The Land Across

Library Journal09/15/2013
When Grafton, an American travel writer, decides to write about an obscure European country about which little is known, he enters a world of strange customs and constant danger, both real and implied. Crossing the border is difficult. Guards take his passport, then arrest him for not having one. Remanded into the custody of a couple who will be punished if he escapes, Grafton agrees to investigate an abandoned house for the couple, who believe a treasure is hidden inside. He then is kidnapped and enlisted to work with the secret police. VERDICT Mirroring the absurdist novels of Franz Kafka and the surreal stories of Stanislaw Lem and Jorge Luis Borges, Wolfe's latest novel begins quietly and grows stranger and more whimsical by the page.