The Alarming Palsy of James Orr

Dark and humorous in equal parts, this "suburban gothic" nods to Kafka while sharing much in common with contemporaries like James Lasdun, Mark Haddon, and Donald Antrim.

James Orr--husband, father, reliable employee and all round model citizen--wakes one morning to find half his face paralyzed.

Waiting for the affliction to pass, he stops going to work and wanders the idyllic estate where he lives, with its woodland, uniform streets and perfectly manicured lawns. But there are cracks in the veneer. And as his orderly existence begins to unravel, it appears that James himself may not be the man he thought he was.

A deeply unsettling story of creeping horror that consistently confounds expectations, The Alarming Palsy of James Orr introduces a writer of extraordinary and disturbing talents.