Publishers Weekly
★ 05/20/2019
Unrelenting and artfully crafted, this haunting debut and its tortured protagonist easily cement Moulton as a must-read writer in the horror genre. Running from addiction and the tragic death of her stepbrother, Emma hitchhikes to the Black Hills with Lowell, a man in search of his ex and their child. When Lowell attempts to kidnap her, Emma robs him of his gun and van, leaving him with a bullet wound alone in the middle of the Badlands with the threat of snow. Soon out of gas, Emma finds herself stranded in a mostly abandoned community; its primary resident is a little boy named Earl who wears a tinfoil mask over his scarred face. Earl, in immediate danger after poisoning his violent father, refuses to help her until she finishes off his abuser. As the pair conspire to escape, the purity of Emma and Earl’s relationship stands in stark contrast to their isolated setting and the darkness of their traumas. Readers will be heartsick at the thought that either one might not survive. The narrative, both disturbing and irresistible, is propelled by these two well-imagined characters and their need for each other. This is a gripping tale of terribly human horrors. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
"Unrelenting and artfully crafted, this haunting debut and its tortured protagonist easily cement Moulton as a must-read writer in the horror genre. . . The narrative, both disturbing and irresistible, is propelled by these two well-imagined characters and their need for each other. This is a gripping tale of terribly human horrors."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Reading Tinfoil Butterfly is like watching a slick, modern horror movie, in which you start to realize the real terror comes from being a woman in this world and all the negotiations that involves. Clever, timely, disturbing, and thought-provoking.”
—Araminta Hall, author of Our Kind of Cruelty
“Rachel Eve Moulton’s deliciously terrifying and eerily poetic debut novel about a wounded young woman and the mysterious child she meets on a nightmare stop in the desolate Black Hills is irresistible. Fair warning: The snow comes with blood, the crows can’t be trusted, and Tinfoil Butterfly flutters with a dark heartbeat you won’t soon forget.”
—Julia Heaberlin, author of Black-Eyed Susans and Paper Ghosts
“I have read no book like this. Tinfoil Butterfly took my breath on the first page and never gave it back. A dark adventure story that leads to an epic reckoning, all told in the most taut and vivid prose.”
—Jac Jemc, author of False Bingo and The Grip of It
“Vivid and cinematic in its storytelling, Tinfoil Butterfly’s breathless and scary stumbling, tumbling journey into horrors had my heart in my mouth the whole way through. And yet the beautifully drawn friendship that evolves between Emma and Earl ensures that this story brims with hope and humanity. An unforgettable read.”
—Shirley Barrett, author of The Bus on Thursday
Kirkus Reviews
2019-06-17
Troubled 22-year-old Emma Powers lands in the middle of a mystery bigger than her own actions when she meets Earl, a feral boy living seemingly alone in the Black Hills of South Dakota, who hides his face behind an elaborate tinfoil mask.
Emma is on the run. Her destination is the Badlands, where she hopes to uphold her end of the suicide pact she made with her stepbrother, Ray. In addition to her filthy Doc Martens and despised "set of double Ds," she's carrying with her the baggage of her and Ray's obsessive relationship, her complicity in his death, the emotional scars of her father's childhood abandonment, a surgical wound from her recent emergency hysterectomy, and the seeds of a cancer she refuses to treat. She also has a hearty addiction to Vicodin, and, under its fuzzy influence, she hitches a ride with Lowell, a "white dude who thinks tribal tattoos are a grand idea," who is on his way to kidnap his young daughter and take her to the West Coast. When Lowell's generally creepy vibe tips over into sexual violence, Emma shoots him and steals his van, leaving him to freeze in the impending blizzard. In search of gas, Emma pulls off at an abandoned diner, and there she meets Earl, an approximately 8-year-old boy who hides behind a tinfoil mask. As Emma struggles to get back on the road, Earl draws her further and further into the secrets that abound in his dark life. We meet George, Earl's abusive father, whom Earl has attempted to poison with a stolen bottle of Emma's pills, and learn what exactly is in the cellar Earl would like Emma to throw George into. As the extent of George's abuse becomes clear, Emma decides to take Earl with her, though she is unclear where her own journey will end—but George and a vengeful Lowell have other plans for them both. Marked by fire and ice, Moulton's debut insists on upping its ante at every turn. The result is a preponderance of conflagrations that consume not only the ready tinder of the abandoned ghost town Earl calls home, but also all semblance of rational character-building. In spite of the intricate rendering of this cold and remote landscape, the story itself feels false and vague, more like smoke than fire.
An ambitious plot that fails to cohere into either insight or revelation.
