The Facades is one of the most remarkable and talked-about debut novels in recent memory. Set in the once-great Midwestern city of Trude - a treacherous maze of convoluted shopping malls, barricaded libraries and elitist assisted-living homes - Eric Lundgren's novel follows a disconsolate legal clerk named Sven Norberg, who sets out to investigate the disappearance of his wife, the city's most celebrated mezzo-soprano.
To track her down, he must descend into Trude's underworld and confront the menacing and bizarre citizens of his hometown: rebellious librarians, shifty music critics and the minister of an apocalyptic church who has recruited Norberg's teenage son. Written with boundless intelligence and razor-sharp wit, The Facades is a comic and existential mystery that unfolds at the urgent pace of a thriller.
WC 'Lundgren's debut is a fierce, funny examination of loss, set against one of the most creative worlds in recent memory, and it's not to be missed' Publisher's Weekly
'Lundgren writes like a veteran in his prime, and The Facades is simply one of the best novels I've read in years, period' Teddy Wayne, author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Kapitoil
'The Facades belongs to the same subgenre as Paul Auster's New York Trilogy...detective novels influenced as much by Kafka as they are by Chandler.' The New Yorker
'Readers with discerning taste in fiction, especially fans of literary fiction laced with mystery, will love Lundgren's debut.'
