Split Levels

This quirky, funny, unsettling novel delivers its reader to that strangest of lands: the suburbs. When Allen Stanley's father is found dead in the bathtub, his wrists slashed, Allen is called back to the sleepy, sixties suburb where he grew up. But the simple matter of arranging the burial and settling the estate soon becomes a path into the shadowy, unspoken side of the life of the town. Allen is perplexed by the thick undercurrent of sexuality that marks his every encounter with the locals, first with the young housewife next door, then with the teenage girl who works at the local library, and even with the young man who mows his father's lawn. Adding to his quandary is evidence which suggests that his father was murdered - not a suicide - and the more the police investigate, the more they consider Allen a suspect! As he tries to figure out just what is going on, his family's irregular past is dredged up, including the unexplained disappearance of his teenage sister some fifteen years ago - which may be tied to his father's death. Split-Levels is mystery, social satire, psychological drama, and a gripping read all at the same time. Gothic in mood, minimalist in style, and slyly humorous, its feverish perception of the surreal that lies beneath the thin skin of reality explodes subtly onto the page, even as it explores how the past is indelibly connected with the present, how it hides behind the dream we call today.