New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Fourth Estate 2005 April-June

File Updated: 16/12/2006

New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Fourth Estate APRIL-JUNE 2005

Craig Clevenger The Contortionist's Handbook Pbk published April 2005 by Fourth Estate at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0007194161

A stunningly intense debut novel about a talented young forger who continually reinvents himself to escape the authorities. 'I swear to God this is the best book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years.' Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself, or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that 'Daniel Fletcher' is actually John - Johnny - Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before - many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past - a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life. Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s LA with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.

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Nick Laird Utterly Monkey Published May 2005 by Fourth Estate at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0007197489

Jane Shilling, The Times 'the real thing; a novel rich in both achievement and promise, by a writer who can actually write.'
Frank McCourt 'Nick Laird's writing is deft, good-humoured and absorbing.'
Times Magazine 'sharply observed and funny'
Sunday Times 'an extraordinarily accomplished novel, by a confident and eloquent voice, filled with humour and insights.'
James Walton, Daily Telegraph 'Funny, good-humoured and deftly written.'
Daily Mail 'A fine, amusing writer'
The Sunday Business Post 'Laird has dipped into his own personal reservoir and come up with a winning read.'
Marie Claire 'Laird paces the story well...a debut with humour and a heart.'
Eve 'A sharp and funny debut.'

A major fiction debut from Fourth Estate. Utterly Monkey is a funny, energetic, wonderfully uplifting novel about where we're from and where we'd like to get to! You leave home. And then home follows. Danny Williams is a young lawyer. He didn't mean to be a lawyer, but somehow he is - and for up to eighteen hours a day. He's well-paid, home-owning and 27, but also over-worked, lonely and frequently stoned. Was this the plan? The plan was to leave the troubles of a small town in Northern Ireland for the big city in England, but it turns out Londoners have troubles of their own. His colleague Albert spends too much time deciding which ergonomic mouse to use; his boss appears not to be human; and though the trainee on the ninth floor is beautiful, Danny works on the tenth. Then one evening an old school friend pitches up into his shiny new life. On the run from a Loyalist militia, Geordie brings everything that Danny'd thought he'd left behind and dumps it on his doorstep. Taking place over an intense five-day period - set in London and the fictional town of Ballyglass - the novel looks at who and what we really owe loyalty to: our lovers, our friends, our country, ourselves? And what happens to your soul in an office? And why do jellybeans cost so much in posh hotels? Utterly Monkey is a wonderfully touching, hilarious and ultimately redemptive novel about aspirations, belonging, the epiphanies of daily life and, best of all, getting the girl.

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