CRIME WAVE. Signed by Author.

Wynne, John aka John Stewart Wynne

ISBN 10: 0866760008 / ISBN 13: 9780866760003

Published by New York: Riverrun Press & London: John Calder (Publishers), 1982

About this Item

Octavo, black boards with gilt lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket. Signed by author on title page. A new, unread copy. *** Jake Adams, a photojournalist, meets Renee Cloverman at the Hotel Dove, a dubious brothel on 42nd Street, and their unlikely love affair, unusual even by New York standards, alters both of their lives. Obsessed by Renee's strange and demonic need to be used and possessed, Jake nonetheless has an impulsion to try to change her. But to have her in the country with his aunt's family is a risk, not just for her but for them as well. John Wynne's exquisitely crafted first novel is a masterly psychological study of a number of disparate characters including Stewart, the troubled, violence prone machinist, and Perry, the gifted child astronomer. Wynne reveals the fetishes and motivations of Manhattan denizens, while telling us that country life is not all that it seems. Previously known as the author of a number of startling, atmospheric and highly praised stories, John Wynne proves with CRIME WAVE that he can sustain a long narrative with style, insight and tension. *** "Wynne's first novel is a disturbing and well written book. Its genre is Manhattan lumpen Gothic and it wanders through psychopathic dreams of electrocuted babies and brothels with one-legged tarts, but the book has a compelling and terrible beauty." --Barbara Trapido, The Spectator. "CRIME WAVE is about personal and social sado-masochism. The author's challenging aim seems to be to show that there is no such thing as 'mindless violence,' whether directed towards the self or towards others. CRIME WAVE is an ambitious first novel." --Jenny Uglow, The Times Literary Supplement *** Design: Roy Colmer; Cover photo: Don Rodan; Back Cover photo of the author: Jerry Bauer. (Book description and details copyright Moments of Being).

Seller Inventory # 0001-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: CRIME WAVE. Signed by Author.
• Publisher: New York: Riverrun Press & London: John Calder (Publishers)
• Publication Date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0866760008
• ISBN 13: 9780866760003
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction--First Novels
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

Jake Adams, a photojournalist, meets Renee Cloverman at the Hotel Dove, a dubious brothel on 42nd street, and their unlikely love affair, unusual even by New York City standards, alters both of their lives.

Obsessed by Renee's strange demonic need to be used and possessed, Jake nonetheless has an impulsion to try to change her. But to have her in the country with his aunt's family is a risk, not just for her but for them as well.

John Wynne's exquisitely crafted first novel is a masterly psychological study of a number of disparate characters including Stewart, the troubled, violence prone machinist, and Perry, the gifted child astronomer. Wynne reveals the fetishes and motivations of Manhattan denizens, while telling us that country life is not all that it seems.