Is déjà vu just an eerie happenstance or is it a reminder of a recessed past? For Austin Fletcher, an honorably discharged Vietnam veteran, the line between that truth and purported illusion is so blurred that differentiating between the two can be an exercise in futility. Freshly landed in the U.S., Austin treks to the northern backcountry of Belden, Maine to honor his word and claim the house that his fallen brother Maynard Whittier willed to him. Austin is a young man dedicated to the wishes of his fellow comrades.

He arrives to find the quaint house fully stocked but buried in the frozen wilderness, far from the constraints of civilization. Maynard’s home invites a haunting past, giving credence to the notion that a home absorbs its occupants whether they’re willing participants or not. His cozy days give way to colder nights. And the longer he stays, the more Austin finds himself manic and isolated, manifesting the same demons he thought he left behind in Vietnam. But with a house as alive as Maynard’s, Austin will soon find out that the demons he encounters are just as real as those of his own making.

Maynard’s House is a psychological study that confronts the struggles of post-traumatic stress disorder. It is a novel that poses questions about how veterans settle back into a society that offers little to no helping hand. It is a novel with an idyllic, pastoral setting that belies its demonic presence, where the foundation of tranquility is undermined.