Novel about a man who voluntarily has himself locked in another man's basement

Question

I read a book about 15 years ago and I don't remember hardly any of the details at all. What I do remember of the plot is that a white man pays a black man a hefty sum of money in order to keep him caged in his basement for a specified amount of time (a month? a year?). Possibly motivated by some combination of white guilt or a personal fetish.

I think the cover may have been a picture of some aspect of a house in black and white.

I wish I had more details. I haven't had any leads Googling this stuff either.

Answer 1

This sounds like The Man in My Basement (2004) by Walter Mosley. From a review on goodreads.com:

The story begins with a strange request: a wealthy white man named Bennet asks to rent out the basement of the home of Charles Blakey, who is black. Bennet builds a cage in the basement, and eventually locks himself inside it. Blakey is confused by the man’s actions, and after some philosophical discussions, learns that Bennet is trying to atone for something.

_{Diane’s Reviews (2007). Review of The Man in My Basement. goodreads.com.}

I found this by searching for “site:goodreads.com cage basement”.