Review: In My Father's Basement

In My Father's Basement by T.J. Payne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you had told me before I started reading that I would absolutely be held hostage to a book about a rather neurotic, dysfunctional man who just so happened to be the son of a serial killer, I may well have laughed (or at the very least scoffed). This book, however, grabbed me from the beginning with its incredible, almost poetic language, as well as its matter-of-fact treatment of the abhorrent acts of a depraved serial killer. I raced through each page, unable to turn out the lights before I finished, then unable to turn them off because I HAD.

Devouring the book in its entirety was, I must admit, a rather exhausting exercise in one’s ability to separate fact from fiction, as Walter relates the story of his descent into madness to his son, Isaac. Just as the reader is certain that Isaac has finally discovered the truth of what happened those many years ago, Walter’s entire narrative is reduced to ashes, and the reader is forced to start over in developing a trust that in the end must simply be blind faith that is repeatedly robbed. Over and over again, Walter weaves tales of the catalyst to his horrifying acts of depravity, seemingly enjoying the deception even as he systematically destroys his son in the process. As Isaac faces long hidden truths about his father, he is taken on a rollercoaster ride that leaves him keeled over and vomiting in its wake. Though while Walter has been telling tall tales, Isaac has a few secrets of his own, and whilst the sins of the father continue to be exacted on the son, Isaac’s own meager and unstable life is deconstructed one episode at a time until the destruction of both father and son is complete.

Themes of loyalty to family, greed and nature vs. nuture are all hidden within the chapters, teased out into the open by a story so disturbing that the reader will be left contemplating his own darkness and the seemingly endless capacity of man’s cruelty to man. Read it for the plot or read it as a cautionary tale, read it for the story at its surface or the implications that lie between the lines of text. Whichever you choose, just do it with a healthy amount of skepticism and at a time where you don’t need to put it down for even a second.

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