Whether prankster animators of the past splicing frames of pornography into the reels of a children’s film or marketing mavericks flashing pictures of soft drinks into a movie to imperceptibly suggest a need for a trip to the concessions, our mediums of entertainment have always been a playground for creative saboteurs. Though set less than a quarter of a century ago, at its uncanniest and most affecting, Universal Harvester feels like a document from a civilisation that vanished aeons ago.Within the flickering spaces of a film reel, speeding along at twenty-four frames per second, lies the potential to insert our own images, altering the material for whoever sees it next. In the end, and for all its narrative leaps and disquieting gestures toward genre, the novel makes most sense as a piece of regional portraiture, an eerie but lovingly detailed delineation of a landscape that, like all landscapes, is part external reality and part memory. But Darnielle’s narrative cuts an oblique channel through all these expectations. The 'cursed movie' trope portends a turn towards the horror or gothic mystery genre. The opening chapters’ autumnal mood of studiedly low-key smalltown ennui and bereavement suggest one kind of story. Darnielle has subtle fun teasing out the reader’s assumptions as to what kind of novel Universal Harvester might turn out to be.

In other respects, it is strikingly and enchantingly out of time.

John Darnielle’s second novel, Universal Harvester, very much fits the contemporary puzzle-box aesthetic. Darnielle’s novel is beyond worthwhile it’s a major work by an author who is quickly becoming one of the brightest stars in American fiction. So while it’s genuinely unsettling, it’s also a heartfelt reflection on family, as well as a kind of love letter to the often overlooked towns of the American Midwest. And every one in Universal Harvester is realistic, especially Jeremy, who finds himself torn between staying at the video store and leaving it behind for more lucrative work. Suspense and ambience count for only so much, though a horror novel (or any kind of novel) works only with believable characters. He’s also incredibly gifted at depicting the dark side of the rural Midwest. Darnielle is a master at building suspense, and his writing is propulsive and urgent it’s nearly impossible to stop reading.

The two threads of the story come together in a truly scary climax, and it wouldn’t be fair to spoil any of it. What appears to be a chilling horror tale is also a perfectly rendered story about family and loss.

Universal harvester movie