Rex Stout’s How Like a God (orig. published in 1929; republished in 1963 by Pyramid; and now republished in June 2024 by Hard Case Crime) is a psychological study of William Barton Sydney through childhood and throughout his life. William’s tale is told in the second person oddly enough and you eventually get the idea that he is talking to himself and working things out throughout the narrative. Told from William’s point of view, as a reader you always wonder how much of his narrative you can trust and how much of it is told in a way that shields William from responsibility for his actions. Indeed, William makes no bones about the fact that he sees himself as a weed floating in the wind and a weakling in spirit carried through life but stronger figures such as his sister Jane, who returns home like Napoleon conquering Europe.
Much of William’s life is in the shadow of these stronger figures starting with Jane, who becomes the family matriarch, and going to his Sunday School teacher who he has a torrid affair with to the shock of the entire town. From there, he leaps into the shadow of Dick and his sister Erma, wealthy business owners who have fleets of servants and fleets of cars. William is much under Dick’s wing his entire life becoming the second in command at the business. William is also much under Erma’s wing his entire life from her decision that they would be married to the odd cuckoldery of their twisted marriage. Throughout it all, William, by his narrative, takes little responsibility for anything.
Still odder is William’s connection to Millicent, who begins as his laundress’ ten-year-old who fetches his clothes and who he gives candy to and develops a rather inappropriate connection to. She remains a twisted fantasy throughout his life of purity and innocence. It is never made explicit whether he touches her inappropriately, but it is hinted at. The cover of the 1963 edition of the book tells the reader that it is a story of a man’s strange marriage, abnormal obsessions, and twisted desires so there is no pretending that William is normal. He is not.
Alternating with these second-person narrated chapters are brief paragraphs telling a story of a man (Mr. Lewis) climbing stairs with a gun in his pocket, carefully, guiltily, and with bad intent. It is not until the very end that the stories are ultimately connected. Everything about how the story is laid out is rather experimental, particularly for the time it was written in – 1929. While it is a crime fiction story, much of the book is invested in detailing William’s thinking and obsessions and his manner of approaching things.
This reviewer received an advance reader’s copy from the publisher.
Pulp, Crime, & Mystery Books 