Library Journal

This new novel by Holman (Mammoth Cheese) centers on Eddie Alley, raised by his mother in the mountains of rural Virginia during the Depression while his father works away from home. Cora isn't like other mothers—there are rumors that she's a witch. Their isolated life is disrupted when a writer and a photographer working for the WPA arrive in town. They open Eddie's eyes to the wider world, and eventually he leaves Virginia for New York and begins a career in television. Becoming Captain Casket, horror-movie host, he marries and has a daughter, Wallis. When Wallis is 12, the family takes in a troubled teenage boy who unsettles the normalcy of the Alleys and deeply affects Eddie and Wallis. Wallis becomes curious about her mysterious grandmother, and she and Eddie must step back into his strange childhood before they cope with their present. VERDICT Fans of Appalachian fiction and/or novels with supernatural themes should enjoy this eerie, often tense read. [See Prepub Exploded, BookSmack! 9/16/10.]—Shaunna Hunter, Hampden-Sydney Coll., VA