CASTLE by J. Robert Lennon ***

This one demands attention from the start. The character is a mystery, his past is unknown and I'm halfway thru it. He bought this house in a town he lived in as a child and doesn't have many connections remaining. He's a stoic sort of person and relates his story in an unemotional manner. He's also arrogant, aloof and distant.


There's a hidden broken down castle in a square of land in the middle of his recent purchase that doesn't belong to him yet somehow draws him to it. The entire story is dark and eerie. There's no distractions, everything works, descriptions, scenes, people and their conversations altho sometimes you wonder why the story teller/protagonist takes everything people say to him personally and as having an underlying meaning. Never is this explained.


It's intriguing even though you are distracted from getting a lot of information about the character. I am so far enjoying it halfway thru. 


Didn't think the ending was very exciting. Author leads you around by the nose and you are expecting something thrilling which you never get. The ending is almost a figment of your own imagination.


Was the character hallucinating the castle, professor part? Any consequences to murdering the professor in this town? How old was this old fart anyway? What's with the deer? What's with the forest devoid of animals and insects, the Indian massacre or not? Why'd they come back at the end then? Did his mom/dad have an accident or something else? What the hell was the "conditioned training" all about? He gets drugged or passes out a lot to derail the writer having to get down to the truth. Now that I'm done, and I do know quite a bit about conditioned responses and Pavlov, I don't think the author has a clue about it and details from him are very vague -hinting I'm right. 


Author did a good job of drawing me in but once I got there he confused things, made everything ambiguous and I wasn't satisfied with the ending. Did he call a recruiter? What was in his mail? Why did he buy the land and not live there? What's the story with hating his sister? Just cuz she wouldn't be manipulated and he was? Leaving unsatisfied. WTF?