'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. Nevada, Iowa, circa 2000: Jeremy is drowsing through his job at Video Hut when patrons start tipping him to VHS tapes with eerie scenes spliced in. As the once-peaceful fields and barns of the Iowa landscape begin to seem sinister and threatening, Jeremy must come to terms with a truth that is as devastatingly sad as it is shocking. Universal Harvester: A Novel Hardcover Februby John Darnielle (Author) 1,373 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle 9.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover 18.39 60 Used from 1.75 9 New from 13.09 4 Collectible from 11. A clutch of adulterated rental cassettes pushes two video-store workers into a journey of discovery.

And what he sees on the videos is so strange and disturbing that it propels him out of his comfortable routine and into a search for the tapes creator. It’s the kind of space John Darnielle creates in the concerts I’ve seen both live and recorded, where he takes the stage as if he’s walking in the front door. Two days later, another customer brings back She s All That and complains that something is wrong: There's another movie on this tape.Ĭurious, Jeremy takes a look. Darnielle interrogates the act of grieving by recreating suffering you have not endured yourself, presents the theory that it’s both intimate and removed, both perilous and safe. It's the 1990s, pre-DVD, and the work is predictable and familiar he likes his boss, and it gets him out of the house.īut when a local schoolteacher comes in to return her copy of Targets, she has an odd complaint: There's something on it, she says. Jeremy works at the counter of Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa.

From the cult author of Wolf in White Van comes a horror- infused thriller set in a tiny Midwestern town Clerks meets Cormac McCarthy.

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