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ORCHARD GROVE
by Vincent Zandri
Polis Books, January 2016
320 pages
$25.00
ISBN: 1940610788


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Ethan, a screenwriter with writers' block, has moved from the high-pressure world of Hollywood to a suburb of Albany, New York. He's recuperating rather unsuccessfully from major foot surgery, and he and his wife, Susan, are on the verge of bankruptcy after attempting to live on Susan's preschool teacher's salary. When things seem to have fallen to the lowest point possible, new neighbors move in next door. Both Ethan's and Susan's lives are changed irreparably by the new couple, Lana and John, as they fall to new lows.

Lana had lived in the same area, which had been an apple orchard, when she was a child. During that time there were a series of murders by decapitation, and it is not giving anything away of the plot to say that Lana was the perpetrator. Lana's magnetism continues to function in the present as it did when she was a teenager, and she draws Ethan and Susan into her evil and warped world. Both become obsessed with Lana, and Ethan's obsession leads to pain, mental illness, and murder. All the while, the same policeman who was unable to find the original serial killer is on the current case, following Lana and Ethan and connecting dots across the decades.

There is a great deal of tension in this book, keeping the reader engaged and moving quickly through the pages. Zandri provides some justification for Ethan's obsession by interspersing chapters from Lana's preteen killing spree. However, the motivations of all of the characters are a stretch. Zandri jumps into the obsession of Ethan and the evil of Lana without providing any development, making it hard for the reader to understand how Ethan could possibly have let himself get into the hopeless situation he and Lana engineer for him.

Zandri does his best work in creating tension and moving the plot forward at a blistering pace. He would have benefited from better editing, however. There are several instances of “I” being used as an object (e.g., “You want my wife and I to come over…”), incorrect word usage (e.g., “Lana's bear thighs…”), and missing or extra words. These errors pull the reader out of the action. None of the characters are sympathetic; it's hard to care about obsessive, pathetic Ethan, evil Lana, remote Susan, or bully John. This book will appeal most to those who are willing to skip over characterization and editing shortcomings to observe the very fast-paced disintegration of an already tenuous life.

§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.

Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, February 2016

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