"In Four by Four, Mesa's sentences are clear as glass, but when you
look through you will be terrified by what you see."--Laura van den
Berg, author of The Third Hotel
Set entirely at Wybrany College--a school where the wealthy keep their
kids safe from the chaos erupting in the cities--Four by Four is a
novel of insinuation and gossip, in which the truth about Wybrany's
"program" is always palpable, but never explicit. The mysteries
populating the novel open with the disappearance of one of the
"special," scholarship students. As the first part unfolds, it becomes
clear that all is not well in Wybrany, and that something more sordid
lurks beneath the surface.
In the second part--a diary written by an imposter who has infiltrated
the school as a substitute teacher--the eerie sense of what's happening
in this space removed from society, becomes even more acute and
sinister.
An exploration of the relationship between the powerful and
powerless--and the repetition of these patterns--Mesa's "sophisticated
nightmare" calls to mind great works of gothic literature (think Shirley
Jackson) and social thrillers to create a unique, unsettling view of
freedom and how a fear of the outside world can create monsters.
