The Wheat Field

If Peter Straub didn't write this novel pseudonymously, then Steve Thayer has studied the man's writings and imitated them perfectly. All the standard Straub elements are here: the Wisconsin setting, the obsessed and flawed hero besieged by numerous secret enemies, political intrigue, and a mysteriously vanished former love-interest femme fatale.Whenever you think you've got this one figured out, the author throws an ingenious twist your way. It begins with a double-barrelled shotgun blast, ends in thunder, lightning and flame, and traces a labyrinthine trail in-between of corrupt politicians and police, menacing secret societies, setups and double-crosses, frame-ups, cover-ups, mysterious late-night phone calls, contacts of dubious loyalties, hidden agendas, jealousy, greed, and every film noir element imaginable.The most brilliant aspect of this lightning-fast, multiply-layered page-turner is its own narrator, Deputy Detective Pliny Pennington, a man who - all the way to the closing chapter - the reader can't ever quite be sure of. Pliny has a checkered past, which includes obsessive voyeurism, stalking, and even one plain, old-fashioned, cold-blooded murder. Is he a good guy, or a bad guy? Or just an average guy, a basic shade of gray with stronger than usual black and white highlights? The novel is brilliantly plotted and constructed, and holds the reader's interest in a constantly tightening vise that never lets go.If you've never read Peter Straub, you'll get a great sample of his work in Thayer's The Wheat Field. If you have read Straub, you'll love this book more than you could imagine. If you don't know and never care to find out who Peter Straub is, you'll still find this an incredibly thrilling and surprisingly delightful read.Don't miss it. It's great.

This is a fascinating mystery placed in the early 60's and told in retrospect. The main character is deputy Pliny Pennington, a brooding singular individual who is both enthralling and scary. It is the story of a high school crush that becomes an obsession, possibly because the deputy is unable to consummate his loves as a result of an injury incurred in the Korean War.Maggie Butler and her husband, Michael, are found dead in a wheat field. Is it murder-suicide? Or is it a double murder? How are these deaths related to the hidden power structure within the county? Slowly the deputy unfolds the intricate interweaving of the answers to all these questions. The story is also a commentary on the hidden power structure in the United States and who belongs to the 'in' group, who chooses to NOT belong to the 'in' group, and who never would even be asked to join the power structure.The unfolding of the tale is gripping. Worth your time and money!

First the great, which won't apply to many. I'm from Wisconsin Dells...we listened to this book on audio this weekend on our monthly trip home from Cincinnati. I was enthralled by the incredibly detailed and ACCURATE descriptions of my town. Mentions of real highways and real towns nearby. I believe the town of "Kickapoo Falls" is actually the city of Baraboo, Wis., for a number of reasons. I absolutely loved having somebody talk in such detail about all the places I know like the back of my hand. However all of this won't apply to most of you, but if you're from S. Central Wisconsin you MUST read this book.On the plot: I very much enjoyed it. It's deep, dark, mysterious, sexually explicit without being pornographic, and very intricate. There are real events of 1960 that are effecting the characters in the book, most specifically the Nixon-Kennedy election and the changing social atmosphere. Very well written. Everyone says that the book was unpredictable, but I didn't think so. In fact both my fiancee and myself had the "big" plot twist figured out very early on. Enough hints were dropped. But I still give this book five stars, even though it probably only rates 4. Why? Well...because it was written about my town. :) Oddly enough, this author has written several best sellers and there is no information about him apparently available. I'd love to talk to him and find out how he found out about "Poo-U" (Boo U in real life).

Murder and politics equal excitement, which is precisely what Steve Thayer generously serves in his fifth novel, "The Wheat Field." It is 1960, the year of Nixon's presidential campaign, and the setting is supposedly serene Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin. Serenity isn't in the air or, for that matter, in the wheat field where the naked bodies of Maggie and Michael Butler are found by a local farmer. They both have been shot - is it a murder/suicide? Deputy Pliny Pennington, who has been in love with the once gorgeous Maggie since high school days, doesn't think so. Questions abound, such as the condition of the field. The wheat has been evenly pressed down in a circle around the bodies with no evidence of tire or foot tracks. Stranger yet is the fact that there is no clothing nearby, yet both bodies apparently left this world as they came into it. Sheriff Fats soon arrives on the scene along with Trooper Russ Hoffmeyer who confides that he was once invited to join a menage a trois with Maggie and Michael. While Pliny is chagrined to hear that there are even more shocking revelations in the offing. Some of these dangerous secrets involve the most prominent citizens in Kickapoo Falls. Thayer masterfully unravels his tale against a backdrop of Wisconsin politics and personal foibles. - Gail Cooke

In 1960, Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin is a small bucolic town with a comparatively small-sized small sheriff's department to match the low crime rate. Deputy Pennington reveres his boss Sheriff Fats, the man who hired him, trained him and believed in him ever since he was brought on board just after World War II. The job is Pennington's whole life although the ex military sniper is in love with Maggie Butler who is married to Michael. Pennington feels a deep rage when he comes across Michael and Maggie dead and nude in Farmer Gutterson's wheat fields. The sheriff wants to call it a murder-suicide but his deputy knows instinctively it's a double homicide and goes about gathering evidence, which leads him to one of the town's most powerful citizens, a man running for the US Senate seat. Before this case is over or he is dead, Pennington will be betrayed, shot at and imprisoned by the elite infrastructure. Steve Thayer, author of one of this reviewer's favorite thrillers (see THE WEATHERMAN), has written another exciting work that stars a flawed and brooding hero who captures the attention of the audience from the very first page. The historical police procedural is cleverly designed to bring out the era yet provide an exciting who-done-it investigation. Readers will hope that there will be more works staring this protagonist because he is atypical law enforcement official.Harriet Klausner