Overview
In this magnificent modern rendering of a classic Norse myth, award-winning writer William Trotter transports the reader to faraway Vardinoy in the exotic Faeroe Islands, the remote Scandinavian locale that has bewitched Allen Warrener since his first and only visit there twenty years before. Now middle-aged, Allen decides that to revitalize his wearisome existence he must return to Vardinoy, the island that has haunted and inspired him for most of his life — and so wanders unwittingly into circumstances far more sinister, and potentially far more dangerous, than he ever could have supposed. Among the many temptations and risks of this increasingly mystifying land there is the creature, the legendary undersea monster that becomes a metaphor as captivatingly elusive as the Golden Fleece; Andreas Dahl, a famous painter, whose appearance on the island seems too fortuitous a coincidence; and Elsuba, the woman who still mesmerizes Allen even decades after their affair. Uncommonly suspenseful and richly atmospheric, Warrener's Beastie is a hypnotic literary adventure that will entrance readers — even as it reminds them to be careful about what they wish for.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewLike the mythical North Atlantic leviathan that is the focus of its protagonist's ill-conceived quest, William R. Trotter's Warrener's Beastie is as massive as it is indescribable. Chronicling the adventures of a disillusioned middle-aged professor obsessed with doing something truly meaningful in his lifetime, this epic tale of romanticism and redemption is neither fantasy, horror, or thriller but a unique amalgam of all genres.
After watching his idealistic dreams of youth slowly crumble, Allen Warrener -- a divorced would-be-novelist stuck in a dead-end job -- decides to embark on an expedition/pilgrimage to the rugged Faeroe Islands (a place where he visited and fell in love with in his youth) in search of the legendary Vardinoy Monster. Accompanied by a misfit group of friends -- including a former porn producer and his "statuesque" starlet wife -- Warrener journeys to a secluded island where the uneasy ghosts of a time long forgotten and an impending volcanic blast are the least of his worries…
The obvious comparisons to Melville's Moby-Dick aside, Warrener's Beastie is not so much about the hunt for a legendary sea monster and the haunting Nordic myths that surround it as it is about one man's heart-rending quest to find some semblance of happiness in a life fraught with bitter disappointment and largely unfulfilled dreams. Readers may have a hard time locating this genre-blurring novel in a bookstore, but those who do will be more than satisfied. Paul Goat Allen