The Havana Room - Hardcover

Harrison, Colin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374299862 ISBN 13: 9780374299866

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2003

Synopsis

Suddenly losing everything, down-and-out attorney Bill Wyeth agrees to help Jay Rainey, the friend of Manhattan steakhouse manager Allison Sparks, in concluding a last-minute real-estate transaction, only to find himself entangled in Rainey's odd obsessions and the dangerous goings-on in the Havana Room, the steakhouse's private bar. 75,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

In the prime of his successful, happy existence attorney Bill Wyeth suffers a ghastly tragedy that he might have prevented. It robs him of everything and everyone he values--his family, home, wealth and career. His subsequent slide into oblivion is arrested by Allison Sparks, a restaurateur who involves him in a complicated real estate transaction on behalf of her lover, the owner of a valuable parcel of land on Long Island. The circumstances of the last-minute deal are unusual enough to set off warning bells in Wyeth's mind, but he agrees to help Jay Rainey pull it off in exchange for access to the Havana Room, a private club in the basement of Allison's restaurant, whose mysterious members and their activities have long intrigued him.

Handling a complicated plot with consummate ease, maintaining a high level of dramatic tension during a brilliantly paced narrative and creating a complex cast of unusual minor characters as well as a wholly believable, sympathetic protagonist, Colin Harrison has written a riveting novel that grabs the reader from the beginning and doesn't let go. The Havana Room is a terrific, original, engrossing read by a masterful writer. --Jane Adams, Amazon.com

Review:

‘A great read, an elegantly crafted thriller you won’t want to put down’ -- Washington Post

‘Harrison is a master of mood and atmosphere, and he gives us a noirish New York that’s at once recognisable’ -- New York Times

‘It just gets better as it goes along ... Highly recommended’ -- Independent on Sunday

‘The class act of the urban thriller ... Come on, are you in the bookstore yet?’ -- Entertainment Weekly

‘The clever mix of danger and emotion never lets the reader off the hook ... Compelling and suspenseful’ -- Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0374299862
• ISBN 13: 9780374299866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400