Perfect Circle
Sean Stewart
William “Dead” Kennedy is in trouble. He’s thirty-two, in love with his ex-wife, has lost his job, and he’s been dreaming about ghost roads again. Sometimes a guy is haunted for a really good reason.
— Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist
— A Book Sense Notable Book
— Best of the Year: Booklist, Locus, San Francisco Chronicle
— A Locus bestseller
"Stewart's quicksilver wit makes Perfect Circle perfectly hilarious. And, a supremely skilled storyteller, he saves the best for last."
—Texas Monthly
"Stewart's mastery of Will's first-person narration is unflinching and unfaltering. The voice conjured here is absolutely authentic and affecting."
—Washington Post
"Stewart's compelling account of how DK comes to grips with his ghosts, both actual and metaphorical, is alternately poignant and hilarious, with some genuinely creepy moments and one or two powerful jolts.... Compelling ... with strong potential for crossing over into the mainstream."
—Publishers Weekly
"All-around terrific."—Booklist (starred review)
"By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, Perfect Circle is ... an impressive example of an author using genre resources to stake out a territory that, for the moment at least, no one but he occupies.
—Locus
"A read-at-one-go novel.... Everything is both stated and understated, elegant, full of the mundane horror and fear that inform a normal, frustrated life.... And it is well, well worth the reading. A highly recommended work."
—F&SF
Sean Stewart's much-anticipated eighth novel is a dark, funny, fast-moving thriller that you won't want to put down. William "Dead" Kennedy has problems. He's haunted by family, by dead people with unfinished business, and by those perfect pop songs that you can't get out of your head. He's a 32-year-old Texan still in love with his ex-wife. He just lost his job at Pet-Co for eating cat food. His air-conditioning is broken, there's no good music on the radio, and he's been dreaming about ghost roads.
When Will's cousin ("My dad married your Aunt Dot's half-sister") calls in the middle of the night about a dead girl haunting his garage, it seems like an easy way to make a thousand dollars. But nothing is ever that simple, especially when family is involved. Will's mother is planning a family reunion of epic proportions. Will's ex-wife is married to a former Marine. His twelve-year-old daughter Megan thinks Will needs someone to look after him. And recently his dead relatives seem to want something from him.
+++ punk attitude: country & western life +++
"Perfect Circle is a perfect read, exciting, unique, everything here but the Second Coming, but, Sean Stewart himself is the prize. What a talent. Write on, my man. Write on."
—Joe Lansdale
"Needy Ghosts, bar fights, concealed weapons, R.E.M., and ramen noodles—Perfect Circle is an irreverent Texas treat. Sean Stewart is one bright, funny writer."
—Stewart O'Nan
"Will Kennedy has some troublesome relatives. Especially the dead ones. Perfect Circle is Sean Stewart at his spooky, funny, sad, and haunting best."
—Karen Joy Fowler
"A ghost story for grown-ups, frightening, funny, and finally redemptive. It kept me up way past my bedtime."
—Harley Jane Kozak
"I read it all in one gulp, by turns fearful and joyful for Stewart's likable loser protagonist."
—Cory Doctorow
"If Oprah read science fiction...This quirky, engaging novel tells the story of William "Dead" Kennedy, a thirtysomething former punk rocker and down-on-his-luck divorced dad—who sees ghosts. After a visit to his haunted cousin goes horribly wrong.
From Publishers Weekly
Ghosts are like homeless people, we are told by DK "Dead" Kennedy, the hero of World Fantasy Award winner Stewart's latest blend of magical realism and Texas regionalism: most of us look away, but he can't. This ability to see the other side complicates life tremendously (he can't drive because at night ghosts look just like the living, and he's wrecked cars avoiding them), especially when a distant cousin hires him to exorcise the ghost of a girl the cousin murdered. Part of the novel deals with DK's offbeat career as an alternative exorcist, but what Stewart seems really to focus on is how these abilities now threaten his relationships with family, both immediate and extended. DK still loves his ex-wife and is active in the life of his daughter, but comes to realize that he's like a ghost in their lives: "Not all ghosts are dead, but all are hungry." Stewart's compelling account of how DK comes to grips with his ghosts, both actual and metaphorical, is alternately poignant and hilarious, with some genuinely creepy moments and one or two powerful jolts. This compelling story is a genre title with strong potential for crossing over into the mainstream.
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