Guest Review: THE MOON IN DEEP WINTER by Lee Polevoi

The Moon in Deep Winter
By Lee Polevoi
ISBN-10: 0976951657
ISBN-13: 978-0976951650
Hardcover, 224 pages
November 10, 2008
Casagrande Press
Reviewed by Cynthia Murphy


“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Tolstoy’s words describe the dysfunctional family in Lee Polevoi’s The Moon in Deep Winter perfectly. Each character seems to have his own set of problems. As an ensemble, they form a tangled web of love, hate, and intrigue.

Parker Sloane returns to his childhood home in New England after a third-world cash-smuggling plot goes awry. The family that he finds is even more disturbing than he remembers. His stepfather, Burke, lives in a paranoid fantasy world. Burke worked for the State Department during the Cold War, and he believes that the government is trying to stop him from telling his story. He even thinks the government has somehow convinced Parker to sabotage him. Burke’s paranoia becomes one of the running themes of the novel. As the story unfolds, Parker realizes that his family is descending into a world of madness. Several murder plots develop, and the biggest mystery becomes who will die first. The explosive ending answers most of the reader’s questions in an unusual way. (I won’t spoil the surprise.)

The Moon in Deep Winter reads like a Coen brothers’ script. It is filled with dark humor that grabs the reader. Some of the events are totally absurd, such as the way Burke greets Parker. The scene looks normal at first. Parker greets Burke’s mother, Eugenia, and she seems to recognize him. However, Eugenia then screams for Burke and begins beating Parker with her cane. Burke arrives with a gun and shoots at his stepson. The scene is absurd, but it works in the context of the story. Similar scenes appear throughout the novel. Another great scene involves Eugenia and Parker’s mother. Parker assumes that Eugenia has lost her mind when she complains about the funny taster of her soup. She claims she saw her daughter-in-law putting poison in it. It turns out she’s right; Parker learns the truth while sharing a late night drink with his mother. Such absurd scenes appear throughout the novel. Polevoi has a gift for making these scenes work in the context of the story.

This novel has a fascinating mix of characters. Each one is hiding something. Polevoi does not provide much background on some of the characters; that only makes them more intriguing. For example, there is definitely something wrong with Parker’s half-brother, Walt. Burke calls it “brain damage.” Clearly, brain damage isn’t the problem with Walt, but there is something disturbing about his behavior. There is also something strange about their sister, Rita. She seems to need to keep the family together at all costs. She is even willing to sacrifice her own happiness to do this. Polevoi has created a cast of complex characters, yet he leaves much of the definition of the characters up to the reader. At first, this seems like an odd choice. However, it works. It ties in with the lunar and winter imagery that run throughout the novel. The characters change like the moonlight on snow.

The Moon in Deep Winter is very funny. Polevoi makes great use of dark humor. This could easily be turned into a Coen brothers movie. The quirky humor keeps the reader guessing and laughing. There is a lot of violence as the novel draws to a conclusion. Some of it is still quite funny, but it is not for the faint of heart. It works well with the murderous plots in the family.
This is a well-written, funny novel. Lee Polevoi has created an intriguing group of characters and a fascinating plot. I couldn’t wait to see how the story would end. The Moon in Deep Winter is an enjoyable piece of literary fiction that should appeal to a wide range of readers.