Thrillville, USA

By: Taylor Koekkoek

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill, Lisa Larsen, André Santana

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS SUE KAUFMAN PRIZE FOR FIRST FICTION

A raw and remarkable debut story collection concerning substance abuse, societal alienation, and doomed romance from a writer whose work has appeared in prestigious literary journals including The Paris Review.

An amusement park employee overdoses after eating the gel of a fentanyl patch. Two homeless men discover the body of a drowned woman. A sister encounters a dangerous stranger while driving her brother to rehab. Ex-lovers seek to rekindle their relationship with the aid of an earthquake.

In the nine masterful stories that comprise Thrillville, USA, debut author Taylor Koekkoek depicts Americans living on the margins of society, seeking escape from isolation and underemployment in drugs, booze, and self-destructive relationships. While the action is set largely in the rural Pacific Northwest, the characters’ malaise and disaffectedness is endemic of the country as a whole. The title takes its name from the aforementioned amusement park, but Thrillville is as much a state of mind as an actual place—a sardonic commentary on contemporary America consumed by opioid addiction, social media obsession, wealth inequality and political polarization.

Yet as haunting as these stories are, they are not hopeless. Gorgeously written, they share a transcendental quality—an acknowledgment of and appreciation for the beauty in all things, even the most profane and grotesque.

Made me love short stories again.

This author has brilliant, observational skills, and he captures subtle qualities of character with such accuracy and realism that they come alive. The people in these stories, both funny and tragic, ring true, and the Pacific Northwest setting is superbly drawn. One fine story after another.

Brilliant stories

I loved every single one of these beautiful, funny, heartbreaking stories. The characters are vivid, the dialogue sharp, the sentences crackling. My goodness, what a remarkable book. The three readers do a great job, and I couldn’t stop listening.