‘This place is bananas’: ‘Midnight at Soap Lake’ author recalls move to small town ahead of release of mystery book

Matthew Sullivan knew there was a story in Soap Lake before he and his wife even moved there. They had been living in Boston, but Sullivan, author of “Midnight in Soap Lake,” had spent a lot of time in the Inland Northwest, including attending University of Idaho to get a master of fine arts in creative writing. Sullivan and his wife had a child, so living in Boston became more difficult. Sullivan took a job with Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake.

“We were looking for places to rent, and there wasn’t anything on the market. And so we bought a house in Soap Lake for $79,000,” Sullivan said. “I was in town for, like, 20 minutes. Literally, I kind of went to the town, looked at the house. Was like, sweet, good enough.

“I say that all because before we got there, we were looking online, and we kept finding images of the world’s largest lava lamp that a guy who ended up being a friend of ours was trying to build in town, and just learning about the history of the lake. So even before we got to town, I was like, ‘This place is bananas.’”

Sullivan will be in conversation with author Sharma Shields about his new book at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Chronicle Pavilion. The event is sold out, but there is a waitlist.

“Midnight at Soap Lake” is parts horror and mystery, but with all of the rich character development expected of literary fiction. The novel braids together the stories of two women: Abigail, who has just arrived in town, and Esme, who escaped Soap Lake in her youth, only to return and meet her end. Sullivan said unlike a classic whodunit set up, he was purposeful of keeping the reader close to the victim throughout.

“You don’t just have the solution that the detective is a badass, but instead have the kind of satisfaction of solving the crime, but also the emotional arc of the victim, or Esme, so that those two things are not separate,” Sullivan said. “They’re one entity, right? They’re one kind of moment.”

Esme as a character is a victim of circumstances and the person Soap Lake expected her to be. The book deals with class and themes of escape that have both existential and real world consequences. The town has almost magical qualities, both healing and nefarious: the mysterious properties of the lake and urban legend of TreeTop, the boogeyman of the book.

“One reviewer, when they were talking about this book, said it was as if the characters exist under a dome,” Sullivan said. “And I just love, love, love that idea that there’s this kind of pull that certain towns have, and you’re either on the inside or you’re on the outside, and if you are on the inside, all as well. But if you’re not for any number of reasons, and you’re trying to get out, it’s like this black hole that just sucks you back in.”

Part of that forcefield is sometimes charming, occasionally off-putting, and potentially alarming characters who inhabit Soap Lake.

“I’ve been drawn to communities that in some ways are on the fringes, or communities that in some ways have been forgotten or have fallen through the cracks,” Sullivan said.

He grew up in these communities and connected to folks like these characters in his jobs over the years, working in bookstores and then community colleges.

“Like in the book, there’s a character who says community colleges are where the action is at,” Sullivan said. “And I always, 100% believed in the mission of community colleges, which gives access to everyone, including people who may otherwise be falling through the cracks. And I’ve always been very committed to that, and kind of high minded about that, and I don’t think that it’s any accident that when I look at my fiction, I’m writing about these communities of people who are maybe falling through the cracks.”

The horror comes through partially because of his Catholic upbringing.

“As I was growing up, the devil was again, irrational, all powerful,” Sullivan said. “Something to be feared, and also, very much alive and around us. This was not like some storybook devil. This was like, ‘the devil is next to you, the devil lives around you, under your bed, the devil is out your window.’”

Sullivan will also be reading in Soap Lake in May, something he’s looking forward to because of his deep respect for the town.

“I mean, it’s a real town, it’s a real lake in central Washington, and it’s just this fascinating natural resource,” Sullivan said. “It’s very rare. The town has seen better days.

“The town is a little bit downtrodden, and to me, it’s interesting, because this is both a dark crime novel and also a kind of a love letter, in my mind, to that place and to that community, and to the people who are trying to make it happen, trying to keep it afloat, and keep businesses open and steer people toward the lake.”