18. The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

excellent cover design

This is a resurrected horror classic that was making the rounds on booknerd social media a few years ago. It was featured in Paperbacks from Hell and then Valancourt released a new version as part of their Paperbacks from Hell series.  I am proud to say that I found an original paperback in quite good condition.  Horror and rural horror especially are not really my jam, but the premise sounded intriguing and it is considered a classic, so I added it to my list.  

This is one of those books that I can say is a legitimately good book but at the same time I really did not enjoy it.  I've read a few other reviews and my concerns are shared, so it's not just that I don't love horror.  It's a frustrating, helpless read that is still kind of realistic so you keep turning the pages to find out what happens (and what is happening).  It takes place in rural New Hampshire in the early 70s (Vietnam war and hippies are mentioned).  The story centers around a small, poor family living on a subsistence farm:  John the dad, Mim the younger and once beautiful wife, their sweet child Hildie and John's mom, Ma.  The land has been in John's family for multiple generations.

One day, the sheriff shows up, talking about this new guy in town who bought a nice house and is organizing an auction with the funds to pay for a bigger police budget.  He's looking for donations of old stuff to sell, so they give him some broken down furniture.  He comes back next week asking for more.  Gradually, but pretty blatantly, it evolves into a gentle extortion, where they "give" more and more of their possessions for the auction.  There is no blatant coercion at first, but the family feels compelled to keep giving and at some point, they do start hearing about accidents in town to people who refused.  But the pressure is much more psychological.  The auctioneer, Perly Dunsmore, is always smiling and positive and talks about small-town values while he slowly takes everything from the families of the town, selling them off to urban sophisticates looking for antiques and more.

It's very disturbing as you read it.  You really feel for the family who are truly trapped, though there is an argument that the John character is also a critique of loud, empty masculinity. He refuses to resist for fear that something will happen to the women around him.  It just goes on and on and keeps getting worse and worse, which makes for a not pleasant read, at least for me.  It is well interested and themes are compelling and painfully relevant.  This process of the American people blindly giving up their power to a manipulative shuckster is exactly what we are living through right now.  It's tough to read it in allegory at the same time.