Mr Clarinet - Softcover

Stone, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014102108X ISBN 13: 9780141021089

Publisher: Penguin, 2006

Synopsis

Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year

PIED PIPER. SOUL STEALER. SERIAL KILLER. WHO IS MR CLARINET? It was a job Miami private investigator Max Mingus found hard to refuse: $10 million to locate billionaire’s son Charlie Carver – missing now for over three years. Young Charlie disappeared on the island of Haiti, where over the decades scores of children have vanished. In a country dominated by voodoo, rumours abound of black magic and a mythical figure called ‘Mr Clarinet’, who for years has been tempting children away from their families. But could the truth be even more shocking than the legend? To find out, Max will have to succeed where previous detectives have not only failed – but where some have died. And suddenly, this job isn’t all about finding Charlie or his killers for the money – it’s just about staying alive ...

About this title

Review:

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

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: Penguin
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 014102108X
• ISBN 13: 9780141021089
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576