Calf: A Novel

Traumas that occur in childhood leave an indelible mark on survivors, who often recall those times in inimitable detail. I start this way because this book is inspired by a true story that affected the author. Her good friend was murdered by Leslie deVeau, the victim’s mother. Around the same time, John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate President Reagan. Later, deVeau and Hinckley became lovers while patients at St. Elizabeths Hospital.This book is not a recreation of those events; rather, it is inspired by them. Any reader who expects a point-by-point comparison will be disappointed. That being said, there is a haunting authenticity to Calf, which pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the very last page.Two narratives intertwine. One focuses on Tammy, a disaffected pre-teen who lives in Washington, D.C. with her mother, stepfather, and younger sister and brother. All the pain, alienation and disenchantment of those tender years is fully captured. In fact, Tammy is so real that she can walk off the page. The friend who is eventually murdered is not difficult to guess; we see the event building as if we are watching a trainwreck.The other story, which gets equal time, spotlights Jeffrey Hackney (an obvious Hinckley stand-in) who obsesses over an actress named Amber Carrol. As he emotionally disintegrates, suspense rises although we know (or think we know) where the narrative is going.For me, the more captivating of the two storylines is Tammy’s. There’s a rawness to it that made me feel as if Andrea Kleine was mining some deep emotional remembrances. Yet both storylines are powerful and unsettling. I read this book in two intense sittings.

In this debut “faction” novel, the author takes an episode from her childhood—a friend murdered by her mother—and creates a chilling, nuanced dual narrative that is largely a domestic suspense story. The second narrative is based on John Hinckley Jr.’s attempted assassination of President Reagan. Both the true-life shooters were pronounced not guilty by reason of insanity, and met and became lovers at a mental institution. Kleine changes all the names, and invents a fictional story, to give free reign to go inside their heads and not be restricted by true events. This terrifying, character-driven drama allows the reader to follow the daily thoughts and actions of the killers and their families. There’s no gratuitous violence or pandering to readers. From the opening pages, the reader is installed in this accomplished, well-developed story.As the novel progresses, CALF intensifies and grows more hair-raising and disturbing. Kleine brushes up against the second-person perspective, especially with the mentally disturbed and manipulative “Jeffrey Hackney” and the female killer that is inspired by the real-life Leslie DeVeau. The author did her research on mental illness, as these are no stereotypical generic types. Inch by inch, day by day, the murderers get closer to entirely disassociating. If there’s a theme here, then it is about the manifestation of violence in a socially ordered culture.

Calf is a page-turner. With the pitch-perfect voices of both Tammy, an adolescent girl going through painful transitions, and the Hinckley-esque psychotic stalker, Jeffrey Hackney, Andrea Kleine's smart writing keeps it spare and gripping. The singular air of the 1980's infuses the characters of Tammy's unpredictable friends, her siblings, the neighbors, and the parents of both Tammy and Hackney. The relationship between the interesting, but bored, tennis-playing housewife Josie and her neighbor, the mentally disturbed mother, Val, is unexpected and moving. I flew through this novel and the story stayed in my head for days.

Half way through this book, I would have said, "what a book," but the darkness is overwhelming and in the end I just wanted to be done. I think Tammy and Her friends work in a way that Jeff does not. In a way I still think it is a good book and well done but truly disturbing. The "truth or dare" scene at the end may be as chilling as the two murders. If you are up for a dark ride go for it.

This is a great, weird, obsessive novel. I've always been interested in the abnormal psychology of fringe characters and this comes eerily close to giving a look into the minds of the not-quite well. There are moments in the novel where the reader is given the perspective of other "normal" characters and Kleine portrays them as individuals one bad day away from drifting off of the path of sanity in their own right. In other words, everyone is a little crazy, just some more than others. And the ones not all the way there might one day get there. Tales of everyday suburban horror are much more frightening than undead axe murderers that can't be killed, because the person next door is real.

Many people don't remember that John Hinckley, Jr's attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan later became tied to another Washington, D.C. tragedy, the death of a child at the hands of her mother. Kleine brings these two events together in a very readable book that combines personal knowledge of time, place, and people with an imaginative take on the effects of these events on a young girl and her fictional family.

This book didn't do it for me. The characters were muddy; Jeffrey came closest to being well defined. I've read several books touching on subjects close to these but much better.

I wasted three hours on this book hoping it would get better as I finally skimmed along. When I read the Author's bio at the back cover I understood more of the story. This is a down in the dumps personality story. It would be better to look at a crazy ward of a hospital than try to understand this read.