The King of Swords - Hardcover

Stone, Nick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060897317 ISBN 13: 9780060897314

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008

Synopsis

Investigating a bizarre case in which the victim was found to have ingested a tarot card, detective Max Mingus and his partner, Joe, follow an increasingly violent trail to a sinister fortune teller and her scheming pimp son. By the author of Mr. Clarinet. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Such was the acclaim that greeted Nick Stone’s amazing debut novel, Mr Clarinet, that a curious syndrome soon developed: if you hadn’t read the novel (and claimed to have any interest in the crime genre), you had to say (to all who would listen) ’I really must read Mr Clarinet -- I’ve heard so much about it!’ (preferably said with a pronounced guilty note in the voice). Such people, of course, should do themselves a favour and actually read the book – the sprawling, ambitious Haiti-set phantasmagoria broke new ground in several provocative ways for the crime field. It also introduced troubled detective Max Mingus – a vividly drawn protagonist -- and now here’s King of Swords, not so much a sequel to the debut novel, as a prequel with Max Mingus in his first terrifying encounter with his sinister nemesis Solomon Boukman.

So... the biq question: has Nick Stone matched that jaw-dropping debut?

Initially, this seems a very different kind of book – the setting is the more familiar Miami rather than a surrealistically realised Haiti. But -- relax – this is just as strong and disturbing a book as Mr Clarinet. In fact, those seeking a comfortable read should steer well clear – but if you’re looking for rough-edged crime fiction that will seriously unsettle you (and many of us seek exactly that), then King of Swords does the business -- look no further. And now -- how long do we have to wait for the third Nick Stone novel? --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Praise for Mr Clarinet:

'Terrifying, exhilarating . . . A breathlessly compelling tale of black magic and mystery' Daily Express

'A masterwork, a tour de force . . . crime fiction at its engrossing zenith' Shots

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060897317
• ISBN 13: 9780060897314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 560