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Barrow's Point Novel by Robert Schirmer L ong a fan of Schirmer's short stories, I eagerly awaited his debut novel, "Barrow's Point," winner of Gival Press' annual fiction prize. Schirmer has a gift for creating atmosphere, for dropping readers, phrase by phrase, into the world of this college town, this McGregor family, this particularly hot summer, during which young, gay men start showing up bludgeoned, dead. The book, which I predict will be adapted for the screen, revolves around Iris McGregor and her three sons —two openly gay, one aiming to suffocate that same impulse in himself. There's Reed— oldest brother, a cop, responsible, respect- ed—in love with his childhood friend Casey, also a cop, and married to Reed's ex-girlfriend Maggie. There's Christian, described as stereotypically effeminate— pale, bony, soft-spoken, tender—in a word: vulnerable. And there's Eddie, the youngest, who at 15 is desperate to define himself against his brother Christian. Publicly, Eddie relies on his macho, homo- phobic identity as a competitive wrestler, while privately, he dons his mother's dresses. Eddie masks self-loathing as a loathing for Christian. While Christian seems the most comfortable in his own skin—unapologetic—he is the son who elicits the most worry for Iris—precisely the kind of boy she imagines as a target for this killer of gay men. Reed and Eddie both have complicating entanglements with other characters, their per- sonal lives tied up in painful, elaborate knots. For Iris, there is the confounding knot of her sons: "…things still felt grey and unresolved. Eddie, Christian, Reed—the names of her sons swirled inside her head, entwining together like a helix molecule." Schirmer's slow unraveling of these knots, and the resulting repercussions, demonstrate both his insight into the human condition, and his mastery at fiction. Schirmer sees clearly inside the heads of such a variety of characters—male, female, gay, straight, young, old—giving readers the particulars of their per- ception. Iris says about Carl, her deceased hus- band, who was a preacher : "He'd never been more than a perfunctor y lover. …he'd approached lovemaking like an assignment he had to complete before a due date, and he was willing to settle for a C." The most haunting excerpt comes from a chapter written in Eddie's viewpoint: "Finally… he cut a spear of lamb and forced himself to swallow. That night Eddie sneaked to the down- stairs bathroom so no one would hear him vomit. But when he leaned over the stool, he couldn't vomit. His stomach clenched, as if a living thing were ready to expel itself from him, a small, shivering beast-embr yo. Deliriously, he imagined the meat he'd eaten was taking shape inside him, trying to turn back into a lamb…. Small hooves kicked behind his ribcage as the meat fought to reanimate itself." Schirmer illustrates in multiple ways, Eddie's extreme discomfort with his own thoughts and actions. One thing is clear : in Barrow's Point, people are killing, liter- ally or metaphorically, that which they most fear in themselves. Already nomi- nated for a National Book Award, "Barrow's Point" is a real contender. What fur ther distinguishes this book is Schirmer's patience as a writer, as he attends meticulously to every scene with subtle and selective detail, letting it unfold at the perfect pace—making us perfectly uncomfor table. I honestly don't know of a writer who does this better than Schirmer. 90 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 6 IN REVIEW B Y M E L A N I E B I S H O P IN REVIEW swallow. That night Eddie sneaked to the down- vomit. But when he leaned over the stool, he couldn't vomit. His stomach clenched, as if a was taking shape inside him, trying to turn thoughts and actions. One thing is clear : ally or metaphorically, that which they swallow. That night Eddie sneaked to the down- vomit. But when he leaned over the stool, he couldn't vomit. His stomach clenched, as if a was taking shape inside him, trying to turn thoughts and actions. One thing is clear : thoughts and actions. One thing is clear : ally or metaphorically, that which they Schirmer's slow unraveling of "Barrow's Point" is a real contender. Two Hot Debut Novels and Wisdom on Living and Dying