Entropy - Softcover

Review by Rick Schindler, author of Fandemonium: "In thermodynamics, entropy is unusable energy; in literature and popular culture, it has become a metaphor for inexorable decay and disorder. It is the title of one of Thomas Pynchon's earliest stories and a motif in some of his most emblematic works, including The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. And it is also the title and motif of an elegiac crime novel by Robert Raker. Entropy revolves around a series of grisly child murders in a woebegone region of Pennsylvania. Raker excels at painting its dismal landscape: a once-thriving farm reduced to mire by a blinding rainstorm; a neglected swimming pool in which a small body floats; a sweltering bus. He is similarly adept at delineating the desolate hearts of the four narrators who tell his tale in turn, in fractured chronology redolent of Joseph Conrad: the diver contracted by police to retrieve the victims' bodies, a man more comfortable immersed in water than in the mainstream of life; a musician marred by more than the loss of an arm; an undercover agent corrupted by the criminal identities he must assume, and an artist's model numbed by tragedy and betrayal. A la film noir, there are no heroes in Entropy to solve the case and save the day; just tormented souls grasping in vain for happiness and human connection. And they are connected, but only like flies caught in the same web. The complex pattern of that web becomes fully apparent only at this compelling novel's cathartic climax." Review: "'Entropy' is a great crime novel told from four different angles. When children are found murdered the numerous perspectives give you different character experiences, this was an interesting way to read a crime novel and I enjoyed getting to know each character. Now while 'Entropy' is set in Pennsylvania, I found that the story could have been happening anywhere. Sometimes a novel is bogged down with small unneeded setting details but it is not this case, 'Entropy' is well written with great characters and a well thought out plot. If you would like something a little different you will not be disappointed." Lou from Crime Book Club

When a series of child abductions and murders disrupt the life of an economically blighted community, the consequences have far-reaching implications. The brutal crimes take a different toll on a disparate group of individuals; the scuba diver who retrieves the children's bodies; the disfigured cellist who thinks he knows who's responsible; the undercover federal agent; and the mother of one of the victim's. United in a situation not of their choosing, they are forced to take a deep, introspective look into their intersected, yet isolated lives.