Description:

From Publishers Weekly

Ross's inspired debut explores the proximity of violence and love and begins with the death of Alice Pepin, whose lifelong struggle with depression, insecurity, and obesity comes to an abrupt end at her kitchen table when she is found dead with a peanut lodged in her throat. She has suffered suicide by anaphylactic shock—or so claims her husband, David, a quiet computer game programmer obsessed with M.C. Escher, Hitchcock, and working and re-working a draft of his unpublished novel, a violent possible masterpiece. Gradually, the two detectives on the case begin to see disturbing parallels between their own marital dramas and the Pepins' cruel rotations of brinkmanship and adoration. Ross's depiction of love is grotesque and tender at once, and his style is commanding as he combines torture and romance to create a sense of vertigo-as-romance. It's a unique book—stark and sublime, creepy and fearless—that readers into the darker end of the literary spectrum won't want to miss. (June)
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From

Despite an extensive, prepublication marketing blitz, critics were largely unimpressed with Ross's debut novel. Most cited a convoluted plot and, worst of all, inadequate research. "Adam Ross, it's clear, doesn't know the first thing about murder investigations," noted Entertainment Weekly. A few were simply put off by the three men and their excessively dark views on marriage. Despite these critiques, several reviewers believed the author shows great promise, with the New York Times likening Ross to a "sorcerer with words." Although Mr. Peanut displays too many flaws to recommend, it will be interesting to see how the author's career evolves.