An intricate paradox, posing the question of what the novel can tell us, in the guise of its telling "I am a ventriloquist for love," declares the narrator of The Charnel Imp, as he dares the reader to locate his voice in all the familiar places of human affection. Yet the narrative of Alan Singer's innovative novel is a vast remapping of that terrain. A desiccated prairie town, whose landmarks are a slaughterhouse of...