Inland

Set on a small Midwestern state college campus in the fall of 1959, Frederick's story follows graduate student and freshman English teacher Ted Riley as he navigates the McCarthy era. After losing his ladylove, Sally, in a plane crash, Ted makes halfhearted stabs at meeting his graduate program requirements and falls into a deep funk. Andrew Kesler, a lonely, "prickly" Polish library worker, offers friendship and tall tales, though his rumored homosexual preferences and shifty demeanor put Ted on the defensive. Acquaintance Marty Reindorf introduces Ted to Dori Green, a relatively new addition on campus who, like Ted, is a horror flick aficionado. Ted becomes smitten with Dori while an increasingly unstable Andrew pops up in unexpected places and Ted's father, Jack, reappears after a 14-year absence. As in Frederick's previous works (Accomplices , etc.), finely tuned characters are at the heart of this novel, and the authentic period backdrop adds a lushly atmospheric complement to the ever-present undertone of paranoia mixed with melancholy. (Dec.)