Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer

by Leslie Peter Wulff

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Walt thinks he's left his problems behind him when he runs away from a broken home to live with his eccentric uncle. The simple, semi-rural, semi-anti-social lifestyle seems at first to be exactly what Walt wants, but he soon learns his new life isn't just about ditching school and drinking beer with his friends.

Uncle Brucker is a Rat Killer; a tireless rat tracker, an expert in rat lore, a speaker of the rat language, and a decorated veteran of two bloody uprisings. His uncle begins to train Walt in the ways of rat killing, and explains to his nephew the ancient and bloody history of men and rats. Before the rise of men, he says, rats ruled the earth. They've been hiding in another dimension ever since they were kicked out by humanity, planning to retake the planet.

In the middle of Walt's training, Uncle Brucker is called away by mysterious men from the government. When he fails to return from his mission, Walt discovers a portal to the rat dimension and realizes he must travel alone to Rat Land to save his uncle. Perhaps the most unusual dark fantasy debut of the year, Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer is a surreal exploration of honor, duty, and inter-dimensional genocide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597808941
Publisher:	Night Shade
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Leslie Peter Wulff lives with his lovely wife Sandy in a small college town in upstate New York. Other than reading great literature and watching great films, he enjoys building stone walls–and taking a break from building stone walls. All his life he wanted to be a writer. Some years ago he quit his job due to Parkinson's disease. Now he's a writer.

Editorial Reviews

07/03/2017
In his debut novel, Wulff plunges headfirst into conspiracy theory, pandimensional genocide, and a legacy of tall tales about the history of marauding rats. Adolescent Walt comes to live with Uncle Brucker partly to escape his father and partly to act as a nurse for his half-wild uncle, a rat killer. Walt’s teenage woes become entangled in Uncle Brucker’s top-secret defense plan when they are entrusted with an inexplicable mission to defend Earth from a new rat uprising. They struggle to survive a world of inconsistencies and improbable romance, in a story with an equal mix of violent conflict and philosophical consideration of American muscle cars. Wulff adopts the matter-of-fact tone common to tall tales on the porch swing. He rarely slows to explain or offer justification for his harrowing twists. The adventure is fast-paced, nerve-wracking, and hilarious, and the conclusion is surprisingly poetic. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Yes, this book is as weird and wonderful as it sounds."—B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog

“Feels completely original and ultimately stands on its own as a unique, postmodern fable for our peculiar age filled with uncertainty, nonsense, paranoia, and occasional acts of unexpected kindness.”—CryptoScatology

“Les Wulff’s characters leap off the page at you in the most memorable of ways . . . completely and charmingly original . . . A book you won’t forget.”—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“An equal mix of violent conflict and philosophical consideration . . . The adventure is fast-paced, nerve-wracking, and hilarious, and the conclusion is surprisingly poetic.”—Publishers Weekly

“Instantly captivating . . . Imagine a contemporary dark fantasy as told by Huckleberry Finn, and you’ll get the general drift. . . . that same strain of imaginative Americana that embraces both Twain and Vonnegut.”—Hudson Valley One

“Wulff imagines an epic conflict . . . with gleeful, quirky enthusiasm.”—Kirkus

"Yes, this book is as weird and wonderful as it sounds."—B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog

“Feels completely original and ultimately stands on its own as a unique, postmodern fable for our peculiar age filled with uncertainty, nonsense, paranoia, and occasional acts of unexpected kindness.”—CryptoScatology

“Les Wulff’s characters leap off the page at you in the most memorable of ways . . . completely and charmingly original . . . A book you won’t forget.”—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“An equal mix of violent conflict and philosophical consideration . . . The adventure is fast-paced, nerve-wracking, and hilarious, and the conclusion is surprisingly poetic.”—Publishers Weekly

“Instantly captivating . . . Imagine a contemporary dark fantasy as told by Huckleberry Finn, and you’ll get the general drift. . . . that same strain of imaginative Americana that embraces both Twain and Vonnegut.”—Hudson Valley One

“Wulff imagines an epic conflict . . . with gleeful, quirky enthusiasm.”—Kirkus

From the Publisher

07/01/2017
At age 12, Walt Thompson found that his uncle's home down the road was a better place to be than his own. By the time he turned 16, Walt was living with his Uncle Brucker, hearing the tales of the rats he'd killed through the years: decades of tracking, learning rat lore, and discovering the truth about these vermin. For Uncle Brucker is a rat killer, and these creatures roamed the earth freely before humanity rose to take center stage. Uncle Brucker insists that the rats are hiding in another dimension, planning to retake the planet. Walt begins his training as a rat killer himself and discovers the work is harder than listening to the stories. One night, Uncle Brucker goes off on a secret mission; when he doesn't return, Walt has to find him, even if he is only a half-trained rat killer. VERDICT Witty characters and silliness permeate Wulff's entertaining debut. Mixing traditional tropes of family honor and duty with dysfunction and fun result in an enjoyable read.—KC

Library Journal

2017-06-20
In a debut fantasy novel, Wulff imagines an epic conflict between humans and a neighboring dimension populated entirely by rats.Walt is a scrappy, car-obsessed teenager who runs away from a broken home to live with his uncle. Uncle Brucker is a strange man, a "Rat Killer" and an unlikely war hero who lets Walt fix up old cars and introduces him to his odd trade. Walt learns to track rats, to speak words in rat language, and, with the help of a cheap pair of sunglasses, to identify people who are somehow turning into rats. Uncle Brucker also tells Walt about the history of conflict between humans and rats. Rats once ruled the world but were defeated by humans and pushed into another dimension from which they stage occasional uprisings and plot their return to power. When Uncle Brucker is sent on a rat-related government mission, Walt finds himself following in his uncle's footsteps and journeys to Rat Land to assist him. Wulff depicts both the human world and the rat dimension with gleeful, quirky enthusiasm, but the novel suffers from inconsistencies in tone and basic mechanics. It is unclear when things are meant to be funny and when they are not, and the discomfort of not knowing overshadows the reading experience. The story also struggles with a general lack of cohesion and with point of view, jumping and switching between viewpoints in a way that seems unintentionally confusing. Scenes shift inexplicably and with no transition. Characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation. The plot rambles, wandering in various directions without gathering momentum despite the battles and outrageous developments that should push it along. It all feels strangely unfinished, as if the energy of Wulff's imagination became impatient with the long process of translating itself into a novel. A promising premise that stumbles on the basic components of storytelling.

Kirkus Reviews