The Execution - Softcover

Wilcken, Hugo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060934085 ISBN 13: 9780060934088

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2003

Synopsis

Matthew Bourne -- very much the center of his own universe -- has a long-term partner, a mistress, and a successful career with 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 realize that this incident has seeped into his life like a slow poison, and he spirals into a nightmare of death and betrayal.

About this title

Review:

A remarkable debut...--Dorset Echo

"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

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

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

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060934085
• ISBN 13: 9780060934088
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224