The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton - Rilegato

Collins, Michael

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0297850830 ISBN 13: 9780297850830

Casa editrice: W&N, 2006

Riassunto

It's been over a decade since Robert Pendleton published his brilliant short story debut, and his hopes for a dazzling literary career now lie in tatters. Hanging on to his tenure in literature at Bannockburn college by the slimmest of threads, Pendleton's simmering despair boils over with the arrival on campus of his one-time friend, now nemesis, the bestselling author and king of the coffee-table book, Allen Horowitz.

For Pendleton, death seems to be the only remaining option, but his attempt to kill himself is wrecked by the intervention of Adi Wiltshire, a graduate student battling her own demons of failure and thwarted ambition. Whilst Pendleton recovers from his suicide attempt, Adi discovers a novel hidden in his basement: a brilliant, bitter story with a gruesome murder at its core.

The publication of Scream causes a storm of publicity, a whirlwind into which Adi and Horowitz are thrust - along with the sister of a young girl whose real-life, unsolved murder bears an uncanny resemblance to the crime in Pendleton's novel and a burnt-out cop with secrets of his own, who is determined to prove that in this case fact and fiction are one and the same.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

A brilliantly plotted, brooding narrative, with a thrilling twist at its close (DAILY MAIL)

A superbly written, cinematic novel (IRELAND ON SUNDAY)

Another of Collins's meticulously observed American thrillers . . . an irresistibly entertaining writer (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

Searingly funny . . . Collins is one of Ireland's major talents (IRISH TIMES)

This excellent novel draws on several genres - the campus novel, the rival-novelists novel, the classic crime novel - to make something unique (THE TIMES)

As the plot unfurls, we see that Collins, with some subtlety, has managed to give the impression of a quotidian satire on life in the ivory tower. But THE SECRET LIFE OF ROBERT E. PENDLETON offers more than this: an ironic critique of that time-honoured genre and its attendant anti-intellectualism, which refuses to take itself too seriously (TLS)

Part detective story, part philosophical tract with a nod to both Dona Tartt and Stephen King, this novel is compelling, thought-provoking, and just a little bit spooky (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY)

"searingly funny... Though his familiar caustic tones and honest dealings with the utterly seamy are present throughout, the lampooning of academia sometimes dominates to uproarious effect... He is one of Ireland's major talents abroad, and his continued blending of native writing talent with an acquired devotion to the entertainment value of American popular fiction is impressively single-minded.

Readers can turn the pages of E Robert Pendleton's secret life in equal anticipation of well-plotted thrillers, of the accessible seriousness Collins's fiction has always displayed, and of a good hoot at the literary world's wrangles." (JOHN KENNY IRISH TIMES)

Collins has always written about the darker forces underlying everyday situations and this novel is no exception. Each character is alone, seeking companionship, literary greatness, justice - or notoriety through terrible acts. Part detective story, part philosophical tract with a nod to both Donna Tart and Stephen King, this novel is compelling, thought provoking and just a little bit spooky. (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY)

Descrizione del libro:

A tale of murder and literary ambition set on an American university campus from a master of the dark side of human nature

Su questa edizione

• Editore: W&N
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0297850830
• ISBN 13: 9780297850830
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 384