This time it's the Christmas pick of Donna Moore, author of Go to Helena Handbasket:
"Ooooh, it’s so tough to choose only one. I have read some great books this year – Warren Ellis’s CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, Ray Banks’s DONKEY PUNCH, Steven Torres’s CONCRETE MAZE, Declan Burke's THE BIG O (see how I cleverly managed to get around the rules there?!), but I think I’ll focus on Kevin Wignall’s WHO IS CONRAD HIRST?
In the first couple of pages of the book the reader learns that Conrad Hirst is a hitman who has decided to kill his way out of the business, by doing what he does best, and disposing of the few people who know about him. Running in parallel is another thread telling how and why he became a hitman in the first place. To say any more would be to spoil what is a gradual peeling away of the layers that slowly reveal who Conrad Hirst really is, and the truth of his world. A wonderful book - a look at the meaning and value of life to someone who is existing, rather than living. One of those satisfyingly perfect books that all way through you are on edge wondering how it's all going to pan out, and then when you've finished it's so much more than you anticipated."
If you now need an instant fix of Kevin Wignall, you can find him here and here. For the book via Amazon, click this.
This is an enticing group of lists. I get a kick out of seeing what writers read.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 20 November 2007 at 06:50