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Debut Novel More Than Ghost Story

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By KEVIN WALKER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2008

Updated: 07/14/2008 04:05 pm

"Alive in Necropolis," by Doug Dorst (Riverhead, $25.95)

In his first novel, Doug Dorst provides an excellent example of how a new group of writers with literary aspirations are adept at mixing high and low culture into novels that are as entertaining as they are insightful.

Dorst takes a story about a prototypical slacker and turns it into something fairly profound, an investigation of relationships between lovers, friends and, always lurking in the background, fathers and sons. It's also a memorable look at the corroding effects of obsession.

All that, plus a ripping ghost story.

The novel centers on Michael Mercer, a rookie on the Colma, Calif., police force. Located near San Francisco, Colma is known for having more dead bodies than live ones. It is a community built around massive graveyards, many of them filled with the dead from San Francisco. Mercer, raised with "achievement track" kids who have gone on to career success, is having difficulty finding his way as his 30th birthday bears down on him.

Mercer is in the midst of a relationship with Fiona, but her age (early 40s) bothers Mercer. She fears she has wasted her life and wants kids. That's not putting him at ease, either. Dorst nicely captures Mercer's ambivalence: "He looks down at the gum-dotted sidewalk. This is the end. He can't tell if he's relieved or miserable. Which, he realizes, was the problem all along."

He's also developing a friendship with his partner, Nick Toronto, who steals almost every scene he is in. Part Zen Master, part loyal friend and 100 percent a guy's guy, Toronto is in his thirties and dating a younger woman. He has a theory that you are only as old as the person you are intimate with. He also offers Mercer such advice as, "Life continues, pilgrim. Get used to it."

The two are on routine patrol when they come across a strange situation - a 16-year-old left in a graveyard without his pants, obviously drugged and close to death. Mercer is "only dimly aware how desperately he wants to be a hero, and not at all aware that he is about to become one."

The boy, Jude, survives. In a compelling subplot, we discover he was only in the situation because of his obsession with a girl, Reyna. One of the most effective, and heartbreaking, subplots of the book involves the juxtaposition of Jude's passionate thoughts about Reyna and scenes of Reyna not thinking about Jude at all, except in terms of condescension and control: "Look at this boy, and what he is willing to do for her."

It's a sweeping tale, as they say, and that's before the part about Mercer discovering a previous officer died while attempting to destroy a band of rogue ghosts terrorizing the dead in Colma.

Dorst not only manages to weave these seemingly disparate threads into a satisfying whole, he also explores complexity of relationships in a way that your average ghost story thriller is not even going to touch. It's a cliche to say you are looking forward to more work from an emerging talent, but ... I am looking forward to more from this emerging talent. So, there.

Kevin Walker is a reporter for The Tampa Tribune.

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