First published 1997
In the lush dreamscape of early 20th-century America, a young man stumbles into an impossible world of unimaginable wealth and deadly secrets. John T. Unger arrives at the estate of his college friend Percy Washington, expecting a typical summer visit. Instead, he discovers a family that has hidden an entire mountain of diamonds—a geological impossibility they will protect at any cost. As the Washington family's elaborate system of secrecy and survival unfolds, John becomes trapped in a gilded prison where luxury masks brutal survival instincts. With armed guards, hidden defenses, and a patriarch who will murder to preserve his impossible fortune, John must navigate a landscape where extreme wealth has warped every human impulse. Only his wit and nerve stand between him and a fate worse than death. A fever dream of American excess that reveals how far some will go to protect their version of the dream.
Genres: short-stories, american-fiction, 20th-century, fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, gilded-prison
Setting: New York
Period: 20th-century
176 pages · Paperback · Dover Publications
Content warnings: violence