Richard’s review of The Thanatos Syndrome > Likes and Comments

I remember loving Percy’s Moviegoer and Lancelot when I read them way back when. I also read Love in the Ruins but can’t remember a thing about it. Evidently, this is a sequel to that book, but you don’t need to read Ruins first to enjoy this. This is a satire of sorts, but a satire with a lot of heart. It put me in mind of both of PT Anderson’s film adaptations of Pynchon novels, in which he tempered Pynchon’s humor with real emotion, and in doing so, created much deeper and more affecting works. The Thanatos Syndrome is set in a vaguely dystopia Louisiana, where a psychiatrist recently released from a short stint in prison is trying to pick up his life again. He uncovers a nefarious plot to brainwash the local citizens through the drinking water and sets about disrupting it. The book is comic at times, melancholy in others, and downright disturbing in others (there’s a pedophilia ring involved). Walker was also a bit of a philosopher, so there are some nice ruminative passages too. I’m not sure the whole thing comes together, but I love his style, and I loved the different pieces and parts, and ended up kind of loving the book as a whole. Give it a shot. They definitely don’t write them like this anymore.