Megan Staffel splits her time between Brooklyn, New York and a farm in western New York State. Her new novel, The Causative Factor, is her sixth book of fiction. Her previous work includes two collections of short fiction, The Exit Coach and Lessons in Another Language, and the novels, The Notebook of Lost Things and She Wanted Something Else.
At Electric Lit Staffel tagged eight ominous short stories and novels that will leave you on the edge of your seat. One title on the list:
The Family Chao by Lan Samantha ChangRead about the other entries on the list.
Most of the action in this novel takes place in a large and successful Chinese restaurant in a small midwestern city where Leo Chao,owner and employer, maintains a tense environment, verbally abusing family and staff. The ominous is evoked not only by this tyrannical father and employer but also, and more dramatically, by an outdated freezer room in the basement of the restaurant. Bribes have allowed it to pass inspection, and the reader learns in the beginning of the novel that its major defect is a door that tends to lock the unsuspecting inside. That is why a key is always kept on an interior shelf. When tensions escalate and emotions run high, the reader suspects the freezer will become a weapon.
--Marshal Zeringue