Blood Acre combines all the plot momentum of a thriller with the gorgeous prose of a literary masterpiece. I'm not sure how the writer manages to leave me with sympathy for Nathan, his corrupt and doomed narrator, but I remain sympathetic, longing for Nathan's redemption even as I am appalled by his descent. I wonder if the reader from New York City who calls this "bad writing" has had much experience with books that go beyond cheap, boilerplate thrills. Blood Acre isn't for the faint of heart. It isn't something you read in an hour and then forget. It is a book that will haunt you for a long time after you've read it, and the language, the density, the descriptive darkness of the telling is what makes it so memorable.