The Land

by Thomas Maltman

A story of violence at the heart of a pastoral landscape, from the author of Indie Next pick and All Iowa Reads selection Little Wolves Recovering from a terrible auto accident just before the turn of the millennium, college dropout and hobbyist computer-game programmer Lucien Swenson becomes the caretaker of a house in northern Minnesota. Shortly after moving in, Lucien sets out to find a woman with whom he had an affair, who vanished along with money stolen from the bank where they had worked together. His search will take him to Rose of Sharon, a white supremacist church deep in the wilderness, where a cabal of outcasts awaits the end of the world at a place they call The Land. Lucien is visited at the house by a mysterious guest, who may not be who she claims, as well as a vast flock of violent ravens out of an apocalyptic vision. At once a mystery and spiritual noir, The Land explores the dark side of belief, entrenched white supremacy in the Heartland, the uniquely American obsession with end times, and the sacrifices we make for those we love.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Horror

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 13, 2020

About the author

I am the oldest of twenty-six cousins and the child of an Air Force pilot. Our family lived everywhere from Lubbock, Texas to Stuttgart Air Force Base in Germany. I learned to love travel and love the stories of these places, their history and lore. These loves would serve me well when it came time to write a novel.

I am married to a Lutheran pastor and live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. I have three young daughters, who are the center of my life. I am fortunate to be teaching composition and creative writing at Normandale Community College.

Reviews

[Natalia Weissfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC in exchange for honest review

Apocalyptic. Onirical. Prophecy

After a car wreckage, Lucien starts to suffer from headaches accompanied with visual auras that can be interpreted as apocalyptic prophecies. In this onirical state of mind, he meets a sect of white supremacists. With the secret purpose of finding out more about her lover's disappearance, he infiltrates the group and learn about the radicalized ideas sustained by the sect.
In the process he meets a young woman that may or may not be the ghost of a deceased person that is buried in the grounds of the house that he is sitting. All these with the background of the ending of the millennium and the fears of the Y2K.

I really enjoyed this novel. Some of the images will stay with me for a long time. The prose is flawless and beautiful.
I hope that the book and the author get the attention they deserve.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land is an entertaining mix of genres. Call it a "neo-noir psychological thriller with religious and apocalyptic overtones." The protagonist has migraines as well as visions, His dreams are filled with dread and he also experiences apocalyptic real-life nightmares, like a sky full of ravens turning on one another and attacking one another for no reason. The real and the fever dream blend in a single scene. A girl shows up who may be who she says she is, or she may be a ghost. A religious death cult in the woods might know where the mysterious "Maura" is, or they might not. I loved the uncertain, unreliable "what is real?" quality of the narration.

Maltman writes in a straightforward style, and yet a lot of the story isn't straightforward at all. I enjoyed reading the novel quite a bit, and was only slightly let down by the ending, which was still very good, but where Maltman, I think, felt a need to resolve all of the novel's mysteries. Personally I would have been very happy to have those mysteries all left hanging in the end, left for me to decide just how much of the story was a lonely man's fever dream of grief and confusion, and how much was 'real.' But then again, an open-ended and ambiguous ending might have satisfied me, but would disappoint readers who prefer their mysteries solved in the end.

One thing I admired very much here was the realism of the religious language, in sermons and conversations that take place in this novel. The rhythms of religious feeling in the novel are satisfying, where it feels like Maltman has a lifelong familiarity with religious faith. The religious community at the heart of this novel happens to be a scary apocalyptic survivalist group living out in the wilderness, but Maltman takes the time to develop their faith on the page, for instance, early in the novel the protagonist listens to a sermon, and as I read the words of this sermon I felt like it had been written by an author who understands the compelling power of faith, and who understands how faith can persuade believers to follow bad people.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely love this author. After writing two very solid books he has earned the right to write a book that is completely different than the prior books. This is a “good” read but in comparison to his first two this one seemed to be going in many directions and seemed less dialed in. This is very much worth a read but if you must start somewhere begin with the earlier works and move to this one. I will anxiously wait for the next release. My parting statement, don’t miss out on reading a book by this author.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Not a day passes when I don’t think of that winter. A season of omens and miracles. The winter when birds fell from the sky and an old woman laid her hands on the crown of my head and healed my pain with a touch. For a time I walked with angels. For a time, I was haunted by demons. I no longer see them, the hole closing up in my skull, the cracked places healing over. I no longer see angels or demons, but I know they are there.

There is a house in my mind where it is always winter and the snow falls without ceasing, a house perched on a cliff of anthracite above a boiling blue river. An ageless hound bounds ahead of me, leading me to the edge of the world. At night the stars are so close I can touch them like leaves, and ravens with forked tongues cry out from the pines in human voices" (216-217).

Yes, this is my third novel. If you have specific questions you can always write me at my website thomas.maltman.com which lists my contact.

[Malavika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn this book made me uncomfortable, especially as a person of color. I don't know if the ending was redemption enough for anyone, but I think it was a valiant effort.

[Johannes · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author must have been thrilled to find a publisher.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Maltman's The Land is a multilayered gem. This novel progresses with both thought provoking insights and high octane plotting. His protagonist Lucien is a video game geek, a small young man recovering from physical and mental pains of a car accident, and is not your typical leading man. Yet Maltman draws us in and makes it work as we root for Lucien in his quest for the truth wrapped and knotted in swirling spirituality and soul searching; albeit some false turns, struggles, and doubts by Lucien shroud his perspective in a dark society as he battles to surmount obstacles and discover the truth in the search for his missing ex-girlfriend of whom he worked in a bank with.

With our nation presently in divided turmoil, the release of this tale could not have been more timely. Maltman explores the dark territory of misappropriated Christianity, while leaving the light on for just enough faith for Lucien to explore and ponder the moral in juxtaposition of the misguided, through a first person narrative that gels with candor and clarity. Like all Maltman tales, this is a page turner. In fact, that once again fueled a predicament for me: I wanted to read quickly because I was so enraptured with the marvelous plotting, yet I was compelled to slow down and savor the mesmerizing images and the abstract ideas. Once again, Maltman crafts such lovely prose! Not only that, he packs in pop culture along with righteous--not bigoted and self-serving--theology. This suspenseful novel should be read with care and delectability. I highly recommend it.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this as an ARC from netgalley/soho press. This is the first book I’ve read written by Thomas Maltman. This book has great imagination and creativity with some symbolism thrown in for good measure. This novel has convinced me to read Maltman’s other books.

Our main character, Lucien Swenson, has survived a car wreck to find that his married lover has robbed the bank they worked at and vanished. As he recovers, he finds a job as a housesitter with ambitions of completing the video game he is creating as well as discover what happened to Maura, by attending the church where her husband is pastor prepping his flock for the end of times. Will Lucien find the answers to all his questions before the apocalypse?

I enjoyed the flow of the story. Found the prose to enhance the story as a whole with exception to the migraine attacks. Though they are important to the story, I kept wondering why he waits for the pain to set in prior to taking his meds when sumatriptan users generally take meds immediately when the aura develops.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Lucian, I worked as a bank teller in 1999 and I remember our branch manager holding a meeting about the unknowns of Y2K. He stated computers, toasters, and cars may not work on Jan 1. I don't remember believing this would come to pass, but I was unsettled that the manager considered it a possibility and didn't offer a plan.
Living that experience of holding my breath on NYE 1999 allowed me to easily slip into the end-of-the-world aspect of the story, but the post-accident migraines and scary supremacists, while compelling, were not a place I wanted to spend time. That combined with the fact that The Land was set in the Arrowhead region of MN, a favorite place of mine, but I couldn't feel the setting very strongly, made this just an average read for me.

[Gwendolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!! This book comes alive. I was so absolutely invested in the characters. This is one of those books that you can chew on and recall long after you've finished reading it.

The story was expertly woven together and it wraps you up in it.
What a story!

[Lesley Kagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eloquent, beautifully writing coming-of-age story. I loved it.

[Hattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

College drop out Lucien Swenson is a bank teller by day, working side by side with his married lover. Lucian is also a game developer, creating a game based on the stories his married lover has told him about "The Land." While recovering from a severe car accident, Lucien accepts an invitation to housesit for a couple of snowbirds in Nothern Minnesota. While there, Lucien sets out to uncover the truth behind his missing lover and her husband's congregation of white supremacists, all of whom are waiting out the end of the world.

I have had the pleasure of being a student of Mr. Maltman's, one of which who has been waiting (very impatiently, I might add) for this novel since 2012. "The Land" is just what I needed to start my New Year of reading off. However, I suggest not picking up this book before going to bed; you won't be getting any sleep, trust me. Given the Nation's current state, some of the book's subjects could not be more appropriate. Others may make you second guess everyone you meet. Either way, full of suspense, fantasy, romance, and the chilling unknown, Thomas Maltman's "The Land" does not disappoint.

P.S. For all of you who suffer migraines, I am very, truly sorry.

[Carol Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Northern Minnesota in the winter time, a young man's love affair with a married woman, a conspiracy of ravens, a white supremacist church deep in the woods - what's not to love. Maltman is a great writer - I'm looking forward to reading his other novels.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maltman lives in Minnesota, and he can definitely evoke the local countryside in his book.

The protagonist's run-in with a super-conservative, Christian, neo-Nazi church/cult is freezingly terrifying. He takes a beating in more ways than one, and his determination to discover what has happened to his friend/lover takes on the flavor of a quest.

Very graphic. Very violent. Lucien endures so many accidents, beatings, and injuries that I lost count.

Interesting ending.

[Jenni Heins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Local author I was given to read. And I couldn't put it down! Suspenseful, drama, supernatural ... highly recommended!

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook, which I didn't really like. The reader's voice was thin and tinny, and he pronounced some of the words and phrases oddly.

For the book: I found this book really difficult to read, given current events with White Nationalists storming the Capitol. The story revolves around a white character as he tries to infiltrate a White Nationalist group, becoming somewhat indoctrinated as he spends more time with them. It was really hard to listen to the main character's thoughts as he tried to justify some of the group's actions and thoughts -- like the discomfort I felt when reading a copy of Lolita. The book is meant to delve into these topics, and hopefully provide some insight, but at times I didn't want to hear it, especially after the riot at the Capitol. However, it was a good book overall, and it ended in a way I didn't expect. The imagery is very engaging, although it can be dark. Worth the read, but don't expect it to be an easy one.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

{3.5} This book actually had a really interesting overall premise, and I think probably could have had a lot more potential. Where it fell short for me was with the Maura storyline. I grew a little tired of 300 pages of Lucien's only goal being to find out what happened to Maura, with little progression towards this goal until the very end where everything happened at once. It didn't feel like the stakes were all that high, making the middle of the story less interesting than it maybe could have been. On top of that, while I liked the other aspects of the story (and again, felt like they could've added a lot more) they felt very separate to the Maura/bank storyline and it just didn't seem to tie in very smoothly or intuitively. They were important in just adding more intrigue to the novel, but I couldn't really seem to figure out how else they built off of the main storyline with Maura and the church.
I didn't dislike this story, I enjoyed Lucien's narration (although at times the writing seemed to veer a little towards a middle-grade audience, despite this definitely being more of an older reader/young adult book) and I liked the idea of the plot. I just think that it fell a little short in making the book incredibly interesting and captivating, and it never got particularly fast paced.

[Nate LeBoutillier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tension, adventure, romance, humor, poetry, nature, good, evil... this book's got it, and it's told by a scrupulous writer wielding a pen sharp as a sword.

[Christine]

Abandoned at the 35% mark. This book just did not resonate with me.

[Bookman8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strangely captivating book. The setting is Minnesota just before the turn of the millennium, 1999. Lucien is a young man recovering from a near fatal automobile accident and the sudden end of an affair with a married woman member of an evangelistic white-supremacy cult. The story holds elements of mystery, fantasy, spirit noir, and is laced with allegorical ennui. What became of his lover, Maura? Arwen, real, imagined, really the daughter of the owners of the house he is housesitting? An unkindness of ravens descends and an ancient ritual seems to be replayed.

Surprisingly, there is a constant stream of hopefulness that flows under or along with the bleak stream that seems to be the soul of the novel. Characters that you hate, you learn not to; some characters like Mother Sophie remain unknowable, unfathomable. Some beautiful writing, this book is written in a style that flies along, keeping your interest and attention. I was surprised to see that it took me only two days to read it. I recommend The Land if you are looking for a different yet thoughtful and entertaining read.

[Kaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I will admit that I was not confident that I would enjoy this journey because of the beginning of the story. I was expecting the story to continue to be prophecies and supernatural and thankfully it didn't continue strictly down that path. However it was fairly enjoyable read and though it took me months to pick it back up (Thanks C19!) I did finish the rest of the book in one read.
Here's what I enjoyed about it:
The mystery of Arwen.
Kaiser.
The exploration of nature and the feelings that the time spent outside gave him. I very thoroughly enjoyed the revelation and descriptions of the outdoors in this book.
The small backstories.
The connection between Lucien and Maura felt real.
The terminology fit perfectly- the phrases and locations were definitely Northern Minnesotan.
The coding references and explanation were well addressed.


Here's what did end up bothering me:

Anyone who suffers migraines knows how unsafe driving would be when you feel one coming on. You literally lose your vision in addition to the numbness and pain. You are putting others at risk more than just yourself.

At times, it seemed very disjointed but then- thoughts aren't always clear.
At times, it seemed very unreasonable- he lost his way quite easily but I think in a vulnerable state it would be easy to surround yourself with people who felt like family.
I didn't like his last interaction with Noah- why wouldn't you explain yourself beyond being "sick" of having to explain things?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Riann Mohar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit the haunting cover reeled me in. This is not the typical kind of book I would pick up, but I enjoyed it.

[Sally Ladyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me the chills and kept me on edge for days. It’s a page turner!

[Donita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Minnesota connection drew me in. But it stopped there. Sorry.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the Northwest of Minnesota the meeting of Christianity and white Supremacy occurs with a tragic ending. The coldness and stark beauty of the place Gives some answers to a young man who is lost in his search for his soul.

[Erica Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the atmospheric nature of Maltman's books. His settings are their own character. I love his stoic protagonists and his unique, well-researched story elements. The end of this book was dramatic, and it made me sympathize unsuspectingly with certain characters, which I enjoyed. I wish, however, that when the fate of Maura was reveal, it would have been shown, not told. I prefer to experience the climax as opposed to one character telling another what happened. As with all of his books, I thought about this story during my daytime tasks and couldn't wait to return to the world he created. That's the sign of a satisfying tale.

[Elizabeth Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

A quick read, yet full of imagery and plot twists. The writing is as precise and beautiful as a jewel.

[Donna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought the book was stunning. Lucien works as a caretaker for a home in the Minnesota woods. He falls in love with a woman who is part of a Christian Identity church although she is trying to leave. He searches for her and that is why he begins to go meet the people of the church and becomes involved with the church while harboring confused feelings n

[Sharon Mensing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember 1999 and the strange obsession so many had about the turn of the century portending an end of civilization as we knew it. And I remember the Weavers and the Ruby Ridge incident as the first white supremacist stand-off that made huge news (or perhaps it was just the first that I knew of). But my mind hadn't ever conflated the two events into one story. This is exactly what Maltman does so expertly in this atmospheric, apocryphal novel.

Lucien Swenson, a computer game developer, has retreated to an isolated house after a life-threatening, life-changing, accident. The house, in rural Minnesota, is near a compound of white supremacists where he hopes to find out what happened to his missing lover, Maura. As Lucien stumbles through his days, full of pain both physical and psychological, he begins to spend time at the compound. A mysterious woman named Arwen, arriving at the house and claiming to be the owners' long-lost daughter, appears while the natural world seems to upend itself.

The spiritual overtones to all that Lucien experiences are extremely well-written, and they invade his understanding of his relationship with the missing Maura, what he experiences at the compound, and his own sense of self. Reality and unreality swirl around one another, as Lucien both sinks into the depths of his pain and rises above it in dreamlike sequences. His past with Maura, his present with Arwen, his descent into the religious supremacist group, the manner in which natural events become very unnatural, and the fictional world he is creating in his game merge and pull apart in waves.

There is a great deal of violence centered around the compound, where Lucien learns about both himself and what happened to Maura. Lucien is a very nuanced character as are a few of those in supporting roles. However, I found that Maura was so much in the background with her motivation unclear that Lucien's willingness to put himself in such danger to find out what happened to her was hard to believe. But then, there is much in this book that is hard to believe and yet feels profound.

This is the first book by Maltman that I've read, but it won't be the last. The beautiful writing, the somewhat gothic and yet ethereal atmosphere, the intense dreamlike quality of some of the scenes, the vivid descriptions of landscape, and the strong plotting: taken together they make this an exceptional read.

This review first appeared at reviewingtheevidence.com.