Barker House is a fictional work of interconnected short stories that follow the lives of nine Corrections Officers in New Hampshire. These are not short stories about a Corrections Unit; each story is about a moment in the life of a Corrections Officer.
All of the nine characters tell a solemn story; their unifying trait deriving from their job as a corrections officer. The reader is invited to briefly observe the officers and their day from a distance, since the stories are short and only go so far. Though each character works as an officer at Barker House, not all stories take place there. For example, one story takes place at a strip club.
This was an okay read. Most of the stories I thought were okay, though a few of them I thought were good. Overall, I felt like the novel was missing something that would bring it home.
Barker House is David Moloney’s debut novel. Visit his website.
Read BookPage’s review or Publisher Weekly’s review for Barker House.
Visit the publishers page for Barker House.
You can read an excerpt of Barker House near the bottom of this MVmag article.
Other writing by David Moloney includes fiction Dzole, Our Champion.
Follow David Moloney on Twitter.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.