Split Levels

by Thomas Rayfiel

Allen Stanley encounters the seamy underside of suburbia when he returns to his old neighborhood to arrange funeral details after his father's suicide.

A quirky, funny, unsettling, Twin Peaks-style mystery. When Allen Stanley's father is found dead in the bathtub, his wrists slashed, Allen is summoned back to the suburb where he grew up. But the simple matter of arranging the burial and settling the estate soon becomes entangled in the shadowy side of suburban life.

204 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[🐴 🍖]

one of the rarest & finest pleasures in lit is finding a book likened in reviews to david lynch that actually bears a resemblance rather than just being kinda weird. this nails that nightmare feeling of tugging at a loose corner of the tasteful wallpaper that is americana & finding squalor beneath. rayfiel's also a screenwriter, and the flaw here is a screenwriter's flaw: it's almost exclusively an audiovisual experience w/o engaging other senses. but then i guess when's the last time you tasted something in a dream?

[Nathan Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable read that kept me hooked in to see what was going to happen next. Enough characters to keep the mind guessing and thinking “is that the killer? No, maybe it’s that one… or maybe that person!” I found myself increasingly excited while looking forward to picking the book back up to continue this journey to get to the final chapter to find out what had happened, and who was behind it. Then I got there and I must admit my disappointment. I’m still glad I read it as it felt good to find interest in a book again, and now I’m going to go find another book on my shelf that I’ve been meaning to read.