Mr. Clarinet (Max Mingus Thriller) - Softcover

Stone, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060897333 ISBN 13: 9780060897338

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2008

Synopsis

There was nothing waiting for ex-cop Max Mingus when he walked out of Attica Prison after serving hard time for murder--his adored wife died in a car crash while he was locked up. Now Miami's one-time top detective is haunted by an empty house, bad memories . . . and an impossible job offer for obscenely good money. Three years ago, Charlie Carver, the five-year-old son of a powerful Haitian billionaire, vanished. His father is offering Max $15 million to bring the boy back--or, at the very least, to find his body and deliver his abductors.

Max knows he should turn this case down. There's no way the kid is still alive, and pursuing his ghost means plunging headfirst into Haiti, a steaming island hotbed of crime, greed, voodoo, and corruption. And the three detectives who preceded Mingus are all dead . . . or worse. But Max has nothing left to lose--even if his investigation stirs up a murky evil that can swallow a man whole . . . and leads him to the soul-destroying truth about a terrifying local myth, a child-stealing nightmare called "Mr. Clarinet."

About this title

Review:

Gritty and unremittingly dark, replete with supervillains, Mr. Clarinet pays homage to pulp fiction and film noir.--The Guardian

This is a hotshot debut novel. If you trust my judgment, buy it.--The Independent on Sunday

Painstakingly researched, effectively written and well conceived, it deserves all of its pre-release hype.--Big Issue in the North

If there's one thing you must do in 2006, curl up and read Mr Clarinet by Nick Stone.--Daily Express

This is crime fiction at its zenith, challenging, compelling and with an insight that delves deep under the skin.--Crimespree

If there s one thing you must do in 2006, curl up and read Mr Clarinet by Nick Stone.--Daily Express"

From the Publisher:

MR CLARINET by Nick Stone is one of the most exciting – and perhaps the most original – debut novel I have ever worked on (and I have been a commissioning editor for eleven years now). It’s a dark, chilling thriller set partly in Miami and partly in the voodoo-dominated island of Haiti, where over the decades a number of children have gone missing. A myth has grown up on the island about a pied-piper like figure called ‘Mr Clarinet’ who spirits the children away. When our hero, private eye Max Mingus, is hired to find the missing son of a billionaire he is forced to travel to Haiti and discover the reality behind the myth. And it is very scary...

It was Nick’s writing style that first sold the novel to me. His prose is so rich and vivid and required hardly any editing (so rare for a debut!). We did, however, work a little on the plot, and I remember one day when I was reading a new draft the hairs on the back of my neck starting to rise. The plot and the prose and the characters had all come together to such effect that I knew I had something special here.

MR CLARINET adopts the conventions of the crime thriller but takes them into a new and exciting direction. If you love John Connolly’s novels you’ll love this, if you loved the film ANGEL HEART you’ll love this. But basically, if you love dark thrillers that give you the chills they don’t come much better than this.

As evidence of the growing anticipation for Nick's debut, Michael Joseph/Penguin have recently had to take action to remove early book proofs of MR CLARINET that were being illegally sold on Ebay. So don't miss out on this amazing novel - just please wait until it is officially published in January 2006!

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060897333
• ISBN 13: 9780060897338
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464