Amazon.co.uk
Publishers are given to attempts to whip up excitement about debut novels (it’s their job, after all), and often such fireworks splutter out all too quickly. But that’s not going to happen with Josh Bazell’s debut thriller
Beat the Reaper, which is (it has to be said) quite as impressive as his publishers are trumpeting – in fact, if this book doesn’t take the crime and thriller world by storm, there's no justice. What marks the book out from the rest of an increasingly overcrowded field is its vibrant, glittering prose – streaked through with a mordant wit (highlighted by a series of pithy – and highly entertaining – footnotes; an unusual element in the thriller genre)
The plot is highly original. Peter Brown is a young Manhattan intern who is not all he seems to be. He has a past – and as any reader of crime novels knows – the past never stays buried for long. Peter has had an edgy run-in with a mugger and a more congenial elevator one-to-one with a female pharmaceutics rep. But his most significant encounter is to be with a new hospital patient, Nicholas LoBrutto – a man who knows the truth behind Peter’s artificially contrived façade: the young intern is, in fact, in the Witness Protection program, and he remains in the gunsights of some unpleasant New Jersey heavies. And things are about to get very hot for both Peter and LoBrutto. Josh Bazell, as Beat the Reaper, demonstrates, is the real deal, and the auguries for this debut are very good. If he can just sustain this level of invention and energy thoughout that difficult second novel… --Barry Forshaw
Kurzbeschreibung
He's a doctor with a past...He's a hit man with a conscience...And he's got 24 hours to beat the reaper. Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan hospital intern with an unusual past that is just about to catch up with him. His morning begins with the quick disarming of a would-be mugger, followed by the steamy elevator encounter with a young female pharmaceutical rep, topped off by a visit with a new patient - and from there Peter's day is going to get a whole lot worse and a whole lot weirder. Because that patient knows Peter from his other life, when he had a different name and a very different job. The only reason he's a doctor now is thanks to the Witness Protection Program - and even that can't protect him from the long reach of the New Jersey Mob. Now he's got to buy some time to do whatever it takes to keep his patient - and himself - alive. "Beat the Reaper" is an intensely clever, imaginative novel that thrills on every page and is one of the most audacious and outrageous debuts of the year.
von Victor Gischler
von Charlie Huston
von Colin Cotterill
von Brian Freeman
von David Levien
