Willnot

Willnot is not (primarily) a mystery or suspense novel. Forget that silly and distracting GR blurb, taken from the silly and distracting (and spoiler revealing, in one instance) dust jacket blurb.

Willnot is not (primarily) a mystery or suspense novel. Forget that silly and distracting GR blurb, taken from the silly and distracting (and spoiler revealing, in one instance) dust jacket blurb. It appears as if Bloomsbury Publishing’s marketing team made the call to promote Willnot as something it isn’t, in order to take advantage of the built-in base of readers that respond to the mystery/suspense genre tag. As we all know, the problem with marketing a book as a mystery or suspense novel when it isn’t is that readers who might love it (if they only knew the truth) don’t find it, and those who read it anticipating the experience of reading a mystery or suspense novel are oft-times disappointed and write reviews that indicate something along the lines of, “the mystery didn’t work,” or “lacked suspense.” Don’t read Willnot to learn about those dead bodies and then blame Sallis for not delivering. Consider them a 3-bite appetizer, not your entree, as it were.

What is Willnot, then? Willnot is a snapshot of ordinary people figuring out who they are and how to survive.

We see Willnot – over the course of several months -through the eyes of Lamar Hale, town physician and surgeon. Lamar is in a long-term relationship with Richard, a teacher (later principal) , formerly that guy in high school who was the quarterback, first chair [name your instrument], most popular, best grades, etc.

In the town of Willnot, there are: several unidentified bodies found buried – and requiring excavation - near a gravel pit; a Sheriff with heart trouble; teens who are sufficiently bored that they start creating the appearance of filled-in holes around town mimicking the gravel pit find; several individuals waiting for surgery or recovering from surgery; an office manager; a couple worried about the health of the husband’s dad, due to a recently-developed unpleasant smell; Bobby Lowndes, a hometown boy turned Marine sniper who returns, but whose conduct is sufficiently creepy to suggest imbalance, menace or another unsettling explanation; a long-time homeless guy, known to all; an FBI agent, Ogden, seeking the sniper, who identifies him as AWOL; a 12-year old boy, Nathan, who turns in a 23-page essay (in response to an assignment to write 3 pages about where you live), and a protagonist whose father was a hack science fiction novelist. Eccentricity abounds, but it’s not cute or contrived. In a mere 192 pages, Sallis shows us all of this and more. He doesn’t tell us.

Willnot is character-driven, not plot-driven. The relationship between Lamar and Richard anchors it. When Lamar is home with Richard, the world is a good place. A safe place. Everything outside might be going to hell in a hand-basket. Then Richard utters some amusing crack, or flirty comment, or insightful perspective. Lamar considers, responds, utters his own philosophical observation or takes Richard up on his ribald suggestion, gets the sustenance his soul needs to go out and meet the needs of his patients, his acquaintances, his hometown. Lamar and Richard are complex characters. So are all of the other inhabitants of Willnot, including Nathan. Sallis anchors his story in Lamar and Richard, in part, because their jobs put them into contact with the range of people who inhabit any small town. Doctors and teachers, along with the clerk at the two gas stations, the administrative assistant at the town’s utility payment window, and a pastor or two, are the sorts who encounter townfolk across a range of socio-economic backgrounds, and who may observe shadows of ghosts and glimpses of the baggage that accompany everyone on her life journey.

At times, a reader isn’t certain where Sallis is headed. Why is Lamar recalling his dad’s career and sci-fi-writer friends? Why are we reading a series of anecdotes about Lamar’s patients? Is Sheriff Hobbs’ heart trouble related to the dead bodies, or to Bobby Lowndes? How much attention should we pay to the FBI agent? The daily stories of Lamar’s patients and Richard’s school system career challenges seem headed toward a collision with the darkness of whatever explanation there turns out to be for the dead bodies of page 1 fame. The uncertainty the reader experiences is created deliberately by Sallis, as if to say. Question assumptions. Pay attention to details. Come along for the ride. See how much can be packed into this slim package.

Lisa Levy asks in her article in LitHub:

Levy is spot-on. We aren’t talking about Sallis. We should be, though. Willnot is an excellent launching pad for everyone who hasn’t yet read one of Sallis’ novels. Then let’s collaborate to give him the buzz his work dearly merits.