This is an interestingly peculiar book. McCullers writes with a directness that can be startling. There are no airs to her approach, she’s direct. The book concerns a group of people in a quiet army camp. With not much to do and ample time for daydreaming and dalliances, these people gradually become intertwined. Eventually, a murder is committed by one of them — yet, all of them have motivations to kill.

McCullers is very good at crafting an atmosphere. Her mise-en-scène is palpable, you can feel the tension in a room or the hot sun warming bare skin. Her characters are enigmatic creatures; animals frightened by a sudden noise or wolves on the prowl. I wanted to know more about them, and in this slim book, I didn’t get their histories to the extent that I wanted. Perhaps that was intentional, adding to the mystique. However, I will need a few re-reads to crack the puzzle, to really understand the characters' motivations.

Regardless, this is an intriguing character study. Where will bored people go to find excitement? How do lonely people find solace? When do friendships become more palpable than marriages? What sustains one's love for another? McCullers dives into these questions and comes to some interesting conclusions. It’s a brief lighting bolt of book, that has left me startled.