What, exactly, are the "Monsters We Have Made?"
Lindsay Starck's moody title hangs over the reader who rips through her absorbing second novel, which is more of a family drama than a book about monsters. The Augsburg University professor focuses on a fractured trio: Sylvia, longing for the husband and daughter who were ripped from her; Jack, whom Sylvie claims she doesn't love so frequently that it's clear she's lying; and Faye, their 20-ish daughter. Tormented by the urban myth of the Kingman, Faye (with a friend) wounded her babysitter, was institutionalized as a youngster and has had sporadic contact with her parents since.
Like another Minnesota mystery — Jess Lourey's "The Taken Ones" — "Monsters We Have Made" draws inspiration from Slenderman, the urban myth about a shadowy (and, since he's everywhere, rich) creature who lurks on civilization's edge, inspiring fear and obsession in young people. Its chapters alternate between Sylvie and Jack's points of view, as well as the friend's — and, eventually, Faye's. "Monsters" skillfully uses its skittery, overlapping chronology to explore how each character views events that happened a decade ago — and how all of them, siloed by pain and limited perspectives, could be completely wrong about them.
In the present, "Monsters" is a quest. Faye has disappeared, leaving her 3-year-old daughter behind. Desperate Sylvie pursues one dead end after another before concluding Faye headed to northern Minnesota, hoping to meet Kingman.
Starck's book also includes "evidence": police reports, news accounts and details about others who have had contact with versions of Kingman. The last bit is occasionally frustrating, as "Monsters" attempts to trace Kingman back to the Brothers Grimm in accounts that don't always ring true (to be fair, eventually we find out why they don't, but we've still had to read them).
You don't need to know anything about Slenderman to enjoy "Monsters," which is strongest when Starck asks why her characters — and readers — need monsters in the first place.
In an excerpt from a radio program, the host reports that "monsters of any era are expressions of specific fears, desires, preoccupations. It's probably not a coincidence that in the age of 'helicopter parenting,' kids are dreaming of a dark and distant place to hide. And it's not a coincidence that a creature of inexhaustible but evidently unnecessary wealth has begun to stalk through our late-stage-capitalist anxieties."
Originally a fictional character created by Eric Knudsen in 2009, Slenderman has filtered into the real world, with violent incidents inspired by him. Even though we can identify his mythical origins, he retains a firm grip on vulnerable psyches.
So does Kingman. Just because we made this particular monster ourselves, Starck insists, doesn't mean we know how to get rid of him.
Monsters We Have Made
By: Lindsay Starck.
Publisher: Vintage, 291 pages, $18.
Event: Book launch, 7 p.m. March 26, Briar Bar, 1231 Washington St. NE., Mpls. Free.
