The Auctioneer is often compared favorably and aptly, it turns out, to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery". Jackson's short story "The Summer People" might be a distant relative as well.

Like Jackson, Samson writes precisely and confidently, every page containing a perfect word, phrase or sentence to admire. The pacing is almost impeccable as well. Rarely are screws turned so well.

While considered a horror novel, it's horror in the vein of "The Lottery". Nothing supernatural, nothing more evil than people themselves and their ability to exploit and be exploited, their capacities for greed and cruelty.

The story centers on a small family who live on a farm and represent three generations, the past, present and potential future of the family, the land and the community.

When asked to donate something to an auction to raise money hire deputies for the police force, they're skeptical that this cause is a necessary one, but they don't mind getting rid of some clutter. They even get a small amount paid back to them after the auction.

These requests for donations become a weekly ritual and it becomes clear that they're no longer requests and never were. People who refuse to donate invariably have some very serious accidents. The police force keeps growing and the new deputies are generally the most thuggish and dangerous men in town.

And so we observe our frogs in the pot of water being slowly brought to boil, not to mention the creep of some kind of totalitarianism, but an almost completely implicit one. No demands or threats are made overtly. But people know.

The story's political dimension extends to current events, referencing the Vietnam War and anticipating the emotion and rhetoric that would come to fuel the Reagan Revolution, as well as blatant and direct appeals to notions of white supremacy.

Nothing is overdone and numerous subtle touches are woven through the book. This is a Yankee town and Dunsmore has a dog named Dixie, for instance. Dixie like every other person or dog in this book, is a distinct character, well drawn and real.

The color of red is used to indicate the danger of the auctioneer, who first appears wearing a red plaid shirt, and there is a motif of fire, an obvious signifier of hell, that both begins and ends the book. Fire's nature as an element of damnation or purification comes into play.

Dunsmore is also described as having skin so burned that it's as brown as his hair, another telling detail. This is as close as we come to hearing that the auctioneer is literally infernal.

The first line is "The fire rose in a perfect cone as if suspended by the wisp of smoke that ascended in a straight line to the high spring sky". The second line is worth including also, for its intimations of destruction and danger and pain: "Mim and John dragged whole dry saplings from the brush pile by the stone wall and heaved them into the flames, stepping back quickly as the dead leaves caught with a hiss".