The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

 

The Changeling

by Victor Lavalle

Apollo Kagwa's father disappeared when he was a young boy, but he hasn't left his dreams. In them, Brian West comes to Apollo in the apartment he shares with his mother, Lillian, and tells Apollo "you're coming with me" amidst the running water in the bathroom and the steam that fills the space.

This dream and Apollo's desire to know his father follows him throughout his life, along with a children's book his father would read to him. When Apollo marries the beguiling Emma and they have a baby (named Brian), Apollo has plans of reading the book to his own boy.

Then Emma starts receiving texts of Apollo and baby Brian, texts that disappear. Apollo thinks she's going nuts, and then she does; she ties Apollo up and kills the baby, saying "that's no baby." Or so we're led to believe. After Apollo does some time in prison and returns home, he joins a survivors group and finds others like Emma. He is then led on Emma's trail. After her crimes, she disappeared, but a man named William knows where to find her. He has money and the technological know-how to track her down. He leads Apollo to an island of women and children (the Wise Ones) in search of Emma. She is no longer there, but Cal, the Wise Ones' leader, tells him where he can find her, but first he has to visit his son's grave, dig it up, and learn what the baby really was.

With the help of his friend, Patrice, Apollo does just that, discovering the monster in his son's grave, the creature that had replaced baby Brian, just like Emma said. Apollo finds Emma, who has been watching over her child in a forest where an ancient Norwegian beast, known for eating babies it has tried to raise as its own, keeps him. A battle ensues for Apollo to find forgiveness from Emma and to save his son.

There are lots of little bits I've left out of this description, but the story was compelling, with lots of twists and secrets masterfully revealed. The biggest for me was that Brian West had actually come back for Apollo, but not in the way Apollo thinks. The writing was excellent, the pace flawless, the language smart. The only thing about this book that bothered me was the last part of the book, where the nature of the beast is revealed. The battle with it was not great, sort of lackluster. I would like to have had more of the witchy, creaturely elements. They were the most mysterious and took up very little of the actual story.

I give The Changeling 4 stars. It was a very good, compelling book up to the last 30 or so pages.