Perfect Days
A Novel
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- ¥850
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- ¥850
発行者による作品情報
A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the English-language debut of Brazil's most celebrated young crime writer.
Teo Avelar is a loner. He lives with his paraplegic mother and her dog in Rio de Janeiro, he doesn't have many friends, and the only time he feels honest human emotion is in the presence of his medical school cadaver—that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite: exotic, spontaneous, unafraid to speak her mind. An aspiring screenwriter, she's working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. Teo is obsessed. He begins to stalk her, first following her to her university, then to her home, and when she ultimately rejects him, he kidnaps her and they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Through it all, Teo is certain that time is all he needs to prove to Clarice that they are made for each other, that time is all he needs to make her fall in love with him. But as the journey progresses, he digs himself deeper and deeper into a pit that he can't get out of, stopping at nothing to ensure that no one gets in the way of their life together. Both tense and lurid, and brimming with suspense from the very first page, Perfect Days is a psychological thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley—a chilling journey in the passenger seat with a psychopath, and the English language debut of one of Brazil's most deliciously dark young writers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brazilian author Montes (Suicides) makes his English-language debut with a nifty, albeit nasty little thriller. Teo Avelar, the wonderfully immoral hero at its pitch-black center, is studying to be a pathologist in Rio de Janeiro. His best friend is a corpse. Then he meets Clarice Lispector, a would-be screenwriter, and falls in love. Teo soon starts stalking Clarice, and in a bid to win her over and make her fall in love with him, he drugs and kidnaps her. Expected developments include Clarice's efforts to escape and the murder of someone who threatens Teo's plan to keep her captive. More unusual are a tense encounter Teo has with the police and his bouts of paranoia. When the tables finally turn, Montes pulls out the stops with a series of twists one of which is not for the squeamish. Teo's criminal mischief may put off some readers, but others will enjoy the wild ride.
