The Locust Room is a dark, tense, exquisitely cruel, painfully tender novel. It intrigues

A subtle, finely observed mediation on male relationships

The Locust Room is thoughtful, provocative in the best sense, and ultimately moving. It is Burnside at this best. And that is very good indeed

Read this novel aloud. Read it wearing earplugs. But read it, and notice its aural effect

Car accidents are by far the most commonplace manner of premature death in America, and it's rare to find someone who hasn't been affected by one. It's surprising, then, that so little has been written about it in American fiction ... This has changed with the appearance of a remarkable novel, The Reconstructionist.