Ordinary Horror

International Horror Guild Award winner 2001.

Frank Delabano is a retired science teacher living an unremarkable life in an unremarkable suburb. But in a sunny corner of his backyard lies his secret treasure: a magnificent rose garden. When his beloved blooms are threatened by a mysterious burrowing pest, he sends away for an organic remedy: an exotic tropical plant guaranteed to be "antithetical to garden varmints but harmless to pets and everything else."

The strange "gopherbane" plants take care of the problem... and much more. Building to an unforgettable climax, Ordinary Horror tells an unsettling, richly atmospheric tale of creepily evolving menace.

"An elegantly literary debut... Like a Stephen King novel written by Joseph Conrad." (Laura Miller, Salon.com)

"Searcy's prose is a razor-like tool for dissecting the surreal mundanity of suburbia." (Los Angeles Times)

"In controlled and lyrical prose, Searcy imbues the ordinary with the horrific... His skill is to keep us guessing." (The New Yorker)