Evan Ulmer’s writing career isn’t going the direction he’s hoped, so he executes plan B. This second option includes kidnapping Robert "Bob" Partnow, an editor featured in a recent Publisher’s Weekly article. Evan houses his captor in a chain-linked, soundproof basement room complete with Porta-Potty and television.
Partnow’s sudden disappearance is big news. Abductor and abductee form an unusual, uneasy bond between the chain link fence in the basement. Both feel somewhat slighted and misrepresented by the media.
While Bob sits in the basement cage all day, Evan courts a woman he meets in the library. Promise Buckley is a writer, too. Evan pitches her a story idea about a writer who kidnaps an editor. Promise likes the plot and encourages Evan’s writing development and a relationship as well.
Tearjerker is a delightfully unusual novel. Evan is disturbing and fascinating at the same time. The lines between hero and villain are blurred. Author Daniel Hayes has written an impressive, refreshingly original debut. His perfect balance between nervous tension and dark comedy makes on wonder who’s in his basement.
