Mannheim Rex

Pobi invokes American classics Jaws and Moby-Dick in this cinematic, old-school suspense tale worthy of King and Koontz. Tension builds slowly, as renowned horror novelist Gavin Corlie flees New York City after a drunk driver kills his wife, settling into a long-abandoned lake house on the edge of New Mannheim, an upstate New York town that time forgot. Corlie soon befriends Finn Horn, a 13-year-old handicapped boy dying from cancer who spends his days fishing on Lake Caldasac, site of several bizarre missing-person reports that the majority of local residents either are not aware of or choose to ignore. But Finn thinks he's solved the mystery when he experiences a close encounter with a sea monster in the lake and enlists Corlie to help him capture and kill it. "[B]efore I die, I'm going to do something important. Something big. BIG!" he proclaims. Some of the gruesomeness from Pobi's 2012 psychological thriller Bloodman seeps in, particularly the death-in-the-water scenes. A few gratuitous scenes only serve to lengthen the book or overplay the nastiness of characters like Xavier Pope%E2%80%94the county's scumbag sheriff who literally gets away with murder. However, Pobi's full-bodied characters, keen sense of place, and ear for realistic dialogue make for an engaging read. (Nov.)