them. It seems as if the devil himself has appeared among them.
The intoxicatingly lush debut novel by the acclaimed author of The King of Limbo, A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain is an unsettling portrait of life in a dead-end town, as seductive and beautifully written as the devil's dark arts are wielded.
WINNER OF THE 2015 PINCKLEY PRIZE FOR DEBUT CRIME NOVEL
About the Author
Adrianne Harun teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshops, an MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University, and is the author of the acclaimed short story collection The King of Limbo. She lives in Port Townsend, Washington.