The Mask Collectors
A murder investigation becomes a dance with the devil in a breakthrough novel of illusion, conspiracy, and belief.The alumni of an international boarding school have gathered at a campground in rural New Jersey when a scream breaks the silence of the woods. Classmates are shocked to find journalist Angie Osborne suddenly dead. The medical examiner’s report isn’t what anyone expects. Oddly, the death scene reminds anthropologist Duncan McCloud of a thovile, a Sri Lankan ritual he’s spent years studying.
When Duncan’s new employer, a pharmaceutical giant, sends him overseas under shadowy pretenses, and his wife, Dr. Grace McCloud, starts to receive anonymous warnings to doubt everyone and everything, the threads of a sweeping conspiracy begin to unravel. Risking more than their own lives, Duncan and Grace embark on a treacherous journey through occult ceremonies and their own hidden pasts to discover a secret worth killing for.
In taut, precise language, Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer’s debut novel The Mask Collectors tells a story about deception, the power of belief, and what is left unspoken between husbands and wives.
The Water Diviner and Other Stories
In this thought-provoking collection, Sri Lankan immigrants grapple with events that challenge perspectives and alter lives.A volunteer faces memories of wartime violence when she meets a cantankerous old lady on a Meals on Wheels route. A lonely widow obsessed with an impending apocalypse meets an oddly inspiring man. A maidservant challenges class divisions when she becomes an American professor’s wife. An angry tenant fights suspicion when her landlord is burgled. Hardened inmates challenge a young jail psychiatrist’s competence. A father wonders whether to expose his young son’s bully at a basketball game. A student facing poverty courts a benefactor. And in the depths of an isolated Wyoming winter, a woman tries to resist a con artist. These and other tales explore the immigrant experience with a piercing authenticity.
Praise
The Mask Collectors
“Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer’s The Mask Collectors is a smart, visceral debut thriller, featuring a murder among an alumni gathering of international students that plunges anthropologist Duncan McCloud and wife Grace into an investigation involving a shadowy pharmaceutical conglomerate and Sri Lankan exorcism rites. Vilhauer balances the thrills with character work and a supernatural edge to create a globe-trotting story.” —Library Journal
“Full of secrets, lies, and ceremonies, this gothic thriller is a mind-bending exploration of the power of tradition and belief, with a fraught marriage at its heart.”—CrimeReads
“In The Mask Collectors, Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer brilliantly connects traditional Sri Lankan exorcism ceremonies, a sinister pharmaceutical company, mysterious deaths, infertility struggles, and the tensions within a marriage into a sophisticated and utterly unique thriller. I have never read a book quite like this very special one—it kept my heart racing right up until its powerful and satisfying end.” —Caroline Woods, author of Fräulein M.
“Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer’s The Mask Collectors is a fascinating culture-clashing tale of superstition and human desire, of evil and corporate intrigue. A mind-blowing premise artfully transformed into a veritable feast of suspense.” —Anjanette Delgado, award-winning author of The Heartbreak Pill and The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho
The Water Diviner
“Full of richly drawn characters and empathetic inquiry, these stories capture the multiplicity of human experiences and examine collective sociocultural issues from the bottom up…. A deep humanity drives each story, with the quest for answers always undertaken by inhabiting another’s skin.” —Foreword Reviews
“Mesmerizing, tranquil, and worldly, these stories kept me transfixed. Each is a long, beautiful excursion into the difficulty and suspense of human relationships. One emerges from the book believing life to be more peaceful and more intense than before. A wonderful, masterful work of art.” —Rebecca Lee, judge, Iowa Short Fiction Award
“With a steady hand, soft heart, and sharp insights, Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer miraculously balances the precarious beam of identity and cultural displacement. The stories in The Water Diviner speak straight to the soul, its universal aches and voids, and we are better for getting to know these characters.” —Nancy Zafris, author of The Home Jar: Stories