by Michael Collins (Author)
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.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: W&N
Published: 13 Apr 2006
ISBN 10: 0297850830
ISBN 13: 9780297850830
Book Overview: 'The Wonder Boys' meets John Irving: dark, funny, thought-provoking and grand in scope, this is Michael Collins at his very best. Michael Collins will be in the UK for publication, and available for publicity. 'Collins has been described as the thinking man's John Grisham , but that is less than just. He has a strength and emotional charge that remind you of Patricia Highsmith at her finest.' Daily Mail 'On occasion, his writing blends the commonplace and the uncanny in a manner reminiscent of the films of David Lynch.' The Sunday Times