Tom’s Crossing

House of Leaves author Danielewski returns with an exciting if long-winded western set in 1982 Orvop, Utah. Terminally ill teen Tom Gatestone bonds with new kid Kalin March over their love for a pair of horses owned by wealthy meat processing plant owner Orwin “Old” Porch. Before Tom dies, he pleads with Kalin to save the horses from being rendered for meat. Kalin follows through on his promise, stealing the horses and taking them through the state’s canyons and mountains with a plan to set them free at a place called Tom’s Crossing. On the way, he’s tailed by Old Porch’s teen son Russel, who’s sporting his father’s pistol; Tom’s ghost, with whom only Kalin can communicate; and Tom’s younger adopted sister, Landry, who hopes to protect Kalin on his mission. Landry confronts Russel and takes away the gun, and after Russel returns without it, Old Porch flies into a rage and kills him. Old Porch then pins the blame for the killing on Kalin and Landry, launching a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse that culminates in a well-foreshadowed bloody shoot-out. Some of the passages verge on pretentiousness, like the pages-long lists of the town’s dead, which echo Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, but the novel is buoyed by its characterizations (Old Porch is an effectively menacing villain). Adventurous readers will enjoy this wild ride. (Oct.)