A novel about obsession that makes for obsessive reading.
All Owen Patterson wants is an normal life, a happy marriage, and a
stable family. But following the brutal and random murder of his
brother-in-law, that dream is shattered. A year later, his wife is still
in mourning and his in-laws won't talk about anything but their dead
son.
The murderer, Henry Joseph Raven, has been put in prison, but as far as
Owen is concerned, prison isn't punishment enough. He embarks on a quest
to "balance the scales of justice," writing letters to Henry Raven under
the pseudonym Lily Hazelton. His plan: To seduce the murderer, make him
fall in love with his fictional correspondent, and then break his heart.
From one letter to the next, Lily Hazelton develops into a curious
amalgam of details from Owen's imagination, snatches of his difficult
childhood, and memories of his cousin Eileen, a suicide who was his
first true love. Not entirely in control of his own creation, Owen dives
headfirst into the correspondence, only to find himself caught in the
trap he's set for Henry Raven.
Bringing together an epistolary game of cat and mouse with the harrowing
record of one man's psychological collapse, The Interloper is a
compelling and original debut from a bold new writer.
