The Changeling: A Novel

"I love fractured fairy tales, and 21st-century magical realism master Victor LaValle uncovers a doozy in * The Changeling.* It’s the story of a baby lost, a mother deranged and a father descending deep into his own mess of a family inheritance. LaValle has fun with the bortbyting legend he mines; the trolls that steal babies in that Scandinavian lore first appear in LaValle’s plot as basement-dwelling computer hackers. But he’s best when showing how the current realities that afflict urban dwellers of color – above all, racism – stymie even the most heroic monster hunters. Here, as in old fairy tales, mythic threats can’t hold a candle to the volatility of actual people."