Creepy vibes but sadly did not grip me in the way I would have expected it to. Unfortunately not one for me

Mother Howl is a compelling literary crime novel that follows the son of a serial murderer as he attempts to escape his dark past. Sixteen-year-old Lyle Edison recognizes the face of a murder victim on the nightly news—the waitress from his local diner, a place he frequented with his father. When his father is arrested and charged with her murder, Lyle’s life unravels. Forced to abandon his family, he illegally obtains a new identity and starts anew. Years later, Lyle believes he has moved on, but a mysterious stranger named Icarus appears, seemingly aware of Lyle’s secret.

The novel delves into the scars of the past, exploring how trauma shapes our lives. Lyle’s struggle to escape his father’s legacy is at the heart of the story. Clevenger’s way with words shines through, and the dialogue is sharp, witty, and memorable.

Mother Howl is Craig Clevenger’s first book since 2005 and appeared in excerpts throughout the years. While I can’t speak to if it was worth the wait tonight, I’ve not been aware of Clevenger that long, I can say that his work on it over the years paid off. This is a well-crafted piece of dark fiction about people carrying the scars of their past in a dark world determined to reopen them and infect them. It walks a line between dirty realism and horrific surrealism. It gives a sense of sick dread in one’s stomach, but keeps one wanting to turn the pages. Clevenger’s return to the novel form is a strong one.

Really enjoyed this - will definitely be recommending and looking forward to the next one by this author!

It took me a long time to get into this story. In fact, I tried it months earlier and gave up, so tried again. I got a little further this time, but it wasn't for me. I ended up skipping through it.
It was billed as a literary crime thriller and, to start with, I was engaged with the story of one of the main characters, the young boy, Lyle, whose father turns out to be a serial killer. Following Lyle's progress in dealing with this terrible inheritance was fascinating until it came to the other character of Icarus, which the story seemed to dwell on to the detriment of the converging Lyle storyline. I could not work out if this second character was an alien from another planet or mentally ill. I think the problem, for me, was that it took too long time for the two parallel lives to come together to get to any point. The narrative felt disjointed and the interaction in their storylines took too long to materialise.
The Lyle storyline was compelling but the intellectual postering of Icarus less so. Well-written but, to me, baffling. Sorry.
Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and actually the reason why I rejoined NetGalley after years of inactivity on the site. Clevenger's style is unmistakable and impossible to turn away from. Reading his work is an exercise in trust- things may not make sense until the very end but the pieces eventually fall elegantly into place. With his previous novels the payoff was well worth the time... I'm not sure if it was in Mother Howl.
Mother Howl possesses all the intrigue and unsettling imagery I expect from Clevenger but those jumbled pieces never came completely together. By the end, the book seemed like a collage of overlapping motifs that stopped just sort of fitting together. Now, a month or two after finishing the book, I am not even sure what it was trying to say.
I admit my opinion is probably lower because of the high expectations I had going into the reading. After loving The Contortionist's Handbook and Dermaphoria for years I fully expected this to be a new favorite. It is by no means a bad book -- Clevenger's writing is always worthwhile-- but those looking for clear cut themes and plot will probably not enjoy this.

Brace yourself for a night of restless sleep after diving into this bone-chilling thriller, where the suspense builds up so much that I couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

I liked it,it’s intriguing but I ave to gorok it before writing a review
Many thanks to the publisher, all opinions are mine

I enjoyed this, it was very different. I liked the main character, Lyle jr, and his daily struggles. His attempts to leave his past behind seemed convincing and I liked the way he ended up having to face it.

What a strange and lovely book! This is a new title from Angry Robot's new crime imprint, Datura Books, but if you're wary of crime fiction, don't be deterred – this was really a kind of literary character study, with elements of both crime fiction and magical realism.

The writing was lovely and enthralling; it was a slow read for me, but a good one, and I really appreciated the careful crafting of the story and the gorgeously done atmosphere. The sections following Lyle were, I thought, more impactful than those following Icarus (and I felt a little slowed down by the latter).

All in all, recommended – especially if you like slow, careful character work, and/or liminal spaces. Thanks so very much to Datura and Netgalley for the ARC!

Lyle’s dad turns out to be a serial killer and the revelation unsurprisingly transforms his life. After enduring all the beatings and horrors of being a social pariah, he leaves home before graduating high school, gets a fake identity and starts fresh in a new town. Years later, Lyle’s married with a newborn and encounters Icarus, a seemingly crazy homeless man who claims to be an immortal celestial - and who knows who Lyle really is.

Craig Clevenger’s Mother Howl is a well-written, accessible, and occasionally entertaining novel that didn’t quite do it for me partly because I found the narrative meandering and largely pointless, and partly because the main character’s decisions were so bafflingly stupid and contrived that there wouldn’t be a novel without him behaving the way he did.

Lyle Edison is a man who makes more bad decisions than the CEO of OceanGate. Let’s start with the premise: Lyle’s a year shy of graduating high school, meaning he could officially change his name in a year. But life is just too intolerable for him, so he goes through backchannels and gets a new identity illegally now. I don’t know how legal matters work in the US but, considering the massive problems his fake identity causes him down the line, wouldn’t he be better off just adopting the fake identity for a year only and THEN changing it legally as his birth name/identity? Maybe he couldn’t, maybe he could.

Lyle is also unnecessarily reckless towards law enforcement. He’s already on probation for a weird drugs charge but he also goes out of his way to be antagonistic towards them whenever he crosses paths with them, which happens frequently. It is addressed in the novel, and might be explained as part of his damaged psyche, or something. He also jeopardises his marriage for no reason by not telling his wife things about his night forays, even though they’re benign so he could’ve just straight up told her and put her mind at rest.

<spoiler>But later in the novel, we find out he’s on the home stretch of his probation and his wonderfully horrible probation officer, Nestor Reid, watches him like a hawk. Lyle could wait a few months until he’s free and clear of his probation but he decides to risk it by going out of state to visit his incarcerated dad. This leads to Lyle’s own imprisonment, and losing his wife and child, his job, etc. What an idiot. His dad wasn’t going anywhere - what an irresponsible and moronic risk to take.</spoiler>

Icarus’ chapters were my least favourite in the novel. They’re very… stylised, perhaps to reflect his chaotic state of mind. We’re not really sure whether he is the celestial being (or whatever) he says he is, or whether he’s simply mentally ill - the latter seems likely, but he does find out Lyle’s name and get ahold of Lyle’s granddad’s letter, neither of which are explained, so maybe he is supernatural. But so what if he is; what are we meant to take away from such a revelation - homeless people are magic?

Icarus is a well-written character but his inclusion felt more like a contrivance than anything else. Him knowing Lyle’s real name doesn’t go anywhere - he’s not going to tell anyone or do anything, so there’s no stakes. So what’s the point? Don’t know. He struggles with civil service bureaucracy, like Lyle, and identity plays a big role for both characters, so he’s there to further underline the failings of the system for the little guy and the theme of identity in the modern world. But take him away and you still have those things - the only crucial part he plays is in handing over the granddad’s letter, which, if Clevenger had decided to write out Icarus’ character entirely, Lyle could’ve probably gotten another way easily.

I loved the sheer unpleasantness of Lyle’s probation officer Nestor Reid - he is such an unrepentant shitbag that all of his scenes with Lyle were absolutely riveting. The opening chapters where Lyle’s family life is disrupted and then falls apart, leading to his fleeing everything, was brilliantly told as well. The novel portrays the frustrations of dealing with civil servants accurately and tangibly. Clevenger is a fine writer, he just lacks focus as a storyteller, as most of the novel was much less interesting.

<spoiler>It feels like he didn’t know how to end his story so, in the final act, Lyle decides to make it his goal to reveal to the authorities where the remains of his father’s undisclosed victims are buried, even though that hadn’t been a concern up to that point. It also seems odd that the authorities wouldn’t have dug up the killer’s grounds surrounding his house years ago when he was revealed to be a serial killer given that that’s where a lot of serial killers bury their victims. It felt tacked-on and underwhelming. I was so past the point of caring about Lyle by then though - that dude was his own worst enemy the whole time and so many of his woes could have been avoided with just a smidge of thought.</spoiler>

I’m not sure what we’re meant to take from the story besides the little guy suffers from the bureaucracies of the civil service or some trite sentiment like “the past ain’t done with you”, which aren’t exactly startling truths. We can’t escape our true selves whatever name we call ourselves? Eh. There IS a god? Er… On face value, the story is an unsatisfying and rambling one with few moments throughout to make the experience of reading it worthwhile. Maybe Craig Clevenger’s other novels are better but I found Mother Howl to be howlingly dull more often than not, unimpressive and ultimately quite forgettable.

More 3.8 than 4
This book is really something, unusual, intelligent, well written and well paced. Two story lines and at times, a bit wordy & convoluted mind you, but well worth the time to read.

Craig Clevenger’s Mother Howl, like his other books, is a jewel. Precisely cut, polished, and mesmerizing. Within its pages are main characters Lyle and Icarus, whose flaws and idiosyncrasies add to the brilliance of this long-awaited gem. A gem with dirty gray streaks of lightning running through it.

Clevenger is a master of juxtaposition. He exposes the beauty of ugliness, the hope within despair. His prose is gorgeous, the story immersive. Both abstract and grounded, once Mother Howl has you in its grip it will not let go, nor will you want to put it down.

Those familiar with his previous books, The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria, will recognize common themes like identity, love, our place in the universe, memory, mental health, and those who do not fit neatly into society, who are abused by “the System” of bureaucracy, who live in a world that would rather them be swallowed whole by the earth. Although Mother Howl is undeniably a work by Clevenger, it possesses its own voice that defies categorization or concrete comparison to his other books.

Without giving too much away, we see the story through the points of view of Lyle, Icarus, and one other person. Each of these characters is so unique and well-rounded that we come to know and understand them as real people over the course of the story. Then there are others who appear repeatedly or once. With concise strokes, Clevenger brings them all to life in ways that will make many writers envious. Still, the real engine of this story is Lyle and his relationships with those around him, his past, and himself.

Read this book then circle back to The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria if you haven’t already read them. Many of us have likely revisited them in preparation for Mother Howl, and we have discovered more than in previous readings, but there is nothing like that first time.

I thank Datura Books and NetGalley for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Lyle Edison is deeply troubled because he isn’t really Lyle Edison; Icarus is deeply untroubled because he thinks he really is Icarus, a sort of angel sent to Earth by “Mother Howl” on a mission. The Bible says that “In the beginning was the Word . . .and the Word was God” and, in his view, that is a sort of birth and mother’s don’t do that silently they howl! So Mother Howl is God.
Lyle has always been Lyle, but when he was sixteen his father was revealed to be a serial killer, whereupon Lyle’s life went down the tubes, constantly assaulted, ostracised at school, refused work opportunities. Being too young to apply for a legal change of identity he bought a new identity (a top-class forgery) and for twenty years he has lived in that identity. On probation for a crime he didn’t commit, his life is largely ruled by his probation officer (Note for UK readers, the system in the USA is much harsher). Nevertheless, he has a job, a new wife, and a baby. Then it all goes awry.
Icarus, living up to his name, arrives on Earth by falling naked out of the sky. Exhaustive investigations fail to identify him because he is not on any database; no social security number, no photographs on the web, no fingerprints, no trace of his DNA in the building adjacent to the pavement on which he landed. Subjected to antipsychotic drugs and therapy he looks like he might be losing touch with Mother Howl, so he disappears into the underworld of rough sleepers, and sets about finding his true mission – which might be saving Lyle.
The story unfolds from their separate points of view, and remains that way for most of its length with neither being aware of the other. Setting up the plot is complicated because both have complicated lives, and the major things causing their lives to be complicated are all aspects of the system: unfriendly, disorganised bureaucracy; automatically aggressive police; judiciary biased in favour of finding guilt; care in the community and mental health systems chaotic or non-existent. These factors drive the narrative and control the plot. If they are a true reflection of the system then I’m sorry for those trapped in it. Clevenger is a powerful writer, so the prose is excellent and decidedly unsettling. In terms of genre, it is safe to say that it doesn’t really conform to any. Parts of the Lyle story concern his father the serial Killer, but that doesn’t make it a crime story, murder/mystery or thriller. All of the Icarus story verges on magic-realism, but is it? Let’s call it speculative literature.

I enjoyed the first section of this book, and the unusual style of writing. I became lost with the appearance of Icarus. Although I persevered, I did not enjoy this book and it wasn't what I was expecting from the description.

Following a 15 plus year hiatus, Clevenger returns with his latest work, Mother Howl, following the life of Lyle Edison, the son of a serial killer who ran away from his old life, but is now finding out the complications of assuming a new identity illegally. Running parallel is the story of Icarus, who believes himself to be the Icarus of legend sent on a mission into a inferior new body and new brain,

For the purposes of publishing this has been categorised as a mystery/thriller, but any murders are solved within the first few pages and the book is not so bothered with the crimes committed as the effect they have had on Lyle and the life he tries to lead thereafter. The writing comes with a strong literary bend and reminded me of Cormac McCarthy as the third person narration gives us a grandstand view of proceedings without pre-empting or overegging anything.

Lyle is a fabulous blank slate of a character, who you simultaneously root for and against as he finds himself stuck on the murders that happened twenty years previous and carving out a normal day to day life for himself even after he is literally caught holding the bag of drugs left behind by a hitchhiker.

This is a proper novel, if that makes sense, in that it doesn't provide simple answers or even simple questions. It is a book about consequences to actions passed down via generations and if it is at all possible to shrug these off. Amidst it all, Lyle's PO and his sponsor sit as the angel and devil on his shoulders influencing and swaying his actions and the reasons behind them.

Clevenger's return is a welcome one and with it he brings something original to the table once more as he looks at indirect victims of crimes cascading down from one bad decision to the next.

Down the rabbit hole…

‘In the beginning there was the Word. More like a scream. Or a howl.’ What the heck did I just read? OH my!!

Lyle suffers when his father turns out to be a murderer. From then on, it’s down the rabbit hole for him… To escape everything, Lyle takes to the streets at 17, burning everything that reminds him of the past. He adopts an alias - and is called Lyle Edison from then on. Soon after we meet Icarus.
I first thought that I was transported to the closed ward of Twelve Monkeys (film), also there were hints to Vertigo (Hitchcock) - but I suspect Icarus is Lyle's alter ego in an altered state of a full-blown mania. The writing style in the novel therefore changes, and as a reader you find yourself in a jumble where reality and delusion alternate. I found it fascinating honestly, and didn't mind reading it very much. I'm not an MD, so my diagnosis may not make sense at all, but because it tells of 'brain candy', 'old brain, new brain', and taking a salt to keep the highs and the lows under control, which is, I assume, lithium, so my guess is that Lyle/Icarus is bipolar or schizophrenic(?)..

Icarus is ‘tuned’ to everything that talks and transmits, and it seems like a kind of dream state that Icarus has fallen into, seeing himself as someone who is "Tuned" – with TV’s talking, and transmitting, he hears voices and seems to be having auditory hallucinations nonstop, disorganised thoughts, experiencing illogical inferences, with vivid imaginations/hallucinations – (I guess I belong to the ‘Untuned’, yet I thought I was in wonderland myself, with an amazing sense of fluidity.)

Like said, at times I had no idea what I was reading, but allowed myself to be carried away on the cadence of absurdism, the abundant use of figurative language and of disorganised and associative thinking. I have regularly written down beautiful sentences, just to keep. ‘The Untuned, the ignorant, the abandoned, and the forgotten. All had part in the Mother Howl’s infinite machine, and ‘bubble gum music, recorded in a sound proof bunker and tested on veterans and rabid mice.’[..]

Icarus – after his fall from ‘heaven’, (attempt to fly) has since been admitted and the lithium is helping him regain some sanity.

The story then takes another leap, Lyle has met a woman and gets into a serious relationship with her. They even have a baby together. Lyle, meanwhile, is trying to find a job, but 'seems to have fallen from heaven', he simple doesn’t exist within the System: he has not ID, no security number, which puts him out of work everywhere. Despite many frantic attempts - like a Sisyphus labour - much turns out to fail. The sections on the homeless, the soup kitchens, the 'invisibles’ (homeless) are a raw and gripping account of the people who live on the fringe of America. It rings of echoes of loss, and ‘emptiness of memories.’
Lyle/Icarus’ struggle with his personal demons and his struggle to get back in – as with every step he tries to take in the right direction, he hurdles down again. Another attempt. Old Brain. New Brain. Blue pill. Red Pill. Shower. Blanket. Screen test. Blue Man (police). Shower. Soup. More pills. And back to the streets again. I felt his desperation and suffered with him. Oh, Lyle, what a life…

I had to put my Kindle down regularly because of the plethora of the emotions dripping from the pages; what an extraordinary and intense story, with emotions ranging from anger to despair. And everything in-between. Nothing I have ever read before.
I found Lyle’s fight for respect as a human being and his right to just ‘be’ particularly poignant and raw and directly told. A gripping, raw, and rather confrontational prose, in which the author shows you an America you would rather stay away from. The first few chapters reminded me of Carson McCullers’s writing style – and the book, to me, has a distinctly Southern Gothic vibe to it.

I had a totally different idea of the book – but this turned out to be an unexpected gem. I don’t think the story will appeal to everyone, but if you let yourself be carried away on spectacular creative use of language and images, magical - and disorganised thinking, you are in for a treat here!

I was blown away by it, and it will linger for a long time. Gobsmacked, to be precise, as we say in this part of the world. 😊

5 stars. Thank you Netgalley and Datura Books for this wonderful read.

** Publication date: June 13, 2023 **

Reading the book description, I thought I was going to get a character study of Luke, a teenager growing into adulthood and dealing with the aftermath of his father arrested and convicted as a serial killer. It took a really long time to get to the "meat" of the story. We sped through a lot of Luke's life sadly and spent a lot of time with Icarus, who I did not care for at all. I didn't like the execution of this character at all and as a result I did not want to continue reading the novel.

I reckon I should steer clear of literary crime novels, I reckon I am more of a reader who prefers the actual crime than the exploration of how it could affect those touched by it, whether innocent or guilty. If this had instead been written about Luke's father and the murders, I probably would have eaten it UP. (Please do not call the law on me, I'm not a killer!!)((Which is exactly what a serial killer would say, lol))

Clevenger's writing is evocative and atmospheric, painting a vivid picture/ The book also explores complex themes.
Overall, "Mother Howl" is a haunting and unsettling story that is recommended for fans of horror, supernatural, and literary fiction.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Dark literary fiction following Lyle as he tries to escape from his past and avoid becoming like his serial killer father. Beautifully written with a bit of a noir vibe plus a different element (sci-fi? urban fantasy? magical realism?) Highly recommended if you like flawed characters and ambiguous stories. It's wonderful to see another novel from Craig Clevenger after so many years!