Black Flame

This brutal, unsparing horror novel from Felker-Martin (Manhunt) brings film, queer history, and unspeakable terror together in mid-1980s New York City. Ellen Kramer, a closeted archivist working at the Path Foundation, an embattled film restoration company, has been tasked with restoring Black Flame, a legendary lost film from Weimar-era Germany. As she grapples with her repressed sexuality, her work results in her consciousness becoming warped by horrific visions. Her daily life and relationships begin to disintegrate as she uncovers the truth behind Black Flame—and her own history. After the Path Foundation receives blowback for their restoration of a racist movie, Ellen is given the opportunity to share Black Flame with the world to help divert the PR storm, resulting in a terrible reckoning as she comes to terms with the consequences of things kept hidden from polite society—and from herself. Felker-Martin’s stunning prose is equal parts grotesque and lyrical as she turns an unflinching gaze on the extremes of compulsion and desire on the way to a truly devastating climax. The story threads the difficult needle of presenting unsympathetic characters and complicated relationships without compromising its vision, and the results are spectacular. Readers will be unable to shake this one soon. (Aug.)