A01=Michael Collins
American
American decline
American gothic
American noir
American suburbia
Author_Michael Collins
Booker crime
breaking bad
Category=FBA
collapse of America
collapse of American dream
Colum McCann
dark places
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
gangs
gillian flynn
gritty
hardboiled
LA noir
Lehane
literary fiction
literary thriller
mystery
New York
noir
novels about Trump America
private investigator
prizewinning novels
suspense
Tess Gerritsen
the wire
Trump America
urban
urban thrillers set in America
Val Mcdermid
Product details
- ISBN 9780753811023
- Weight: 290g
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 03 May 2001
- Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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It is the mid-80s in post-industrial America. In a small town graced with the decaying hulks of defunct factories, young journalist and college dropout Bill churns out lengthy essays on the death of industry and of America itself for The Daily Truth, whose scoops rarely rise above the latest home-bake contest. The static summer is punctured when local bad boy Ronny Lawton reports his father missing. A dismembered finger is found and all suspect the son of murdering his hated father, but nothing can be proved. The sorry tale of the white trash Lawtons hypnotises the town and Ronny Lawton becomes a local icon. Bill becomes increasingly obsessed with the story - he gets involved with Ronny's estranged wife, finds a decomposing human head, and ends up as a suspect in the murder case himself. Things come to a head and Ronny Lawton holds his wife, child and Bill hostage in a confrontation with the FBI. Bill escapes with the woman and child and contemplates the American dream gone sour.
Michael Collins was born in 1964 in Limerick, Ireland. He is the author of six novels, and two collections of short stories. His work has garnered numerous awards, including a Pushcart Award for Best American Short Stories, The Kerry Ingredients Irish Novel of the Year, along with being shortlisted for The Booker Prize and IMPAC Prize. Collins is also an extreme athlete and has won The Last Marathon in the Antarctic and set a record time in winning both The Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race and The Everest Challenge Marathon. He is currently training for The North Pole Marathon in 2006. www.michaelcollinsauthor.com
