Let Gravity Seize the Dead - by Darrin Doyle (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A century-old cabin holds secrets that refuse to stay buried.

In the Michigan woods, Beck Randall moves his family into a cabin with a dark past. His daughters, Tina and Lucy, soon discover an eerie presence known as "The Whistler," a haunting echo of suffering and violence woven into the land itself.

As the past and present intertwine, the Randall family confronts a terrifying legacy. Can they escape the grip of history, or will they become the next chapter in the cabin's grim tale? A blend of suspense, beauty, and terror, this intergenerational literary horror story explores the enduring power of the past. Perfect for readers of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King.

Review Quotes

"Darrin Doyle's brilliant Let Gravity Seize the Dead is both wizardry and wildfire. Doyle's rich and evocative words conjure other worlds, beyond this one, beyond life and death... Like the best of Poe, like Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, like Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, this book lures us in, alters our perception, and leaves us haunted."
--Kelcey Ervick, author of The Keeper

"It's one of the spookiest, most headlong books I've ever read. It might remind you, as it did me, of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived at the Castle and also of Stephen King's The Shining. But really, it's all Darrin Doyle, who for years has been writing marvelous books about our best intentions and our worst impulses. This is his best yet. Fair warning, though: once you start reading, you won't be able to stop."
--Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?

"With Let Gravity Seize the Dead, Darrin Doyle has fashioned a story of compelling Faulknerian intensity, the evil in it emerging not just from the sins of the past but a Michigan landscape with as much malevolent presence as Annie Proulx's Wyoming."
--Naeem Murr, author of The Perfect Man

"'Violence and trauma may run deep as the forest roots through the Randall family property, but so does Doyle's gift of language, which haunts these lean pages with lines like 'window tarps flap like flightless birds in the night wind, ' to deliver a moody, pitch dark novella that will linger in my nightmares for quite some time."
--Sara Lippman, author of Lech

"With lyrical and haunting prose, Doyle conveys how a landscape can absorb and even embody malevolence, laying traps for the unsuspecting or curious. He has crafted a novella as spellbinding as it's terrifying..."
--Small Press Picks Review

"...you'll be rewarded with beauty and nightmares...[Doyle] has style in droves, and it's as unique as it is mesmerizing."
--Morbidly Beautiful Review

"Rather than ostentatious, gut-churning gore, it relies on poetic writing to create a psychological, even spiritual and existential, minefield. The past mysteriously and hauntingly blends with the present so that the events, much like bloodlines, DNA, and family lore, become inseparable."
--Heavy Feather Review

"Fans of the recent television series Chapelwaite (based on Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot), will pick up on similar atmospheric vibes in the 1907 portions while the 2007 time line will remind readers of the work of Bentley Little, who finds horror within the quotidian. As the ending nears, readers will reel from the ghosts that have tormented this family in more ways than one."
--Booklist

About the Author

Darrin Doyle is the author of six other books of fiction, including the novels The Beast in Aisle 34 and The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo. His short stories have appeared in many literary journals. He has worked as a paperboy, janitor, mover, telemarketer, copy consultant, pizza driver, and prep cook, among other jobs. He teaches at Central Michigan University and lives in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.