troubled writer, a tragedy in his past, moves back to the States with his wife to inhabit a haunted house on a lake in the middle of an especially chill winter.this low-key novel is an improvement over the last Malfi i've read ([b:Snow|6969112|Snow|Ronald Malfi|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348019267s/6969112.jpg|7208243]), which suffered from a certain anononymity. he gets the eerie atmosphere right and he has a sure hand when it comes to all of the minor note moments of the actual haunting, and the subsequent investigation into the death of a child the prior summer. he also does well with the various bits of characterization as the protagonist wrestles with his tragic past and his current relationship with his brother - a caring but rather pushy alpha-male sort. i liked what felt to be an autobiographical, meta(ish) level to the novel - the old conceit of a book about a writer with writer's block didn't feel particularly tired. i liked the melancholy and i liked the odd detail here & there and i liked how Malfi makes his protagonist's history as relevant as the present. and i loved the central image of an old staircase frozen in a lake. a floating staircase to... where?
but unfortunately Floating Staircase is not particularly memorable. although certainly more resonant and interesting than Snow, it still suffers from a distinct lack of SNAP CRACKLE POP. or if not that, then at least some elegance in the writing, in the classic ghost story mode. the lack of excitement, stylish writing, or even the faintest whiff of perversity combined with Malfi's clear professionalism as a writer made the experience pleasant and easy going down (even occasionally gripping) - as well as bland and, finally, rather uninteresting.
no big complaints i suppose, but no big kudos either. i "liked" it.
