Author - Commentator - Journalist
Journalist and author Wangersky is a versatile and acclaimed writer whose last short story collection Whirl Away won the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and was a finalist for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Now, in a novel that keeps creepier with every page, he introduces the reader to Walt, a janitor in a grocery store, who has taken to collecting the shopping lists that people leave behind. These lists are written on scraps of unwanted paper that reveal unintended details of the shopper's lives to Walt, who uses this information to track down and watch select shoppers. After the suspicious disappearance of his wife, the police have him on their radar; they just don't realize how much trouble Walt has been up to. Every page takes the reader a little deeper into his life, slowly revealing just how disturbed he is and the things that he might be capable of. Though it takes a little time to really build up to it, the end leaves you feeling deeply unsettled and thinking twice about where you leave your shopping lists and whether your windows are covered.
(Wangersky) has a gift for astute observation, wisely chosen detail, and characterization that nods in certain directions without forcing or pushing. Just as vitally, he and Walt demonstrate the ways the rhythms and music of words can be used to build sensation — and serious unease — on the page.
The London Free Press
Wangersky, in other words, can write extraordinarily well in a number of discipline, so it’s only reasonable to expect that, when turning his attention to psychological suspense, he’d excel at this, too.
The National Post
Told in the simple yet strangely astute voice of Walt, the novel will keep most reader’s guessing until the last chapter. A simple, yet deceptively deep psychological thriller that will remain in the reader’s memory. Once you meet Walt, you are unlikely to forget him. Highly recommended!