The Execution
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
‘Unnervingly cool prose…an entertainingly urbane thriller [whose] suspense lies not in the whodunit, but in watching a perfect life unravel.’ Daily Telegraph
Matthew Bourne suspects his partner, Marianne, of having an affair – though he has just embarked on one himself. Then one day a colleague's wife dies in tragic circumstances, and Matthew is called to identify the body. Only much later does he realise that this incident has seeped into his life like a slow poison…A riveting narrative of mystery and menace, ‘The Execution’ is a stunningly accomplished novel.
Reviews
‘Brilliant…A diabolical thriller that echoes the best suspense of Patricia Highsmith with a cheeky nod to Dostoyevski, “The Execution” is a remarkably accomplished debut heralding the arrival of a noteworthy talent.’ Publishers’ Weekly
‘You are thrown headlong into a compulsive world of moral ambiguity right at the outset of “The Execution”…Wilcken refuses to judge Matthew for his behaviour, and this distance gives the novel a beguiling and thought-provoking ambivalence.’ Literary Review
‘An impressive and sure-footed debut…Wilcken’s tight, energetic prose keeps the pages turning.’ Daily Mail
‘Wilcken, who lives in Paris, has chosen the extremely French subject of murder and adultery…The tone, which in its fatalism could be called existential, could also, in its acceptance of the way the world and emotions work, be called wise. Through this tone and elegant patterning, “The Execution” transcends genre.’ Observer
‘Taut, menacing, full of sinister beguilements. And unsettlingly shrewd.’ Will Eaves, author of ‘The Oversight’
About the author
Hugo Wilcken is in his thirties and British-Australian. He lives in Paris, where he has worked as a writer since 1990.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A self-absorbed British PR rep for a human rights activist group slowly begins falling apart in Wilcken's taut debut, a diabolical thriller that echoes the best suspense of Patricia Highsmith with a cheeky nod to Dostoyevski. Matthew Bourne is the first-person narrator who temporarily ditches his campaign to keep a controversial African poet from being executed after an older colleague named Christian collapses upon learning that his attractive wife has died in a car accident. Bourne takes him to the hospital and identifies her body for the police, but he becomes so disturbed by the incident that he inexplicably picks up an attractive PR colleague at a party, even though his girlfriend Marianne has just become pregnant with the couple's second child. Bourne's behavior gets even stranger when he impulsively trails Marianne to a midafternoon appointment and learns that she is having an affair. After tracking the couple for several weeks, Bourne confronts Marianne's lover and accidentally kills him. He then calls Christian to the crime scene, and the two men take the victim to a remote location outside of London to dispose of the body. The excellent character writing carries the day here, but Wilcken is also a masterful storyteller who uses a combination of plot twists, Bourne's growing guilt and his deteriorating relationship with Marianne to notch up the tension and transform an unlikable protagonist into a fascinating antihero. This is a remarkably accomplished debut heralding the arrival of a noteworthy talent. Wilcken's literary career may take as many fascinating twists as this brilliant book.
