A Noise Downstairs by Lincoln Barclay

William Morrow, 368 pages, $26.99

Paul Davis, a mild-mannered college professor caught in a rut, was very unlucky one night. He chanced upon a friend, his mentor in fact, in the process of burying two women. Paul’s friend clobbered him and was going to bury him as well, but the police arrived in the nick of time. This is where Lincoln Barclay’s story really begins.

Unlucky Paul Davis luckily survived the attack, but there are physical and psychological issues still. Memory frizzles and dizziness plague him, and then the sounds in the night begin. The clacking of keys on an old-fashioned typewriter wake him repeatedly. (Before slitting their throats, Kenneth Hoffman, Paul’s mentor and colleague at the college, made his victims type apology notes on an old typewriter.) Ooo-wee-ooo.

Kenneth is in prison. Without hesitation, he pled guilty to murdering the women and trying to murder Paul. But Paul is having trouble reconciling the Kenneth he knew with the killer he faced on the night he was attacked. With the approval of his wife and his psychologist, Paul attempts to recreate the story of what happened to Kenneth.

“A Noise Downstairs” is a straightforward tale, but one laced with twists big and small. Barclay must have been rubbing his hands together while plotting his story and muttering, “Nyah, ha, ha.” Despite the most excellent surprises, Barclay’s writing seems stodgy towards the end. While galloping to the resolution, Barclay sacrifices nuance (with the exception of the final interview with Kenneth) in the cause of wrapping things up. Still and all, a good end-of-summer read.