A self-haunted antihero encounters and seemingly inherits a universal archetype – but for good or for evil? – in Dreck, an immersive and inventive fantasy horror by Alex Grass.
Frankie Attanasio is a mortician in the demolished but slowly recovering city of Pittsburgh. He, like many others, fought in the Long War that may now have resolved in a sort of anarchic, every-person-for-him/herself slush of poverty, loss, and bitter memories. When the tale begins, Frankie receives a corpse – but not just any corpse. Its missing fingers identify it as the legendary Dreck, a monster who is known as “not a man, but a beast, with blood on his hands and death in his teeth.”
Left alone with the body, Frankie finds himself in a mysterious, melting reality in which Dreck comes alive, his war-scarred corpse strangely embedded with magical gold coins, and his spirit issues an order: “FIND.” Dogged by self-styled government agents even as religious fanatics try to seize control of the war-ravaged world, Frankie needs to understand what he is supposed to “find” – and why. Why has he been given this role by the supernatural monster Dreck? And to whom is he to give the gold coins that clearly symbolize a blessing to those who receive them?
Caught up in this new consciousness, Frankie will meet a boy-like man, Trucule, who becomes an ally with whom he will explore a city underneath the city, populated by other child-like denizens whose supernatural origins, especially that of the lovely Deedee, are linked to Frankie and his new destiny. He revisits repressed memories – the pain of a childhood torn between a loving father and a wicked stepmother, each playing their folkloric roles of good and evil. Through the events of his new mindset, which still sometimes seems like a dream, Frankie realizes himself as the fabled Son. Outside, a blizzard continues – but when it abates, the stage will be set for new beginnings, and Frankie must rise to meet them.
What may be apparent from this premise is that the novel is like nothing else, existing in its own well-crafted universe within its pages, and in its own genre in ours. Like the titular monster, this novel stands alone from other dark fantasy and horror in its absolute originality. The novel edges into literary fiction for its boundary breaking, as well as Grass’s thrilling playfulness with language. It’s the kind of novel where the writer becomes a protagonist, as one waits to see how Grass constructs the next phrase, in a story that is at once chilling and fun, given the book’s boundless sense of invention.
Grass is especially adept at establishing a sense of place, which is so key to this eerie and unique underworld setting. He melds the amusing slang of old “Pennsyltucky” with an assured knowledge of Jewish/Yiddish argot and barroom and bordello banter, each with equal authority. He also paints a vivid portrayal of war’s horrors in contrast to the possibilities for peace in a brave new world, for a multilayered plot with scarcely a word out of place.
The book begs a sequel as the novel piques the reader’s imagination with lively characters, minute-by-minute action, and the sinister aura of chaos on post-war earth, where monstrosity is pinned against the hopes for rescue. Despite its dark leanings, Dreck should have a wide audience, all of whom will revel in this fantasy with its many well-dropped hints of a far-fetched, but not quite impossible dystopia.
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