The Little Brother
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Bill Eidson’s first novel is an early and frightening look at the concept of identity theft. When Boston-based dive shop owner, Rod Konrad, runs short of money, he decides to share his apartment. Bette, his girlfriend, isn’t ready to move in, so he places an ad for a roommate. Brendan is nice enough—as nice as a stranger invading your home can be. He certainly takes to Rod. But isn't he trying too hard? He talks like Rod, acts like him, and is always just a little too close. Left unchecked, he’ll not only steal Rod’s clothes—but his life.
THE LITTLE BROTHER is a fast, dark thriller that tackles the very concept of who we are.
"Ever advertised for a roommate, and feared the stranger who is about to share your digs is a psychopath? Go ahead; scare yourself to death."
—Hartford Courant
"One of the joys of reviewing is the discovery of a major new talent. [Bill Eidson has]...constructed a fascinating, terrifying psychological profile that ranks with the best and needs to be recognized by awards committees. Highly recommended."
—Mystery News
"There is something undeniably intriguing about the relentlessness and almost gleeful inventiveness that Nolan...brings to his demented, homicidal obsession..."
—The Washington Post
"It will make you avoid dark hallways and sense something sinister behind a friendly stranger's smile. The novel crawls with suspense. If the story grips you, THE LITTLE BROTHER may have you by the throat."
—The Pittsburgh Press
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
One might call the homicidal hero of Eidson's first thriller a sort of method actor. Guy Nolan is a murderer with a knack for assuming the identities of his victims--but only after he has done away with them. In a narrative that shifts back and forth chronologically, building suspense by holding off dramatic confrontations, the reader follows the transformations of Guy from the time he claims his first victim, his older brother, through his gradual evolution into a raging monster who kills at random. Guy's quest for new personas reaches frightening proportions, and the gamut these run burdens the narrative: it is a fast-paced, violent and ugly story when the maniac is on the prowl, but ploddingly prosaic when Guy now and then manages to hold his dark side in check. Nonetheless, the burning question of whether his roommate Rod and devoted girlfriend Bette will escape Guy's talent for brutality keeps our interest and culminates in a page-turning finale, complete with car chase and blood bath. Though sometimes derivative of the work of Stephen King and Thomas Harris, Eidson's debut has its high moments.
