Forum

In an unnamed town, an anonymous narrator scrupulously plans and commits an unspeakable, seemingly random act of mass-casualty violence. With a taut and nonlinear exposition that portrays with devastating precision an enigmatic loner's gradual transition from hedonistic anomie to an increasingly strange and sinister obsession, Josh Wardrip's brilliantly intricate debut novel gleefully dissects the raw existential horror of flophouses, mental hospitals, and everyday life. As a primal howl in the wilderness that doubles as an exquisitely structured puzzle, Forum is a meditation on delusion, interiority, and the sources of evil.