The Dance of a Lesser God

A pair of brothers confront their struggles with their prescribed familial roles in Raney’s thriller.

Readers meet middle-aged lawyer Nigel Hutchinson on a train platform in Chicago, when he is accosted by two men who threaten and manipulate him, stripping him of his sense of safety and dignity. The men take him off the train and subsequently rape him. The narrative then shifts to focus on Leonard, a paramedic, and his brother Paul. Leonard ruminates on his role in emotionally difficult situations, such as entering an apartment to find a deceased woman. Elsewhere, Paul’s car breaks down and leaves him stranded on the road. Both Paul and Leonard revisit painful memories that still influence their behavior; Paul’s recollections show a pattern of shame and regret, while Leonard’s thoughts reflect the emotional weight he carries from his role as the family protector. Key moments from the brothers’ childhood resurface, highlighting events in which Leonard intervened to protect Paul from harm. Nigel’s narrative thread is picked up when his screams in the hospital propel Leonard away until he stumbles into the room with the autopsy table where Paul lies dead. Raney effectively creates somber, detailed imagery: “The skin on the right side of his pale face had slowly slipped over the years into deep folds and creases that hung from his jowls and shook whenever he took a raspy breath.” However, the narrative jumps jarringly between the main characters’ points of view and between reality and memory, which may confuse readers. Additionally, readers should be cautioned that many of the scenes are extremely graphic, such as the opening where Nigel gets assaulted. Despite this, the gritty tone finds moments of beauty, such as in the scene when Paul’s car breaks down: “The shadows beneath it lay like an oily lake. Broken glass glittered in the moonlight as brightly as a thousand stars. A discarded newspaper was picked up by the wind and scattered. Several sheets wrapped casually about the back tires and then drifted away.” The work as a whole offers a unique experience for readers who relish the dark and macabre.

An intricate exploration of brotherhood and grief.