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January 8th, 2013 12:45pm


Look what just came in the mail! #scottsnyder #voodooheart

Scott Snyder’s Voodoo Heart just blew me away. These dispatches from disaffected but strangely likeable American oddities have much the same effect as good American roots music: their simplicity is deceptive, their emotional power considerable. And at some point between the mystery-blimp of Blue Yodel and the World War I-era Curtis Jenny of The Star Attraction of 1919, you may discover that Snyder’s plain folks have stolen your heart. I think what impressed me most about these stories—even the ones in which terrible things happen—was their warmth and humanity. Even when his characters are at their worst, Scott Snyder never abandons them. These are stories that welcome the reader in, and fully reward his interest. Sometimes horrifying, often absurd, full of characters afraid to commit (and who sometimes commit anyway), this is a debut worthy of T. Coraghessan Boyle’s If The River Was Whiskey. I couldn’t put it down.“ –Stephen King