The Show House

Dan Lopez

One of the Chicago Review of Books' Best Books of 2016.

In the sprawl of suburban Florida, one family attempts to reunite as another spins out of control: The sinister link connecting them both is hiding in the show house.

Quirky Orlando retirees Thaddeus and Cheryl, and adoptive parents Steven and Peter, come together for a family weekend in Orlando, where Cheryl anxiously hopes to repair the dysfunctional and toxic relationship between her husband and their son.

When news of a serial killer that targets gay men at nightclubs rocks their community, over-worked pharmacist Laila grows concerned for her handsome and arrogant younger half-brother, Alex, who has been missing for several months. Meanwhile, the calculating murderer’s own life begins to spiral out of control as he unwittingly falls for a would-be victim.

Overwhelmed by meeting his granddaughter Gertie for the first time, Thaddeus kidnaps her in order to take her to Disney World setting off a wild goose chase where these intertwined families finally collide.

Praise for The Show House

"The Show House is a knife's edge of a book. Lopez balances humor, terror, the political, and the personal in a fascinating read where the ground is always shifting."

—Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation

"A witch’s brew of family dysfunction, perversity, and murder."

—Publishers Weekly

"The Show House is at once a nuanced psychological thriller and a thoughtful exploration of familial love and dysfunction set in sun-stroked, hurricane-threatened Orlando. Danger lurks around every corner. This is a compelling debut by a talented new writer."

—Edan Lepucki, author of California

"The Show House, a novel by Dan Lopez, is a mystery that brings together murder, passion, family, and ideas of what it means to be gay in the face of normative pressures. Less of a typical whodunit, Lopez’s debut novel will be, for many, a refreshing exploration of why-did-they-do-it. Which, being read as a question left unanswered, is a powerful nod to the gulf that exists between action and intent in the face of tragedy... a thought provoking meditation on the anxieties and pain that lurk within contemporary gay life."

—Theodore Kerr, LAMBDA Literary