{"product_id":"9781250159991","title":"Universal Harvester : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): John Darnielle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLife in a small town takes a dark turn when mysterious footage begins appearing on VHS cassettes at the local Video Hut\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e. So begins \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/i\u003e, t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehe haunting and masterfully unsettling new novel from John Darnielle, author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBestseller and National Book Award Nominee \u003ci\u003eWolf in White Van.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBestseller\u003cbr\u003eA Finalist for the Locus Award (Best Horror Novel) \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003emoving, beautifully etched\u003c\/b\u003e picture of America’s lost and profoundly lonely.\" —Kazuo Ishiguro, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Remains of the Day\u003c\/i\u003e and winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Brilliant\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Darnielle is a master at building suspense, and his writing is propulsive and urgent;\u003cb\u003e it’s nearly impossible to stop reading \u003c\/b\u003e. . . [\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester \u003c\/i\u003eis] beyond worthwhile; it’s a major work by an author who is quickly becoming \u003cb\u003eone of the brightest stars in American fiction\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cb\u003e”\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—Michael Schaub, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eGrows in menace as the pages stack up\u003c\/b\u003e . . . [But] more sensitive than one would expect from a more traditional tale of dread.” —Joe Hill, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e (Editors’ Choice)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“The most unsettling book I’ve read since \u003ci\u003eHouse of Leaves\u003c\/i\u003e.” \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Adam Morgan, \u003ci\u003eElectric Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s the late ’90s, and you can find Jeremy Heldt at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa—a small town in the center of the state. The job is good enough for Jeremy, quiet and predictable, and it gets him out of the house, where he lives with his dad and where they both try to avoid missing Mom, who died six years ago in a carwreck. But when a local school teacher comes in to return her copy of \u003ci\u003eTargets—\u003c\/i\u003ean old movie, starring Boris Karloff—the transaction jolts Jeremy out of his routine. “There’s something on it,” she says as she leaves the store, though she doesn’t elaborate. Two days later, another customer returns another tape, and registers the same odd complaint: “There’s another movie on this tape.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/i\u003e, the once-placid Iowa fields and farmhouses become sinister, imbued with loss and instability and foreboding. As Jeremy and those around him are absorbed into tapes, they become part of another story—one that unfolds years into the past and years into the future, part of an impossible search for something someone once lost that they would do anything to regain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eBrilliant\u003c\/b\u003e…Darnielle is a master at building suspense, and his writing is propulsive and urgent;\u003cb\u003e it's nearly impossible to stop reading\u003c\/b\u003e. . . [\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester \u003c\/i\u003eis] beyond worthwhile; it's a major work by an author who is quickly becoming \u003cb\u003eone of the brightest stars in American fiction\u003c\/b\u003e.\"  \u003cbr\u003e—Michael Schaub, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Grows in menace as the pages stack up . . .\u003c\/b\u003e [But] more sensitive than one would expect from a more traditional tale of dread.”\u003cbr\u003e—Joe Hill, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“The most unsettling book I’ve read since \u003ci\u003eHouse of Leaves\u003c\/i\u003e.” \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Adam Morgan, \u003ci\u003eElectric Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This chilling literary thriller follows a video store clerk as he deciphers a macabre mystery through clues scattered among the tapes his customers rent. \u003cb\u003eA page-tuning homage to \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Ring.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—O: The Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A stellar encore after the success of [Darnielle's] debut novel, \u003ci\u003eWolf in White Van\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Beneath the eerie gauze of this book, I felt \u003cb\u003ean undercurrent of humanity and hope.\u003c\/b\u003e”\u003cbr\u003e—Manuel Roig-Franzia, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/i\u003e is] \u003cb\u003eso wonderfully strange, almost Lynchian in its juxtaposition of the banal and the creepy\u003c\/b\u003e, that my urge to know what the hell was going on caused me to go full throttle . . . [But] Darnielle hides so much beautiful commentary in the book’s quieter moments that you would be remiss not to slow down.”\u003cbr\u003e—Abram Scharf, MTV News\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Few books in recent memory have mastered the Midwestern uncanny as well as John Darnielle’s strange and lyrical Universal Harvester...\u003cb\u003eLike Midwestern cornfields, this book haunts in many ways.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Chicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel about noticing hidden things, particularly the hurt and desperation that people bear under their exterior of polite reserve . . . Mr. Darnielle possesses \u003cb\u003ethe clairvoyant’s gift for looking beneath the surface.\u003c\/b\u003e”\u003cbr\u003e—Sam Sacks, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester\u003c\/i\u003e is] constantly unnerving, wrapped in a depressed dread that haunts every passage. But it all \u003cb\u003epays off with surprising emotionality.\u003c\/b\u003e” \u003cbr\u003e—Kevin Nguyen, GQ.com\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eTruly excellent...\u003c\/b\u003eIn an age of puffed up literary doorstops, it feels vaguely miraculous that Darnielle manages to pack this haunting novel...into less than 300 pages.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Joe Gross,\u003ci\u003e Austin American-Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Darnielle writes beautifully . . . He builds a deep sense of foreboding by giving pieces of the puzzle in such a way that \u003cb\u003eyou really can’t see the solution until that final piece is in place\u003c\/b\u003e.” \u003cbr\u003e—Salem Macknee, \u003ci\u003eNews \u0026amp; Observer \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Eerie . . . unnerving . . . Darnielle adeptly juggles multiple stories that collide with chaotic consequences somewhere in the middle of nowhere. With a nod to urban legends and friend-of-a-friend tales, the author prepares readers for the surreal truth, the improbable events that 'have form, and shape, and weight, and meaning\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Darnielle’s masterfully disturbing follow-up to the National Book Award-nominated \u003ci\u003eWolf in White Van \u003c\/i\u003ereads like several \u003ci\u003eTwilight Zone \u003c\/i\u003escripts cut together by a poet . . . All the while, [Darnielle’s] grasp of the Iowan composure-above-all mindset instills the book with agonizing heartbreak.” —Daniel Kraus, \u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Darnielle’s second novel opens like a dark suspense story . . . but he ultimately pursues a softer and more nuanced exploration of family and loss . . . Darnielle’s prose is consistently graceful and empathetic . . . [\u003ci\u003eUniversal Harvester \u003c\/i\u003eis] a smart and rangy yarn.” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong-listed Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year (2017), Short-listed Locus Awards - Nominee (2018), Long-listed NPR Best Book of the Year (2017), Long-listed Washington Post Best Books of the Year (2017)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250159991\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40675714367694,"sku":"9781250159991","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_95553030-a7ae-495d-af46-4f2b896e831e.jpg?v=1639970660","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250159991","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}