Book Review: Fever House by Keith Rosson

 

 

 Fever House by Keith Rosson

417 pages, Hardcover
Published August, 2023 by Random House

A podcast interview coming!

How in the holy hell did I not hear of this book sooner? Weird crime, occult horror, a wee bit of metal, and some (punk)rock and roll set in many of my old haunts in Portland. I have no idea how I missed this one that would have made my best of 2023 list had I read it in time. It was a best-of-the-year ranking from the Talking Scared podcast that got this book on my radar.

I like crime novels, but I LOVE weird crime novels. I know the Pulp Fiction comparisons will be beaten to a pulp but think more about Elmore Leonard. I was thinking of Lansdale a bit, I know he feels so geographic it is hard to make that comparison to anything set outside of the South. Fever House is maybe not quite as laughter-inducing, although I chuckled often enough. This is a fun read, disturbing at times but I read it fast over a couple of commutes and almost missed my stop.

Fever House is the story of several characters spread out around Portland Oregon. It opens on tough guy Hutch Holtz. You might be thinking this is his story and you wouldn’t be far off. I read this book cold, knowing nothing of the plot. I thought OK we are chasing down a gangster’s money, then Hutch finds the hand in a wonderbread bag in the freezer. That is when things start to get weird.

The hand affects people around it. Makes them violent, quick to anger. I think the freezer might have blocked it. Hutch is afraid that the hand might implicate him and his friend takes it to dispose of it but the chaos starts right away and also opens the mystery of what the hell is this thing?
We get introduced to Hutch’s boss, a Dark Ops agent looking for the hand, a friend Nick Coffin, and his former rock star mom Katherine who went from touring to agoraphobia. Nick and Katherine interestingly become the protagonists of the book after we start on Hutch. It is an interesting narrative switch-a-roo that had me wondering if that was an accident by the author. Had Rosson intended to center the book on Hutch?

Nick and Katherine and their character elements were as interesting to me as almost anything in the book. Hutch drops out of the book and I could see some editors or storytelling Gurus saying that was a mistake structure-wise. It didn’t bother me but it was a strange choice to give me a hundred to like a character who disappears. That said Katherine is a fascinating character, and alongside her son Nick that novel is in good hands.

If you trust me and want to go in unspoiled let me just assure you of some things. This is a horror crime novel that mixes street-level brutality, humor, and supernatural elements. Much was made in the review of the hard rock or metal edges to the book but I thought those were minor. The crime aspects are where Rosson hooked me. Good crime novels excel in characters and dialogue, and this novel does those moments well. The horror elements work but not as effortlessly as the crime. It is a banger, and despite being long-ish it works. One of the best moments in the novel highlights for me the excellent writing and storytelling chops at play.

This happens late in the novel when Katherine after suffering from intense agoraphobia has to escape into the night.

“Katherine steps out, expecting gunfire and helicopters Men in a perimeter around the door, screaming at her with their weapons drawn.
Instead the night smells of rain. A city street, a boxy white moving van parked at the curb. A street of featureless office parks and garages. More warehouses. Alleyways dark with tangles of blackberry bushes. Lights shining from windows like squares cut out of dark paper.
The door clicks shut behind her. Katherine breathes for a single moment and then runs out into the world with her gun.”   

Fever House is filed with powerful moments like this. Many reviews with focus on the brutal bits, and the humor. That is much of the appeal. The writing is excellent on all levels. This is  really cool hybrid novel, and I am excited to read the sequel.