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Walt
From critically acclaimed author Russell Wangersky, comes a dark, psychological thriller about a man named Walt, a grocery store cleaner who collects the shopping lists people leave in the store and discard without thought. In his fifties, abandoned, he says, by his now-missing wife Mary, Walt is pursued by police detectives unsatisfied with the answers he’s given about her disappearance.
Almost invisible to the people who pass him every day, the grocery lists he collects, written on everything from cancelled cheques to mortgage statements to office stationary, give him a personal hold over those who both ignore him and unwittingly disclose facets of their lives to him.
When a new cold case squad is formed in St. John’s to look into Mary’s disappearance, the detectives begin to realize that Walt may be involved in more than just his wife’s disappearance.
Set in modern-day Newfoundland, after reading Walt, you’ll be sure to never let your shopping list fall to the floor ever again.
Almost invisible to the people who pass him every day, the grocery lists he collects, written on everything from cancelled cheques to mortgage statements to office stationary, give him a personal hold over those who both ignore him and unwittingly disclose facets of their lives to him.
When a new cold case squad is formed in St. John’s to look into Mary’s disappearance, the detectives begin to realize that Walt may be involved in more than just his wife’s disappearance.
Set in modern-day Newfoundland, after reading Walt, you’ll be sure to never let your shopping list fall to the floor ever again.
315 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2016
4 people are currently reading
327 people want to read
About the author
Russell Wangersky
13 books28 followers"Raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, .. his father was a professor of oceanography at Dalhousie University and his mother, a marine biologist, ran a tight ship.. Predilection for dangerous .. and explosions" led to "rugby at 16 -- gave it up two broken noses, three cracked ribs and six concussions later" at age 32. At Arcadia University, he was also "a volunteer firefighter in Wolfville.
With "wife Barbara Pratt moved to Toronto" in 1984, back to St John's Newfoundland in 1986, five years reporter at Sunday Express and CBC TV. Two sons later, joined The Telegram daily in 1997, became editor by 2002. Now married to Leslie Vryenhoek, lives and works in St John's.
With "wife Barbara Pratt moved to Toronto" in 1984, back to St John's Newfoundland in 1986, five years reporter at Sunday Express and CBC TV. Two sons later, joined The Telegram daily in 1997, became editor by 2002. Now married to Leslie Vryenhoek, lives and works in St John's.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
March 2, 2015
Mired in lovely prose, it couldn't pull its feet out and get moving. Two stars for the story but four stars for his way with words, and meet you in the middle.
September 12, 2014
I really, really wanted to love this book - but alas, I didn't. While the main character is intriguing, and the story line unique, I just kept waiting and waiting for something - anything! - to happen. It's as if Wangersky just couldn't commit to the character. Sure, Walt has some twisted thoughts and mystery surrounds him, but the reader is never truly let in on his secrets. Most of the book is spent describing, hypothesising, and theorizing about events that never come to fruition. The ending is predictable and almost feels like a cop-out. For me, this book was utterly forgettable.
December 18, 2014
I love the premise, but unfortunately the character nor the story's seems to be able to hold my attention. When you're reading a mystery novel and your mind repeatedly wanders, you know it's time to give up.
November 13, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Creepariffic!
August 13, 2016
Die Idee ist echt nicht schlecht, aber die Umsetzung war doch letztendlich enttäuschend!
February 28, 2016
Wangersky must have spent hours and weeks observing inside a grocery store! Guaranteed I will not be grocery shopping the same ever again. The downright, incredibly astute observations made about the common grocery list, to the way people shop, the differences between the sexes...incredibly observant and written about in an excellent manner.
Walt is the janitor in a grocery store - he collects all those discarded lists and is able to describe the creator of those lists with pinpoint accuracy. Trouble with Walt is that his wife is missing, the police won't leave him alone, another girl has gone missing and yet one more is making frequent calls to the police about feeling that someone has been watching her, been in her home and she can never shake the feeling she is being followed.
While the ending comes to an abrupt, seemingly unresolved finish, this was quite a creepy read! There were times when I was reminded of Martin John, but Walt is written in a far more linear (and pleasing to me) manner.
I have to go to the grocery store today, and I can honestly tell you I'm quite creeped out by it.
This is also another Bingo square completed for the CBC Books Bingo Challenge! Walt will fill in the Bookie Awards square.
Walt is the janitor in a grocery store - he collects all those discarded lists and is able to describe the creator of those lists with pinpoint accuracy. Trouble with Walt is that his wife is missing, the police won't leave him alone, another girl has gone missing and yet one more is making frequent calls to the police about feeling that someone has been watching her, been in her home and she can never shake the feeling she is being followed.
While the ending comes to an abrupt, seemingly unresolved finish, this was quite a creepy read! There were times when I was reminded of Martin John, but Walt is written in a far more linear (and pleasing to me) manner.
I have to go to the grocery store today, and I can honestly tell you I'm quite creeped out by it.
This is also another Bingo square completed for the CBC Books Bingo Challenge! Walt will fill in the Bookie Awards square.
January 6, 2015
This a seriously creepy book. Walt is a janitor at a grocery store in downtown St. John's, the kind of middle-aged man you don't notice. That suits him just fine, as he can watch you without being caught. He has a hobby of collecting old grocery lists from the garbage at his store, and constructing stories about their writers. The problems start when he begins to stalk the list makers. Oh, and by the way, his wife disappeared without a trace a few years ago.
The narrative goes back and forth from Walt's first-person account to more traditional story telling about the police procedures to diary entries by one of Walt's interests. It weaves together nicely, and ends chillingly and abruptly. The author was adept at atmospheric constructs: you felt the creepy coldness of the wilderness cabin, the warmth of Walt's kitchen, the clinical smells of the hospital ER. Very well written indeed.
The narrative goes back and forth from Walt's first-person account to more traditional story telling about the police procedures to diary entries by one of Walt's interests. It weaves together nicely, and ends chillingly and abruptly. The author was adept at atmospheric constructs: you felt the creepy coldness of the wilderness cabin, the warmth of Walt's kitchen, the clinical smells of the hospital ER. Very well written indeed.
August 23, 2015
Well. That was a creepy little read. A really interesting concept and developed in a way that leaves you guessing throughout. And even afterwards. Anything else I can say feels like it might be a spoiler because it is pretty twisted.
May 22, 2017
This is a very difficult book to describe. On face value it is about the observations of a grocery store janitor who collects left behind grocery lists and uses them to make observations about their owners lives. This part of the story is quick quirky and enjoyable. There is also a sinister side to the story as the main protagonist's wife is missing, and if follows the cold case offices who are trying to solve this and other similar crimes.
So there is this mixture of quirky and creepy that keeps the reader on their toes.
So there is this mixture of quirky and creepy that keeps the reader on their toes.
February 3, 2017
This is an insidiously creepy read, and it works especially well for most of the narrative. The author keeps us off-balance enough that we're not certain whether Walt is a merely a socially awkward sad sack who eventually crosses boundaries or if there is something much darker at work.
The best parts are Walt's analysis of discarded grocery lists. What he can puzzle out from what is bought and the various papers on which lists are written shows just how many clues we leave about ourselves if we aren't paying attention -- and more disturbingly what can be done with that information by social media searches or 'casual' following or even by being careless with an envelope. His deductions are reasonable, which makes them all the more chilling.
Chapters with the detectives offered contrast, but their leap from disinterested to highly suspicious didn't quite feel earned. I was much more invested in the story until the final quarter, when it felt a bit rushed-to-the-end without the high tension of a standard suspense or thriller. Recommended for those who appreciate narrative technique and subtle character work, less so for those looking for outright adrenaline stories.
The best parts are Walt's analysis of discarded grocery lists. What he can puzzle out from what is bought and the various papers on which lists are written shows just how many clues we leave about ourselves if we aren't paying attention -- and more disturbingly what can be done with that information by social media searches or 'casual' following or even by being careless with an envelope. His deductions are reasonable, which makes them all the more chilling.
Chapters with the detectives offered contrast, but their leap from disinterested to highly suspicious didn't quite feel earned. I was much more invested in the story until the final quarter, when it felt a bit rushed-to-the-end without the high tension of a standard suspense or thriller. Recommended for those who appreciate narrative technique and subtle character work, less so for those looking for outright adrenaline stories.
June 14, 2016
I won't be leaving my grocery list at the store any more
Walt is a janitor at a grocery store in St. John's, Newfoundland and he picks up discarded grocery lists. It's amazing what he can find out about someone just from one of these lists. And he especially likes the lists of attractive women.
His wife disappeared a few years ago with no trace. And now two officers of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) are checking up on cold cases in the district.
This was a creepy, dark look at the inner workings of Walt's reasoning behind what he does. He is NOT a likable character. But the book was written well.
It had a very abrupt ending, which is why I took a star off of the rating.
I received this book from House of Anansi through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.
Walt is a janitor at a grocery store in St. John's, Newfoundland and he picks up discarded grocery lists. It's amazing what he can find out about someone just from one of these lists. And he especially likes the lists of attractive women.
His wife disappeared a few years ago with no trace. And now two officers of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) are checking up on cold cases in the district.
This was a creepy, dark look at the inner workings of Walt's reasoning behind what he does. He is NOT a likable character. But the book was written well.
It had a very abrupt ending, which is why I took a star off of the rating.
I received this book from House of Anansi through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.
November 8, 2014
*received through first reads
I was really hoping that I would like this book. The back review made the story sound like a thriller and impossible to put down. I had a hard time finishing this book, fell asleep many nights after reading a page or two. The writing is very descriptive, so much that the story would go on in great detail about irrelevant content. The storyline was unique but written in such a way the story became lost. The ending was a huge dissapointment, as if it had to be finished suddenly and just cut off.
I was really hoping that I would like this book. The back review made the story sound like a thriller and impossible to put down. I had a hard time finishing this book, fell asleep many nights after reading a page or two. The writing is very descriptive, so much that the story would go on in great detail about irrelevant content. The storyline was unique but written in such a way the story became lost. The ending was a huge dissapointment, as if it had to be finished suddenly and just cut off.
May 14, 2021
I don't believe that you can change someone else deliberately--you can't take a person and make them into somebody else. They are who they are, and I sometimes think that who we are is more hard-wired than anyone imagines.
What you can do, almost without thinking, almost without blaming yourself for anything, is to turn them toward the crash--turn them toward it, just the tiniest of turns, and let the inevitability of their momentum do the rest all by itself.
Momentum is powerful and cruel, and there's not one single thing that can change it.
I dug a hole right there in front of her and waited for her to fall in. Waited, ready to cover her over completely.
~~St. John, Newfoundland--the setting for Walt . Wangersky mentions at one point that you are always going either up or down when driving. There are no flat streets. Looking at this picture I can see why! What I'm having a hard time picturing is anything creepy happening here....but read this story, and you will find creepiness in the most unlikely of places.
bananas
Butter
Whipping cream
ginger ale
[quote] Everything about that list just says "comfort food." Or dessert. Something with a hint of "please rescue me." Sometimes, there's no one coming to the rescue. I see them more often than you'd think, grocery lists that read like life rings. From all kinds of people; I mean, you might expect desperation from some people--tired, worn out, stressed housewives maybe. But it's anyone, really, picking up chips and dip or crackers or instant pizzas. I can look out my front window and anyone walking by might be lugging their own particular safety net home, filling no hole, solving nothing. [end quote]
Meat Walt. Or don't. Most people don't notice him, after all. And he is quite alright with that. He's the janitor at the local grocery store, and in that role, has found he is nearly invisible. He's also developed the habit of going through trashcans for receipts, or picking them up off the floor. He can find out an astonishing (and worrisome) amount of information from random people's shopping lists. And not just what they're getting....but what the list was written on. He finds everything from bills with the home mailing address, to business letterhead, to partially written letters. Many of these lists are put into boxes as part of a collection, but Walt has taken his interest in some grocery store patrons to the next level.
But is he just a creepy guy following customers home and looking through their picture windows? Or is there something more sinister going on? And what about his ex-wife, while we are wondering? She walked out on him, and hasn't been seen since. Her family is more than a little worried. Unfortunately for Walt, the Newfoundland police force decided to put Inspector Dean Hill on assignment to solve a folder full of cold cases. He's stubbornly good at finding a likely bone and then worrying it. And he's set his sights on Walt. Is his borderline obsession founded in fact? Read this unusually terrifying book to find out. And never drop your shopping list in a trash can again!
My two cents: : A common complaint with Wangersky's offering, is that reviewers kept waiting for something to happen. I *liked* the way suspense was done differently here, though. There are hundreds of action books out there if that's what you are looking for. But here, we are given enough information to let our imaginations run away with us. And Wangersky slowly fuels the fire as the novel goes along. It doesn't hurt that he writes exceptional prose. I do wish there had been just a little more at the end. Given 3.5 stars or a rating of "Very Good." Highly recommended as a library book checkout or book sale purchase. And recommended as a gift if you know someone who likes unusual thrillers.
Other favorite quotes: "If nothing else, Mary could make up her mind. It can be a very bad thing, getting yourself hooked up with someone who already knows all the answers, someone who's written your life story complete with all your lines, all of it without even giving you a chance to speak."
~~"Memories are more like leftovers--the pieces other people think are worth keeping, at least for a little while."
~~"Of course I wanted kids--globally, I meant. Not like next Thursday or something."
~~"That's the only real word for it--sour. Like something's gone off, some part of me has gone past that "best before" date you always have a look at before you take a swig of milk right from the carton. And I'm boxed in by this house: sometimes the walls are like the walls of a fortress, keeping everything out, the wind haling hard fingers of snow along the clapboard outside, random branches tapping."
~~"There's a shuddering, definite fall to it, the loss of something you trust implicitly, as if you were an explorer and magnetic north had just decided to depart, heading west to spend a little time on the B.C. coast. The way you would feel as you watched your compass falling away to one side--the way you would know both that something was critically wrong and that it was absolutely beyond your ability to fix."
Further Reading: Worried about someone learning all about you? You probably should be. Here's a list of papers that should always be shredded. Spoiler alert--grocery store lists don't appear on this list. https://www.ironmountain.com/resource...
~~The wikipedia page on Newfoundland. It's a nice starting point if you want to brush up on your knowledge of this little neck of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoun...
What you can do, almost without thinking, almost without blaming yourself for anything, is to turn them toward the crash--turn them toward it, just the tiniest of turns, and let the inevitability of their momentum do the rest all by itself.
Momentum is powerful and cruel, and there's not one single thing that can change it.
I dug a hole right there in front of her and waited for her to fall in. Waited, ready to cover her over completely.
~~St. John, Newfoundland--the setting for Walt . Wangersky mentions at one point that you are always going either up or down when driving. There are no flat streets. Looking at this picture I can see why! What I'm having a hard time picturing is anything creepy happening here....but read this story, and you will find creepiness in the most unlikely of places.
bananas
Butter
Whipping cream
ginger ale
[quote] Everything about that list just says "comfort food." Or dessert. Something with a hint of "please rescue me." Sometimes, there's no one coming to the rescue. I see them more often than you'd think, grocery lists that read like life rings. From all kinds of people; I mean, you might expect desperation from some people--tired, worn out, stressed housewives maybe. But it's anyone, really, picking up chips and dip or crackers or instant pizzas. I can look out my front window and anyone walking by might be lugging their own particular safety net home, filling no hole, solving nothing. [end quote]
Meat Walt. Or don't. Most people don't notice him, after all. And he is quite alright with that. He's the janitor at the local grocery store, and in that role, has found he is nearly invisible. He's also developed the habit of going through trashcans for receipts, or picking them up off the floor. He can find out an astonishing (and worrisome) amount of information from random people's shopping lists. And not just what they're getting....but what the list was written on. He finds everything from bills with the home mailing address, to business letterhead, to partially written letters. Many of these lists are put into boxes as part of a collection, but Walt has taken his interest in some grocery store patrons to the next level.
But is he just a creepy guy following customers home and looking through their picture windows? Or is there something more sinister going on? And what about his ex-wife, while we are wondering? She walked out on him, and hasn't been seen since. Her family is more than a little worried. Unfortunately for Walt, the Newfoundland police force decided to put Inspector Dean Hill on assignment to solve a folder full of cold cases. He's stubbornly good at finding a likely bone and then worrying it. And he's set his sights on Walt. Is his borderline obsession founded in fact? Read this unusually terrifying book to find out. And never drop your shopping list in a trash can again!
My two cents: : A common complaint with Wangersky's offering, is that reviewers kept waiting for something to happen. I *liked* the way suspense was done differently here, though. There are hundreds of action books out there if that's what you are looking for. But here, we are given enough information to let our imaginations run away with us. And Wangersky slowly fuels the fire as the novel goes along. It doesn't hurt that he writes exceptional prose. I do wish there had been just a little more at the end. Given 3.5 stars or a rating of "Very Good." Highly recommended as a library book checkout or book sale purchase. And recommended as a gift if you know someone who likes unusual thrillers.
Other favorite quotes: "If nothing else, Mary could make up her mind. It can be a very bad thing, getting yourself hooked up with someone who already knows all the answers, someone who's written your life story complete with all your lines, all of it without even giving you a chance to speak."
~~"Memories are more like leftovers--the pieces other people think are worth keeping, at least for a little while."
~~"Of course I wanted kids--globally, I meant. Not like next Thursday or something."
~~"That's the only real word for it--sour. Like something's gone off, some part of me has gone past that "best before" date you always have a look at before you take a swig of milk right from the carton. And I'm boxed in by this house: sometimes the walls are like the walls of a fortress, keeping everything out, the wind haling hard fingers of snow along the clapboard outside, random branches tapping."
~~"There's a shuddering, definite fall to it, the loss of something you trust implicitly, as if you were an explorer and magnetic north had just decided to depart, heading west to spend a little time on the B.C. coast. The way you would feel as you watched your compass falling away to one side--the way you would know both that something was critically wrong and that it was absolutely beyond your ability to fix."
Further Reading: Worried about someone learning all about you? You probably should be. Here's a list of papers that should always be shredded. Spoiler alert--grocery store lists don't appear on this list. https://www.ironmountain.com/resource...
~~The wikipedia page on Newfoundland. It's a nice starting point if you want to brush up on your knowledge of this little neck of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoun...
March 1, 2017
I really wanted to like this one more then I did. I am always excited for a new dark, psychological thriller, and this one is Canadian to boot. I just found myself waiting for something to happen, and waiting, and waiting. Then the book ended and there I was still waiting.
December 24, 2014
I love this writer, but not this book. He seems to be stronger in the short story genre because I felt this novel lacked development and lacked characterization.
January 22, 2015
Psychological suspense is right in my wheelhouse, but this book just plodded along. Walt is creepy alright, and dangerous in the end, but the book itself seemed too long and boring.
September 19, 2014
Waste of time. Worst ending ever. Why bother writing a book if you can't finish it?
October 29, 2019
I wanted to like this book so much. It's Canadian, it gives off a completely creepy vibe, what more do I really need in a book? More than Wangersky can provide apparently.
Walt works at a grocery store, looked over by most of the customers but Walt sees them all through the slips of paper they write their shopping lists on. On discarded mail, old banking statements, letterheads Walt can piece together their lives from more than just the groceries they're picking up. Walt is content with his life, living alone since his wife Mary left him years ago, though her leaving is seen as mysterious by the local police who won't leave him alone about it. When the police start looking into past disappearances and see Walt as a possible connection between them, the stories between them may collide as Walt continues his collect of notes.
A story about a creepy middle-aged guy who collects grocery lists and stalks some of the shoppers should be interesting. It should make you never want to write a shopping list again, should make you look twice at the clerk bagging your Cheetos, should make me want to do all my shopping online but Walt doesn't do that. While the psychology of the main character is interesting so much of the story is just his ramblings about how he sees people, what others do and how they act, and his own peculiarities. While some of these things are definitely horrifying the more I read the more I wanted something, anything to happen. But nothing did!
The police storyline was boring considering they're the investigators, and the switch from the first person of Walt to the third person of the detectives was jarring, considering a first person of one of Walt's stalkee's Alisha is also told in first person through diary entry's. The switch was jarring at times and it seemed like I was reading two different books. Also why even include Alisha's diary entry's when everyone just talks about how she feels like she's being watched?
And to top it all off the ending was completely unsatisfying that by the end I couldn't even be angry, I was just happy it was over.
If you're looking for voyeuristic horror, Walt is not the one to read. While I haven't read any more books similar to this I'll recommend you watch One Hour Photo because it succeeds where Walt fails.
Walt works at a grocery store, looked over by most of the customers but Walt sees them all through the slips of paper they write their shopping lists on. On discarded mail, old banking statements, letterheads Walt can piece together their lives from more than just the groceries they're picking up. Walt is content with his life, living alone since his wife Mary left him years ago, though her leaving is seen as mysterious by the local police who won't leave him alone about it. When the police start looking into past disappearances and see Walt as a possible connection between them, the stories between them may collide as Walt continues his collect of notes.
A story about a creepy middle-aged guy who collects grocery lists and stalks some of the shoppers should be interesting. It should make you never want to write a shopping list again, should make you look twice at the clerk bagging your Cheetos, should make me want to do all my shopping online but Walt doesn't do that. While the psychology of the main character is interesting so much of the story is just his ramblings about how he sees people, what others do and how they act, and his own peculiarities. While some of these things are definitely horrifying the more I read the more I wanted something, anything to happen. But nothing did!
The police storyline was boring considering they're the investigators, and the switch from the first person of Walt to the third person of the detectives was jarring, considering a first person of one of Walt's stalkee's Alisha is also told in first person through diary entry's. The switch was jarring at times and it seemed like I was reading two different books. Also why even include Alisha's diary entry's when everyone just talks about how she feels like she's being watched?
And to top it all off the ending was completely unsatisfying that by the end I couldn't even be angry, I was just happy it was over.
If you're looking for voyeuristic horror, Walt is not the one to read. While I haven't read any more books similar to this I'll recommend you watch One Hour Photo because it succeeds where Walt fails.
October 31, 2018
2-2.5 stars.
Un peu mitigée sur celui-ci..
L'idée de départ est bonne, très originale et intrigante; malheureusement, j'ai perçu ce livre comme inachevé, et n'ayant pas atteint le but recherché par l'auteur.
Ça se lit très vite, et certains passages sont très bons, d'autres plus lents, mais au final, on avance. Ce qui est une bonne et une mauvaise chose; j'ai eu le sentiment qu'en voulant laisser du mystère et de la subtilité, certaines intrigues peuvent être mal interprétées, voire même incomprises totalement.
Cette fin me laisse donc un peu perplexe, et peut-être que la troisième personne aurait dû être utilisée au lieu de la première, ça aurait eu un peu plus de sens, vu le mystère entourant Walt.
Mais sinon, je vais m'en tenir aux listes shopping sur le téléphone, maintenant.
Un peu mitigée sur celui-ci..
L'idée de départ est bonne, très originale et intrigante; malheureusement, j'ai perçu ce livre comme inachevé, et n'ayant pas atteint le but recherché par l'auteur.
Ça se lit très vite, et certains passages sont très bons, d'autres plus lents, mais au final, on avance. Ce qui est une bonne et une mauvaise chose; j'ai eu le sentiment qu'en voulant laisser du mystère et de la subtilité, certaines intrigues peuvent être mal interprétées, voire même incomprises totalement.
Cette fin me laisse donc un peu perplexe, et peut-être que la troisième personne aurait dû être utilisée au lieu de la première, ça aurait eu un peu plus de sens, vu le mystère entourant Walt.
Mais sinon, je vais m'en tenir aux listes shopping sur le téléphone, maintenant.
July 21, 2019
Walt arbeitet als Reinigungskraft in einem Supermarkt. Sein Hobby ist es, die weggeworfenen Einkaufszettel der Kunden zu sammeln und anhand des Geschriebenen und der Schriftart zu analysieren. Er entwickelt zu manchen Personen einen besonders gestörten Drang, diese zu verfolgen und zu beobachten...
Erzählt aus der Ich-Perspektive von Walt; den ermittelnden Polizisten und Tagebucheinträgen von Alisha.
...keinesfalls ein Psychothriller. Seitenweise langweilig geschrieben, sodass ich sie nur lustlos überflog. Spannung kam, meines Erachtens, bis zur letzten Seite nicht auf.
Erzählt aus der Ich-Perspektive von Walt; den ermittelnden Polizisten und Tagebucheinträgen von Alisha.
...keinesfalls ein Psychothriller. Seitenweise langweilig geschrieben, sodass ich sie nur lustlos überflog. Spannung kam, meines Erachtens, bis zur letzten Seite nicht auf.
November 8, 2018
Walt is an extremely creepy cleaner at a supermarket in St. John's who gets creepier at every turn of the page. Told mostly from Walt's point of view, the novel is a slow-paced narrative of escalating aberrant behaviour. Walt's monologue is a fascinating introspective in which he weirdly rationalises himself until the bitter end.
November 18, 2018
So good! Wangersky's observation of the tiny details of human behaviour, of objects, of the interaction between people and between people and objects, is second to none. He cleverly manipulates the way you feel about Walt as the story progresses, and I can assure you that I am never again going to ignore a janitor or drop a shopping list.
June 4, 2023
I read the front blurb and it sounded promising. Then it started to ramble about irrelevant details and that’s when I began to skim read. The different POV kept it moderately interesting. I just didn’t find it compelling. Overall would not recommend
October 20, 2017
The idea was better than the execution
December 13, 2017
Great premise but just ended abruptly. Was waiting for this great twist at the end. Unfortunately it never came.
May 16, 2020
A fine blend of creepy and fascinating, weighted more heavily to the latter, which is exactly perfect.
August 31, 2020
Un navet qui n'en finit pas... Je n'ai même pas pu le terminer.
August 27, 2022
This book had so much potential. It just fell really flat. There were so many holes that just never got filled. I’m all for “reading between the lines,” but you have to give your reader something.
July 17, 2023
2-3 stars. Was okay. Interesting writing style and interesting storyline but didn’t like that everything was always left open-ended.
April 21, 2016
My most recent reading journey took me to Newfoundland – or to what we in Atlantic Canada affectionately call “The Rock”. Set in modern day St. John’s, Newfoundland’s capital city, the novel features a solitary, fifty-something grocery store janitor named “Walt“.
Walt is one of the invisible members of society. Quietly and unobtrusively pushing his broom, cleaning up other people’s messes. Dressed in a uniform which people tend to ignore – until they need his cleaning services and then they don’t look him in the eye…
He lives alone in a house on McKay Street in east end St. John’s. A house that he once shared with his wife Mary – though now she is gone… Theirs was a volatile and childless marriage. Mary left him? Moved back to her parents? Went out West? Died? – we don’t know. All we know is that she isn’t there anymore. Now Walt lives a solitary existence, moving from his house to the grocery store where he works and taking long walks around his home city. He loves to fish and deems fishing to be an almost religious experience.
Walt has a very keen interest in human nature. He is a rapt observer of everyone who enters his store. In fact in everyone he encounters. This is in part due to his loneliness. He feels stifled by his insular life, but can not see his way to make the changes necessary to lift him from his routines.
Told almost all from the point of view of Walt, with the odd short chapter told from the point of view of two members of the RNC (the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary), the novel describes Walt’s daily life and his obsession with the grocery lists that the customers from his store discard with abandon. He collects these lists. In fact he has bankers’ boxes full of them. Why? you might ask. Because they reveal SO much about the writers. Also, many are written on used envelopes, business stationery, etc. – so in addition to speculation about the writer from the content of the list, Walt often also culls more pertinent information about them… like their home addresses. Walt has made the study of others habits his doctoral thesis. He sees his lists as puzzle pieces of a puzzle only he can complete. His abundance of free time and his dogged determination to discover things about his ‘targets’, make him ideally situated to succeed in his mission. Is he a stalker? Yes most certainly. Is he guilty of more serious crimes? We don’t know…
A week or so after Mary ‘left’, Walt reported her missing. Now, years later, two members of a ‘cold case’ squad of the RNC have taken up the task of tracing her whereabouts and closing the case. They suspect Walt of foul play, but there is absolutely nothing to base this suspicion upon. They have searched his home so many times that Walt actually has a box of ‘search warrants’ in addition to his myriad boxes of grocery lists.
Yes Walt is ‘different’. But is this why the police suspect him? Because he is not ‘like’ everybody else, he is misunderstood. He admits he is peculiar. He recognizes this about himself. He doesn’t react to events in the same way that others do. The police find him unfathomable. But is he guilty?
Told in the simple yet strangely astute voice of Walt, the novel will keep most reader’s guessing until the last chapter. A simple, yet deceptively deep psychological thriller that will remain in the reader’s memory. Once you meet Walt, you are unlikely to forget him. Highly recommended!
Walt is one of the invisible members of society. Quietly and unobtrusively pushing his broom, cleaning up other people’s messes. Dressed in a uniform which people tend to ignore – until they need his cleaning services and then they don’t look him in the eye…
He lives alone in a house on McKay Street in east end St. John’s. A house that he once shared with his wife Mary – though now she is gone… Theirs was a volatile and childless marriage. Mary left him? Moved back to her parents? Went out West? Died? – we don’t know. All we know is that she isn’t there anymore. Now Walt lives a solitary existence, moving from his house to the grocery store where he works and taking long walks around his home city. He loves to fish and deems fishing to be an almost religious experience.
Walt has a very keen interest in human nature. He is a rapt observer of everyone who enters his store. In fact in everyone he encounters. This is in part due to his loneliness. He feels stifled by his insular life, but can not see his way to make the changes necessary to lift him from his routines.
Told almost all from the point of view of Walt, with the odd short chapter told from the point of view of two members of the RNC (the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary), the novel describes Walt’s daily life and his obsession with the grocery lists that the customers from his store discard with abandon. He collects these lists. In fact he has bankers’ boxes full of them. Why? you might ask. Because they reveal SO much about the writers. Also, many are written on used envelopes, business stationery, etc. – so in addition to speculation about the writer from the content of the list, Walt often also culls more pertinent information about them… like their home addresses. Walt has made the study of others habits his doctoral thesis. He sees his lists as puzzle pieces of a puzzle only he can complete. His abundance of free time and his dogged determination to discover things about his ‘targets’, make him ideally situated to succeed in his mission. Is he a stalker? Yes most certainly. Is he guilty of more serious crimes? We don’t know…
A week or so after Mary ‘left’, Walt reported her missing. Now, years later, two members of a ‘cold case’ squad of the RNC have taken up the task of tracing her whereabouts and closing the case. They suspect Walt of foul play, but there is absolutely nothing to base this suspicion upon. They have searched his home so many times that Walt actually has a box of ‘search warrants’ in addition to his myriad boxes of grocery lists.
Yes Walt is ‘different’. But is this why the police suspect him? Because he is not ‘like’ everybody else, he is misunderstood. He admits he is peculiar. He recognizes this about himself. He doesn’t react to events in the same way that others do. The police find him unfathomable. But is he guilty?
Told in the simple yet strangely astute voice of Walt, the novel will keep most reader’s guessing until the last chapter. A simple, yet deceptively deep psychological thriller that will remain in the reader’s memory. Once you meet Walt, you are unlikely to forget him. Highly recommended!
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