Glister - Softcover

Burnside, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099507846 ISBN 13: 9780099507840

Publisher: Vintage, 2009

Synopsis

The children of Innertown exist in a state of suspended terror. Every year or so, a boy from their school disappears, vanishing into the wasteland of the old chemical plant. Nobody knows where these boys go, or whether they are alive or dead, and without evidence the authorities claim they are simply runaways. The town policeman, Morrison knows otherwise. He was involved in the cover-up of one boy's murder, and he believes all the boys have been killed. Though he is seriously compromised, he would still like to find out the killer's identity. The local children also want to know and, in their fear and frustration, they turn on Rivers, a sad fantasist and suspected paedophile living alone at the edge of the wasteland.Trapped and frightened, one of the boys, Leonard, tries to escape, taking refuge in the poisoned ruins of the old plant; there he finds another boy, who might be the missing Liam and might be a figment of his imagination. With his help, Leonard comes to understand the policeman's involvement, and exacts the necessary revenge - before following Liam into the Glister: possibly a disused chemical weapons facility, possibly a passage to the outer world.A terrifying exploration of loss and the violence that pools under the surface of the everyday, "Glister" is an exquisitely written, darkly imagined novel by one of our greatest contemporary writers.

About this title

Review:

'this dreamy melange of gritty urbanism with poetic crime puzzler, will appeal to the right reader very highly'

Book Description:

`Burnside's story...has the power that comes from leaving...space in which the reader's imagination can go to work'

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099507846
• ISBN 13: 9780099507840
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272