Under the Seal

Set in a Kentucky river town here is a tale that is part murder mystery part existential allegory of wonderfully imagined characters. Mauriello has a gift for drawing us into their struggles toward epiphanies that may save or devour them. This fictional universe connects us to the aesthetic realms of Updike Cheever and OConnor. Mauriello has created a distinct milieu both American and universal in which everyday citizens find themselves edging along a psychic social and spiritual abyss which they can barely see. Under the Seal convinces us that the terrifying drop-off is within us all an inevitable construct built into our terribly human nature. George Eklund Emeritus Professor Morehead State University