Books: The Job of the Wasp By Colin Winnette (2018)

A new arrival at an isolated school for orphaned boys quickly comes to realize there is something wrong with his new home. He hears chilling whispers in the night, his troubled classmates are violent and hostile, and the Headmaster sends cryptic messages, begging his new charge to confess. As the new boy learns to survive on the edges of this impolite society, he starts to unravel a mystery at the school’s dark heart. And that’s when the corpses start turning up.

I found The Job of the Wasp by Colin Winnette, to be very disquieting. As you read, you feel as if there is something off, like you’ve ventured in a dark, unkempt area of a deserted building, or you’ve wandered into those tilted villain quarters in the old Batman TV series, where everything seems askew. The problem is, I never could figure out what made me feel this way until near the end.

This tale, with its Gothic-like setting, its Lord of the Flies vibe, and a mysterious unnamed narrator, makes me feel like I’ve stumbled into a tragic story that has been going on for a long time. It’s an oddly slow and weird thriller, though, that often reminded me of Dan Wells’ John Wayne Cleaver novels about a 16 year-old potential serial killer. Much like Wells’ narrator, Winnette’s unnamed speaker has a clear and distinctive voice. You cannot help not like him, even if he does some questionable things (the incident with Thomas, the teacher and the lake come to mind). Even as your gut tells you that all is not as it appears with the boy (the wasps).

It’s an unusual novel, original, darkly funny and often just plain creepy -and one that will stay with you after you turned the last page.