When cousins Danny and Howie were kids a horrible accident drove them apart. Now twenty years later Howie has bought a castle in Europe and wants his cousin Danny there to help with renovations. Howie was previously the uncool kid while Danny was the all American boy. Now Danny is a New York hipster who must stay connected at all times (internet, cell phone, etc.) while Howie has transformed into a tall blonde tanned millionaire hell bent on turning his new castle into a hotel where you leave your electronics at the door.

Danny does wind up traveling to Eastern Europe to help out but panics at the thought of being disconnected. This puts him in a strange(r) frame of mind and ripe for the odd occurrences that start happening in the castle both from the living and the dead.

Here’s the thing, this story is being told by Ray, a prison inmate in a creative writing class, and he’s telling this story within his own story. Once you find this out the chapters switch between Ray in real life and Ray’s telling of the story. Does this sound really interesting? It’s really not.

I disliked almost every single character. I’m not sure if I’m even supposed to be rooting for anyone in particular but if I am then the “good guys” were just boring, whiney or annoying. The antagonists were also rather dull and annoying. There also wasn’t near enough creepy to keep me entertained. I was expecting a ghost story and didn’t get one.

I had been hearing about this book for some time and had planned on buying it. Imagine how thrilled I was when I was sent a copy for review. Well thank you very much Knopf, you saved me $16.00. Although the fact that I heard so much about it pretty much means there are quite a few people out there who did enjoy it. It could be just the book for you, it just wasn’t for me.

My thoughts on the book wouldn’t be as harsh if it hadn’t been for the ending. Without giving too much away lets just say Ray’s story continues outside the prison and it feels tacked on.

If you were interested in this book I’d recommend finding reviews from people you usually agree or disagree with and see what they think. Honestly I didn’t like it but I could see where some people would. Sorry for being so ambiguous, it’s really different, but different can be good or bad depending on the reader.

(2006) Jennifer Egan