Mothtown

Starred review from September 11, 2023
Hardaker (Composite Creatures) blurs the line between fantasy and reality—and between literary and speculative fiction—in this devastating, mind-bending tale told in split timelines. At 10 years old, David lives in a world full of mysterious happenings: people go missing constantly, his grandfather is researching things he doesn’t understand, and the adults around him endlessly discuss the mysterious so-called “Modern Problem.” When his family tells David that his grandfather has died, David suspects that his grandfather is actually one of the missing, thus launching a yearslong interest in using the man’s left-behind research to find him. Years in the future, an adult David journeys through a mountainous environment pursued by unknown assailants as he attempts to find a door to another world. As these two timelines begin to integrate, how David arrived in this mysterious future becomes clear in a story alight with shocking twists and bizarre imagery. What begins as an eerie fantastical mystery evolves into a far more meaningful tale, interrogating mental illness, grief, and the deep loneliness and isolation of modern life. Readers will have no idea where this story is going, but Hardaker’s gorgeous prose and confident plotting ensure that every step taken toward the answer is a fascinating one. Agent: Ed Wilson, Johnson & Alcock.

October 15, 2023
Hardaker's latest (after Composite Creatures, 2021) is creepy and anguished, a meeting of Kafka's Metamorphosis and Stephen King's Lisey's Story. Ten-year-old David, different from the rest of his family, experiences the upheaval of a lifetime when his grandfather dies suddenly, leaving him feeling horribly alone. His parents insist that his grandfather is gone, but David knows that he is merely missing, like so many others in his hometown. When David decides to investigate and risks going missing himself, he realizes that he must choose between his grandfather's eerie and magical legacy of hidden worlds and the family who, in order to stay together, would rather not see the truth in front of them at all. Hardaker's vividly descriptive prose and otherworldly storytelling embellish this novel and make it an intriguing, unsettling read from start to finish. The reader will be drawn to David, following him as he works through cryptic clues and crushing grief to understand why he lost the most precious person in his world--and to see if there's a chance to get him back.

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