The Church of Dead Girls

Description

Despite its superficial resemblance to a whodunit, The Church of Dead Girls is not a conventional thriller. Don't expect it to be suspenseful. This is a literary horror tale--slow paced, contemplative, meticulous in its descriptions--about a formerly sleepy small town in which the crucial distinction between public and private life is dissolving as suspicion spreads like a toxin. The reader's guide to this process of corruption is a high school biology teacher--reserved, somewhat snotty, but a thoughtful man, and reliable in spite of his cynicism. He says, "It is dreadful not to be allowed to have secrets. Years ago I happened to uncover a nest of baby moles in the backyard and I watched them writhe miserably in the sunlight. We were like that." Ultimately you realize that the killer's identity, even the deaths of three girls, are small matters compared to the collapse of the town's very soul.

First Sentence

Afterward everyone said it began with the disappearance of the first girl, but it began earlier than that.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Church of Dead Girls: A NovelMass Market PaperbackSt. Martin's Paperbacks2001-05-15
• The church of dead girlsMetropolitan Books1997-01-01
• The church of dead girlsBCA1997-01-01
• The church of dead girlsWheeler Pub.1997-01-01
• The Church of Dead GirlsHenry Holt & Co1998-01-01
• The Church of Dead GirlsPaperbackOwl Books1998-06-15