Maureen Corrigan’s deconstruction of the novel in the context of noir, or “hard-boiled” detective fiction, offers a refreshing perspective.
A Woman Alone raises questions about citizenship in its deepest sense, exposing its limitations.
It’s horrific, but not in the way Straub intended. His hero’s descent into axe-wielding madness is both too abrupt and too derivative; Stephen King did it first and better in The Shining.