Word Made Flesh (Quinsigamond Quintet 4) (The Quinsigamond Quintet, 4) - Softcover

Jack O'Connell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843446537 ISBN 13: 9781843446538

Publisher: No Exit Press, 2016

Synopsis

Why would two Eastern European meatboys want to whack an innocent cab driver? That's the question that occurs to Gilrein as Raban and Blumfeld press the gun barrel into his mouth. Does it have something to do with the ritual death-by-flensing of Leo Tani? Or does the answer involve Gilrein's ex-lover, now working as a librarian for a bibliomaniac gangster? Or maybe the whole thing has something to do with the Inspector, inventor of the notorious Methodology? And how does Bobby Oster figure in the mix, with his crew of murder-for-hire rogue cops who call themselves The Magicians?

To find the answers, Gilrein will drive the night streets of his hometown and face down more than one demon from his past. From the Vacuum, where child-artists are held captive in veal pens and forced to forge graphic novels, to the Houdini Lounge, where the second annual immigrant death-match is being marketed, Gilrein will wander the underworld, collecting stories and looking for absolution. In the end, he'll brush up against "Alicia's Tale" and learn new truths about the terrifying negotiations always taking place between the storyteller and the audience in the city of Quinsigamond.

About this title

Review:

"A bloody, Borgesian nightmare, Word Made Flesh exists at the confluence of suspense, of horror, of roman and detective novel, using all of these approaches and more to eviscerate the language and reveal the Wormtown inside each one of us." -- Neil Gaiman, author of Neverwhere

"A chase story, an allegory, and a brilliant riff on language. Jack O'Connell is the future of the dark, literary suspense novel." -- James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential

"A triumph of style and content: a world of such dark, repellent beauty, teetering forever on the edge of nightmare - yet shot with rays of curdled sunlight. As its damaged characters slug their way out of the back streets of language a whole new voice is born, the most compelling I've heard in a long time. Assured and utterly satisfying." -- Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares

"A wildly original novel, part hard-boiled crime novel, part literary thriller, and part postapocalyptic cartoon ... The bizarre milieu, O'Connell's gracefully orotund narrative style, and his mode of explication are the reasons readers should follow ... into the dark night of Quinsigamond." -- Booklist

"One of the most original novels I've read in years. Made up of equal parts hard-boiled detective story, futuristic satire, myth, and metafiction...a heady concoction...Imagine Kafka writing The Maltese Falcon, or Borges or Pynchon one of Raymond Chandler's novels and you only begin to get a sense of what this funny, complex, and thoroughly entertaining novel is about." -- Michael C. White, author of A Brother's Blood

"This dense, allegorical novel rigorously moves through an unfamiliar, labyrinthine dystopia ... Biblical references, imaginative riffs on academic deconstruction and a bleak futuristic vision add a literary flair to this dark tale." --Publishers Weekly

"Word Made Flesh is a great book, as intelligent as it is thrilling. Jack O'Connell writes with a rare, dark grace. The alluring nocturnal world he draws us into lies smack dab between Chandler's and Kafka's. Word Made Flesh disturbed me and I mean that with the greatest of admiration." --Michael Ledwidge, author of The Narrowback

"Word Made Flesh made the hair stand up on the back of my mind. Dark, cunning, and wickedly clever, it outsmarts you at just about every turn. Terrific stuff." --Jonathan Carroll, author of Kissing the Beehive

About the Author:

Jack O'Connell is the critically acclaimed author of Box Nine, The Resurrectionist, The Skin Palace, and Wireless. He lives in Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: No Exit Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1843446537
• ISBN 13: 9781843446538
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320