‘The Fogging is disquieting, compelling, and scrupulously observed, exploring themes of mental illness, interconnectedness, and selfhood. Horton observes his characters with a clear and compassionate eye, rendering his protagonist’s utter humanity and chronic isolation with stark tenderness and an honesty that moves.’
Laura McPhee-Browne, author of Cherry Beach
‘I loved The Fogging. It’s such a finely controlled novel, so filled with creeping dread and yet so humane in its attention to psychological detail — those subtle doubts and delusions upon which relationships are built — that I could not look away. It raises the quiet inadequacies of ordinary life to the level of grand tragedy.’
Miles Allinson, author of Fever of Animals
‘Unsettling and dreamlike … humorous and yet lingeringly sad. We find ourselves so deeply buried alongside Tom in his introspection, his comic yet touching attempts at self- knowledge, that when the revelation of his misinterpretation of his own relationship arrives, the shock is a kick to the gut.’
Peggy Frew, author of Hope Farm and Islands
‘In this quiet, acute, and often painful book, the peculiarities of 21st-century love and adulthood are evoked stealthily, but all the more forcefully, thanks to Horton’s forensic and poetic approach to the subject.’
Shaun Prescott, author of The Town
‘Luke Horton’s writing is sustained, accomplished, and full of insight. The Fogging is haunting in its familiarity, his characters pervasive in their unwillingness to truly connect, with one another and with themselves.’
Anna Krien, author of Night Games and Act of Grace
‘Much of the pleasure of reading the novel comes from how Horton manages to distil complex social machinations into a few well-crafted sentences, summoning whole lives in brief set pieces from the couple’s various destination adventures … This is a gripping, subtle psychological tragedy for readers who enjoy unconventional travel literature with a focus on male personal identity, such as Miles Allinson’s Fever of Animals or Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station.’
David Little, Books+Publishing
‘The Fogging is an intensely introspective debut.’
Bec Kavanagh, The Age
‘Horton’s observational prose is crisp and evocative, evoking both compassion for and frustration with its blinkered narrator. This is a devastating exploration of a relationship that seems solid until close inspection reveals a plethora of hairline cracks, spawned by unquestioning inattention and a persistent assumption that everything will somehow work out.’
Jo Case, InDaily
‘Luke Horton … is a musician with serious fiction-writing chops.’
Louise Swinn, The Saturday Paper
‘A book about a relationship which features a male protagonist who is essentially a flawed individual with anxiety issues seems timely and welcome.’
Phil Brown, The Courier Mail
‘The Fogging, a remarkably assured début, is bold and striking in its approach and voice. Horton has great control over his characters and their perspectives; he unfurls the narrative slowly and with considerable subtlety … The book is a portrait of indecision and inarticulateness, and the havoc they can wreak, however quietly and unintentionally, upon a life.’
Fiona Wright, Australian Book Review
‘The portrayal of tension is spot on in this book, of particular note is Horton’s rendering of the insidious impacts of anxiety. Where anxiety doesn’t draw attention to itself, where a panic attack can be hidden, it can still be quietly destructive. The sense of dread is sustained through the novel, everything Tom fears may well come to fruition in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Minor sins – avoidance, silence, overthinking, unkind thinking – start to pile up into calamity. Horton traces this quiet destruction with great insight, and empathy.’ 4.5 STARS
Erin Stewart, ArtsHub
‘Utterly addictive.’
Julie Rieden, Australian Women’s Weekly
‘The Fogging is a masterfully subtle character study that recalls the slow-burn psychological payoffs of Patricia Highsmith novels … Especially poignant in the gladiatorial grappling for position that hides within everyday conversation, which Horton examines with forensic precision.’ FOUR STARS
Doug Wallen, The Big Issue
‘A deeply enthralling, deft gem of a book.’
Fiona Wright, The Guardian
