Metronome

by Michael J. Seidlinger

THE GREAT DOWNER BOOK OF THE YEAR

What have you done?

I wasn’t the first person to find out but I was most definitely the last to believe. Believe that it was you. What have you done, son? What this means… what to believe… I can’t believe it. The house will never again be fully occupied; we will never be all under one roof. Your room will forever await your return. Your family will forever knock on your door forgetting that you traded your bedroom for the solitude of a 6×8 cell. You broke us apart. Son, tomorrow marks the… how many days… how many days? Ever since the incident…

We haven’t visited because, well… I want you to know what’s happened since you left.

THANKFULLY ONLY FIFTEEN COPIES EXIST!

Unknown Binding

About the author

MICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER is the Filipino American author of The Body Harvest, Anybody Home?, and other books. He has written for, among others, Wired, Buzzfeed, Thrillist, Goodreads, The Observer, Polygon, The Believer, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches at Portland State University and has led workshops at Catapult, Kettle Pond Writer's Conference, and Sarah Lawrence. You can find him at michaeljseidlinger.com.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way to describe this book is with the simple, sole word "chilling." Seidlinger shows an amazing amount of restraint in this one, much more slow reveal. It seems like the more details that aren't said though, the harder the lines hit. A father writing messages he never intends to send to a son who walked into a mall and committed a horrifying, unidentified crime. A monster. The father details what this has done to friends and loved ones, repeatedly questions and tries to puzzle out why, and wrestles with the unending metaphorical metronome of his inescapable guilt that he had some kind of hand in what happened. Anyone who doesn't get these limited editions Seidlinger releases is truly missing out. I wouldn't have missed this for anything.

[Michael Seidlinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I can't sleep because, you see, the ticking never stops.