The Execution: A Novel - Hardcover

Wilcken, Hugo

3.35

80 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060188235 ISBN 13: 9780060188238

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

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Matthew Bourne's self-centered existence, which revolves around his mistress, his wife, and his high-flying career, is shattered when his colleague's wife dies tragically and he is called to identify the body--a compassionate gesture that plunges him into a world of murder, terror, and betrayal.

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Review:

A remarkable debut... -- Dorset Echo

A remarkable debut...--Dorset Echo

Taut, menacing, full of sinister beguilements. And unsettlingly shrewd.--Will Eaves, author of The Oversight

"Hugo Wilckens light, energetic prose keeps pages turning in an impressive and sure-footed debut."--Daily Mail (London)

"An exciting, nervy thriller that fulfills the demands of the genre while resonating on deeper frequencies."--New York Times Book Review

"Nuanced, compelling, and fresh...exceptionally well-done debut."--Kirkus Review

An exciting, nervy thriller that fulfills the demands of the genre while resonating on deeper frequencies. --New York Times Book Review"

Nuanced, compelling, and fresh...exceptionally well-done debut. --Kirkus Review"

Hugo Wilckens light, energetic prose keeps pages turning in an impressive and sure-footed debut. --Daily Mail (London)"

From the Back Cover:

'She was lying on the trolley, two white sheets draped over her. The morgue assistant wheeled the body over to us, then removed the sheets from her face. I stared. A long, faint scratch mark crossed her high forehead diagonally from left to right, like a line drawn across a page to strike it out.'

Matthew Bourne is very much the centre of his own universe. He has a long-term partner, a mistress and a high flying career in a human rights agency, where he is campaigning to secure the release of a condemned African dissident. Then one day a colleague's wife dies in tragic circumstances, and Matthew is called to identify the body. Only much later does he realise that this incident has seeped into his life like a slow poison, and he spirals into a nightmare of death and betrayal...

'The Execution' is a riveting narrative of mystery and menace, of emotional disengagement and passionate action. It is written in a preternaturally smooth prose, occasionally disrupted by the most startling and disturbing sentence. Perhaps the most significant existential novel of the twenty-first century, this is a remarkable debut from a gifted young writer.

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