The Horned Man: A Novel
Penzler Pick,April  2002:Already a sensation in his native England, this first novel by  expatriate James Lasdun is one of the most disturbing and compelling books you  are likely to read this year.The protagonist, Lawrence Miller, is himself an expat teaching gender studies at  a small college located just outside New York City. He is a member of the sexual  harassment committee which meets on a regular basis to walk that fine line  between the sublime and the ridiculous of political correctness.Miller's well-ordered life starts to disintegrate one day when he takes a book  from the shelf in his office to find that the bookmark has been moved several  pages although, as far as he knows, nobody has visited his office. An easily  explained lapse of memory perhaps, but Miller decides he will discuss it with  the therapist he has been seeing in Manhattan since his wife left him. He is  shocked as he approaches her office to see the therapist walking towards him,  but she turns off towards Central Park before he can speak to her and he then  loses sight of her. When he arrives at her office, however, she is waiting for  him as usual and assures him that she has not left her office; in fact, she is  always with another patient before Miller's appointment.So begins the disorientation of Lawrence Miller. He has his little obsessions,  of course--he won't pick up the messages on his answering machine, for instance,  in order to convince himself that while he was out his wife tried to call him.  Still in love with her, he hopes that she will call and want to return to him.  But this is just a game he plays, part of his very human nature. He is in no way  the sort of man who is paranoid or imagines conspiracies, but the unexplained  incidents seem to be increasing.Miller tries to rationalize what is happening, but he can't help thinking, nor  can we, that he has become the target of somebody who wishes him harm. And when  a series of murders takes place, Miller begins to suspect that he is being set  up to take the blame for these murders by a devious and diabolical mind.Lawrence Miller struggles to loosen the hold his pursuers have on him, but the  more he struggles the more he appears to be drowning. Try to sleep after reading  his terrifying story.--Otto Penzler--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.