The Burn Palace

By Stephen Dobyns

Book Overview

"One of the best of the best...You can't ask for more than this book gives. I loved it." - Stephen King

"An exquisitely unexpected, delightfully believable exploration of what normal looks like when it goes through the (evil) looking glass." --Oprah.com

The sleepy community of Brewster, Rhode Island, is just like any other small American town. It's a place where most of its inhabitants will die blocks from where they were born; where gossip spreads like wildfire, and the big weekend entertainment is the inevitable fight at the local bar. But recently, something out of the ordinary--perhaps even supernatural--has been stirring. While packs of coyotes gather and a baby is stolen and replaced with a snake, a series of inexplicably violent acts confounds Detective Woody Potter--and inspires terror in the locals.

A Richard Russo small-town tableau crossed with a Stephen King thriller, The Burn Palace is a darkly funny, twisted portrait of chaos and paranoia that keeps readers guessing until the final pages.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142180440
• ISBN13: 9780142180440
• Release Date: January 2014
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

7.3/10 would maybe recommend to a friend

The story line was very very interesting and left me really perplexed about what was going on. I liked the characters alright and their storylines, although semi-hard to keep track of, were also pretty interesting. The ending of the story left me wanting a little more to be said about the alleged black magic going on and the closure also lacked the devilishness I was hoping for. Some of the book recounts important events through Woody or Bobby's POV *after* the event takes place, which was a little frustrating because I wanted to read those events as they took place. It made me feel a little disconnected from the storyline. Regardless, still a pretty captivating read and could be something I would recommend to someone looking for a spooky-ish mystery.