Review: Entertaining, but Ultimately Disappointing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 13, 2014
Spoilers ahead!Marrow's Pit is not a bad book.  Assuming Deininger set out to write a thriller, the book accomplishes that quite well.  However, what the book is actually about and the way it's marketed are two very different things.The story centers around Ballard, a man trapped in every conceivable way.  He's trapped in the Machine, an ancient contraption that protects people from the Maelstrom, a never-ending storm.  He's trapped in his job as a furnace operator supervisor, because everyone works to maintain the Machine and to do otherwise is unthinkable.  He's trapped in a loveless marriage to Laura, who is portrayed as something of a harridan.Ballard is finally pushed too far, and an accident leaves his wife dead (or was it an accident?).  Murder is completely unheard of in the Machine, and the punishment is a torturous execution.  This is where things diverge significantly from what the blurb leads you to believe is going to happen and what actually happens.Based on the blurb, you'd expect Ballard, choosing probable death over certain death, to flee the safety of the Machine before anyone discovers what's happened.  From there we'd get to see the Maelstrom up close and possibly discover some deeper truths about it, the Machine, and what happened to the wider world.Instead, Ballard continues on with his life for several days, outwardly pretending nothing has happened while inwardly spiraling into madness.  This charade eventually falls apart, and Ballard does try to escape the Machine, but ultimately fails.  No mysteries are resolved and the story just kind of ends.I'm fine with the story as-is.  It is entertaining and tells a complete tale.  Deininger has written a great little psychological thriller.  My main issue is the wasted potential.  Ballard only nominally gets outside of the Machine - Marrow's Pit is a glorified waste chute and the furthest he makes it is to the bottom of the chute, and even that only happens in the last few pages.  The mysteries behind the Machine and the Maelstrom are just begging to be explored, and that doesn't happen.The core story is good, but it is in no way enhanced by the fantastical setting of the Machine.  Conversely, the intriguing ideas summoned by the setting are wasted as window dressing for a plainly contemporary story of a man descending in to madness.