The first full-length standalone by Lonnie Busch, The Cabin on Souder Hill, is a strange mix of mystery and science fiction. Michelle Stage is trying to sleep one night when her husband Cliff sees a strange light down the hill. Given that their cabin is supposed to be miles away from any neighbors, he goes to investigate against his wife’s wishes. When he doesn’t return in the morning, Michelle calls the police and kicks the plot into motion.
The police fail to find Cliff, but shortly thereafter Michelle hunts for her husband alone, following the same strange light to the bottom of the hill. What she finds there is a cabin identical to hers in a world just slightly different than her own. Cliff is there, but is now missing a finger and his whole personality has shifted just a little to the left. He has memories that she doesn’t, and so does everyone else in this parallel reality. Determined to try and make sense of things, she sets off to speak to the man who sold her cabin in the first place, Pink Souder.
Pink is a simple, chubby, perverted man who sold real estate in the area—he was also suspected of killing his wife Isabelle, but the body was never found and he and his mother disappeared without a trace soon after—at least that’s what happened in Michelle’s “real” world. In her altered reality, the oddly charming Pink, his wife, and his mother are all still around.
Michelle’s determination drives the narrative forward with her certainty that she’s not going crazy—even as evidence piles up that she might be. She won’t stop fighting for the world she remembers.
Make no bones about it—this is an odd book indeed. It deals with such things as alternate realities, incest, and witches, with a mystery propelling it forward. Though in the end most things are explained, it might be difficult for some readers to suspend disbelief long enough to reach that point. Despite this, it is an interesting and occasionally thought-provoking read. It asks the question “Are our fates set in stone?” The book doesn’t precisely answer it, but leaves readers to mull it over themselves.