The next day, Ritter is called to another crime scene. This time, a minor city employee has emasculated himself and bled to death outside a seedy bar. Relying on his instincts, Ritter begins pouring through various records and discovers a connection between Genevieve and both the businessman and the city official. He intends to use a hard-boiled detective approach to have her reveal the full nature of those connections and why he was sent to her house to begin with. Yet with each meeting with her, not only does his detective sheen evaporate, he becomes more and more enraptured with her. Each encounter delves deeper into Ritter's past and his psyche and they become another step on a supernatural, erotic journey that is truly life-altering.
The noir feel and police detective setting serve as the stage upon which the heart of the story — a salacious fantasia — unfolds. Some might find the two a bit too divergent and the supernatural fantasy a bit too unbelievable. Other readers may be put off by the graphic and often deviant nature of some of the carnal scenes. My personal gripe is that Saknussemm seems to have a few too many characters appearing and reappearing for the reader to keep track of. For example, at one point about 100 pages in, more than half a dozen new characters appear in the space of about five pages. Two show up again later as Genevieve begins to reveal more to Ritter but most seem tangential at best.
Despite that, calling Private Midnight a fantastical and at times bizarre novel is a little like calling a Mike Hammer or Philip Marlowe tale a mystery. It doesn't effectively convey what you're in for. There's one thing I know about the universes Kris Saknussemm creates (or inhabits): they leave an impression.
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