In the Night Season: A Novel - Hardcover

Jack Michaelson was, as it turns out, a man of many secrets, and Nora and Jason's kidnappers expose them one by one. Even the villains here are fully fleshed out, their demons rivaled only by those of loneliness, family dysfunction, and greed. But make no mistake: this may be a "literary" thriller, but it's also a very scary one. The author of critically acclaimed short fiction and novels, including the comic gem Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea, Bausch proves himself here as adept at building narrative tension and suspense. The characters don't always have the depth--or the appealing quirkiness--of those in Bausch's previous work, but what this novel lacks for in subtlety, it makes up for in sheer ominous power.

Richard Bausch is the author of nine other novels and seven volumes of short stories. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Playboy, GQ, Harper's Magazine, and other publications, and has been featured in numerous best-of collections, including the O. Henry Awards' Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South. In 2004 he won the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.