Mapping the Interior

Jones’s neat little horror novella balances an energetic narrative with larger explorations of the inescapable burdens of family ties. A young boy, Junior, who’s dealing with his brother’s deteriorating mental condition and constant seizures, begins to see visions of his dead father in his labyrinthine house. Junior wrestles with his Native American heritage, calling into question his family’s failures and his own sense of justice as his father’s sinister purpose is revealed to the family. Jones weaves these meditations through the entirety of the novella, and his writing, at once electric and elegiac, keeps the reader firmly in a state of suspense. The central idea of the novella could have been expanded and elaborated on, but part of the charm of this piece is its brevity, and Jones still imbues it with emotional depth. The immediacy of Jones’s fiction is wonderfully refreshing and not to be missed. (June)