I’m a pretty big fan of psychological thrillers, and I thought that was exactly what I was getting myself into when I picked up Brundage’s new novel, All Things Cease to Appear. Don’t get me wrong, this book is definitely psychological, but a little less of a thriller and more literary than I expected.
The book revolves around two families, the Hales (three brothers) and the Clares (George and Catherine), both with their own tragedies. In the opening chapter of the book, we meet a man who has come home to find his wife murdered and his young daughter at home with the body. This man is George Clare, and he is frantic at this point. Brundage then takes us into the Hales’ devastating loss of their family home, dairy farm, and parents. This home, of course, will later become the Clares’ home and the murder scene.
Brundage takes you to when the Clares first met, and you soon realize that their marriage is not what it appears to be; it’s mostly thrown together because of Catherine’s pregnancy. They begin to move into the auctioned off farm house and meet their neighbors and George’s colleagues. The Hale brothers, the former residents of the home, start to come around and help with upkeep, and the youngest will sometimes babysit Franny, the Clares’ three-year-old daughter. The story is told from multiple points of view, switching from Catherine to one of the Hale brothers and then back to George. Brundage gives quite a few of the Clares new acquaintances chapters throughout the book and shows their perspectives of George and his wife. Most of them see the couple as happy and put together, but some see straight through the lies. As you move through these multiple viewpoints, pieces begin to fall into place, and many people are not at all what you expected.
This is much more than an engrossing crime story; it’s the story of marriage, love, loss, and family. It’s the story of a woman who is trying to make the best of her unfortunate marriage. It’s the story of three young brothers trying to cope with the loss of everything they knew and loved. It’s the story of a man with a dark past and haunting soul, and it’s all written so beautifully that it makes this one a hard one to put down.
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