All Things Cease to Appear Summary
Elizabeth Brundage

All Things Cease to Appear Overview

All Things Cease to Appear, a murder mystery novel by Elizabeth Brundage, centers on the murder of wife and mother, Catherine Clare. The novel opens with the day of her murder, with subsequent chapters revealing the years of events that led up to it. Before Catherine's death, she and her husband George and daughter Franny moved into an eerie farmhouse in Chosen, NY that once belonged to a local family, the Hale's. Cal and Ella Hale, parents to three boys who still live in Chosen, also died in the bedroom where Catherine is murdered, and there is evidence of paranormal occurrences throughout the novel. Over time, George is revealed to be an extreme nihilist and possibly sociopathic. Catherine's murder becomes less and less mysterious the more violent George becomes. The novel explores the truth as fundamentally subjective, complicating the circumstances of Catherine's murder by raising issues such as the effects of trauma and appearances versus reality.