HUSH

Overly familiar debut melodrama somewhat redeemed by one fresh theme, the use of art therapy to overcome childhood mutism. Two poles of mental illness hold this novel in balance: the study of a sexual psychopath, and of the elective mutism he’s driven his stepson into through sexual abuse. Chet Boyce marries Davy’s plain-faced mother to get at seven-year-old Davy. When Davy tells her that his new stepfather has been hurting him “down there” and she confronts Chet, Chet kills her with a straight razor in front of Davy, then buries her, and takes Davy with him in a trailer to the far Oregon timberland town of Bentman. Chet, it turns out, is a serial murderer who marries and kills widows with sons. His threats have caused Davy to go mute, even around their trailer, which is parked in the woods. Not surprisingly, the boy does poorly in school, and so is later transferred to the Bentman Children’s Center for psychological study, where he ends up in Celia Griswold’s art therapy class. Two subthemes about cruelty to animals glance off the main storyline: Hunters kill deer illegally on the Griswolds’ country property, and a retarded shepherd begins grazing his flock near their home. Meanwhile, Celia gets Davy to turn out endless drawings for her—which are nearly always of Batman with his crotch heavily blackened. Celia considers this a likely indication of child abuse, and her chats with Chet only strengthen her suspicions. We follow Chet as he sneaks into Celia’s home while she’s away. At the same time, Celia’s husband Jack is having an affair with his secretary at the insurance agency he runs. When he and his lover go off for a weekend, Celia is left alone in the woods, and Chet’s fiendish schemes begin, with murder the lighter side of his joys. Chet’s grim illness is ghastly, but the plot twists and climax are unsurprising, reducing this to a standard-issue thriller.