The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

Authoritarianism ruins everything

The Auctioneer is a deeply unsettling novel.

In many ways it doesn’t seem like a horror novel per se, but it is difficult to see which other genre might possibly claim it so thoroughly. It is, in many ways, a thriller; but the menace within it creeps as slow as molasses.

The evil of The Auctioneer occurs in broad daylight, and only too late do its victims realize that they have suffered it.

The book centers on the Moore family: John, his wife Mim, their daughter Hildie, and John’s mother Ma. They live on a farm on the outskirts of Harlowe, a bucolic small town with traditional values. The sort of place that attracts city folks on weekends, or in fall when the leaves change color.

One day, the local sheriff approaches them asking for donations for a police benefit auction.

See, there’s a newcomer in town: a well-to-do, well-traveled man named Perly Dunsmore. Perly happens to have the gift of the gab, not to mention quite the auctioneering skills. He suggested the auction to the sheriff, figuring it’d be something he could do to give back to his newly adopted community. John thinks nothing of the request other than it’d be a way to get rid of some junk that had already been cluttering up the place too long.

But then the sheriff and Perly come back the next week, and then the week after that, and the week after that... The police department swells with newly-deputized officers — many of them secretly initiated. Before they realize what’s happening, the Moores find themselves coerced, guilted, and bullied into “donating” something each week. Before long, they’ve given up almost all their worldly goods. And so has most of the rest of the town.

Perly promises the townsfolk the world, when in reality he’s nothing but a conniving, gaslighting, self-centered bully. It is scary how quickly the town falls fully under Perly’s rule.

But by then, of course, it’s far too late.

Terrible accidents befall those who refuse the demand for weekly donations to his auctions. There are rumors of children being ripped from the arms of their parents and sold off like slaves. Families who have lived in Harlow for generations find their land being sold off from under their feet as Perly designs a luxurious tourist destination that will profit only himself.

John tries to get help from authorities outside of town, but his claims are so outrageous that it's useless. And though he’s sure others in town must also feel the urge to rebel, Perly’s network of secret police mean it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Reading The Auctioneer is like watching a slow-motion car crash. You are but a witness to the awful tragedy unfolding in front of you. What happens is horrific — but at the same time, you can’t bear to look away. It is a unique, bleak, and disconcertingly plausible horror story that will crawl under your skin and take root in the darkest recesses of your mind.