Graves

This nonsensical, unsatisfying novel follows Damien Chase, a self-proclaimed thanatophile living in London, and his complex relationship with death. After his friend Sadie presses him about his attraction to death, Damien’s fascination with the dead escalates. He moves from taking photographs of graves to collecting images from hospital files, and eventually to desecrating a grave and its inhabitant. Thus begins a foray into cobbling together hybrid creations. He even assaults Sadie in an attempt to prove that it’s possible to be dead and alive simultaneously. Desperate to escape him, Sadie kills herself, a terrible act that has no apparent effect on Damien or his obsessions. Crisp’s dense story says too much about nothing thanks to its meandering plot, obnoxious main character, pretentious style, and lack of substance. (June)