THE SCAPEGOAT is a sure-footed debut novel from Sara Davis, who has well-established bona fides as an instructor in creative writing. She has chosen to introduce herself to the reading public with a haunting and challenging work that presents a new aspect of the “unreliable narrator” theme while propelling the reader through a series of mystifying vignettes, all without sacrificing the literary quality of the story. It is a tale that is not soon forgotten.

N is the book’s first-person, past-tense narrator. Whatever his other faults, he is not entirely lacking insight, however warped his view may be. As we come to learn, N was in the employ of the medical school of a San Francisco Bay-area university with an affiliated hospital. It takes some time for him to fully explain his function there, or how he came to be where he was at that particular stage of his life.

"THE SCAPEGOAT is not a long novel...but it is a deep and disturbing one.... [T]he book’s substance and its eccentric protagonist put me in the mind of a collaborative effort between Edgar Allan Poe and Doris Lessing."

What we do discover is that N’s father died under circumstances that he believed were suspicious, and he felt compelled to investigate what happened on his own. Because they were estranged, N began his investigation being somewhat backfooted. He did uncover a slim clue in the form of a cryptic note located in the pocket of his father’s abandoned coat. It was written on stationery from a local hotel in the area.

Shortly after finding the note, N was given the opportunity to visit the hotel as the indirect result of being invited to a faculty dinner in honor of a visiting lecturer. Such an invitation was unusual, considering that he was hardly a social animal and had established himself as being aloof and enigmatic. The dinner results in an introduction that led to access to a mysterious object, which shows up in various forms throughout the narrative and that N concluded had something to do with his father’s death. A briefcase that he was certain also belonged to his father disappears and reappears as he relates what has occurred.

Meanwhile, there is a series of vignettes along the way that reveals N’s past and present in fits and starts, including his relationship with Kirstie, a colleague he keeps running into who perhaps had some interest in him. For the most part, he appeared to be either unaware or uninterested. The truth, to the extent that it can be determined, is gradually brought to light in a surprising and shocking denouement before the story’s abrupt end.

THE SCAPEGOAT is not a long novel --- just slightly over 200 pages --- but it is a deep and disturbing one. Davis’ prose is not necessarily economical, but there is no wasted space. That said, the book’s substance and its eccentric protagonist put me in the mind of a collaborative effort between Edgar Allan Poe and Doris Lessing. I am looking forward to more much from Davis in the future.