John Coyne: The Searing

[vaughan]

Fontana, Published 1980 (US), 1981 (UK). 223 Pages.

Well, I'm new to John Coyne - and on the strength of this I'd be more than willing to give him another go.

The story of The Searing is of a new housing development on the banks of the Potomac outside of Washington, DC. A farmer had gotten himself into debt, and through some questionable moves by his banker, sold much of his land for a new development to go up. The houses were bought by an elite group of families that are either working at high-levels of government, or are at the top of their professions.

All goes well at the new development until a baby is found, dead in its cot - its brain cooked. Yes, cooked. Our lead character is Sara, a doctor, and it's left to her to figure out what's going on.

There are several more deaths, and they all seem to have something to do with farmers daughter, an autistic girl by the name of Cindy (who is described as "retarded" far more times than one would like). She seems to always be on the scene of the crimes, but doesn't seem to have the mental capacity to truly hurt anyone. Perhaps it has something to do with the old Indian Burial mound?

Of course I don't want to give any spoilers, but I'm pretty sure no-one will be expecting how this one turns out. It's a real M. Night Shyamalan one this.... caught me off guard. If I'm truthful I think the author went a bit.... off the track, but hey who am I to question the guy? It's certainly different!!

Writing style is good, and the action takes place in around 5 or 6 locations in the new housing development, keeping the sense of place quite well.

I'm not sure how most of you would react to the climax of this one, but for me it gets a 7 out of 10. The points are docked for a wacky ending.

[vaughan]

A cover image turned up on Ebay!

[andydecker]

John Coyne - The Searing (Putnam, 1980, this edition Fontana, 1981)

Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.