Bloodstained Kings - Hardcover
Tim Willocks's first book, Green River Rising, earned the kind of reviews that are rarely accorded to most so-called literary thrillers. This remarkable debut was hailed for its rich, powerful writing as well as its dramatic, page-turning suspense. The New York Times Book Review called it "beautifully vivid" and "triumphantly realized," while People called it "as fine a thriller as one could ask for."
The author's much-anticipated second novel is as powerful and ambitious as its predecessor. Set in New Orleans and the rural South, it is the story of a chain of cataclysmic events let loose by the murder of Clarence Jefferson, a legendary lawman who has gathered a cache of evidence that could imprison corrupt politicians in five states. His last act, it appears, was to hand-pick two people as the unlucky heirs of his potentially explosive evidence files. The pair must either dispose of them as fast as they can or--at considerable risk to themselves--deliver the files to the authorities. Lenna Parillaud and Dr. Cicero Grimes, Jefferson's "beneficiaries," have never met. Lenna, a millionaire businesswoman, has been racked by grief and rage over the loss of her daughter. Dr. Grimes is a clinically depressed psychiatrist. Though both have burdens enough of their own, they are swept up into this story of southern violence, passion, and vengeance, the likes of which perhaps only the readers of Willocks's previous novel can imagine.
Compared by critics to Norman Mailer, James Ellroy, Stephen Hunter, and Andrew Vachss, Willocks offers a unique amalgam of gritty realism and something more--a depth and intensity that is seldom achieved in popular fiction.
The author's much-anticipated second novel is as powerful and ambitious as its predecessor. Set in New Orleans and the rural South, it is the story of a chain of cataclysmic events let loose by the murder of Clarence Jefferson, a legendary lawman who has gathered a cache of evidence that could imprison corrupt politicians in five states. His last act, it appears, was to hand-pick two people as the unlucky heirs of his potentially explosive evidence files. The pair must either dispose of them as fast as they can or--at considerable risk to themselves--deliver the files to the authorities. Lenna Parillaud and Dr. Cicero Grimes, Jefferson's "beneficiaries," have never met. Lenna, a millionaire businesswoman, has been racked by grief and rage over the loss of her daughter. Dr. Grimes is a clinically depressed psychiatrist. Though both have burdens enough of their own, they are swept up into this story of southern violence, passion, and vengeance, the likes of which perhaps only the readers of Willocks's previous novel can imagine.
Compared by critics to Norman Mailer, James Ellroy, Stephen Hunter, and Andrew Vachss, Willocks offers a unique amalgam of gritty realism and something more--a depth and intensity that is seldom achieved in popular fiction.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
Tim Willocks is a British doctor and psychiatrist who runs a drug detox clinic in London and writes literate thrillers and screenplays in his spare time. He also loves colorful American locales: his Green River Rising took place inside a Texas prison, and Bloodstained Kings stretches across a gaudy Southern landscape from New Orleans to rural Georgia. When a corrupt cop dies, a demented woman who keeps her husband locked in a cage and a doctor haunted by guilty secrets are among those who rush to search the dead man's files for information that could destroy them. Readers who enjoy the absolute blackness of James Ellroy's books should feel right at home with Willocks.
From the Back Cover:
Praise for Tim Willocks's Green River Rising
"Memorable . . . mythic . . . as fine a thriller as one could ask for."
--People
"A stunner--and maybe the greatest prison novel ever . . . pure adrenaline-fueled narrative . . . a superbly contained trip to hell."
--James Ellroy
"A hugely compelling page-turner . . . holds our interest in a vise grip."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"Great fun . . . fiendishly suspenseful . . . It's difficult to think of anyone who has written with the crazy conviction and energy that Tim Willocks brings to this novel."
--The New Yorker
"Beautifully vivid. . . eminently believable . . . triumphantly realized . . . Willocks has a gift."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Vividly rendered . . . a fascinating journey . . . powerfully brutal yet poetically achieved."
--Entertainment Weekly
"A finely written novel . . . Green River Rising is more than a thriller."
--The Washington Post Book World
"Memorable . . . mythic . . . as fine a thriller as one could ask for."
--People
"A stunner--and maybe the greatest prison novel ever . . . pure adrenaline-fueled narrative . . . a superbly contained trip to hell."
--James Ellroy
"A hugely compelling page-turner . . . holds our interest in a vise grip."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"Great fun . . . fiendishly suspenseful . . . It's difficult to think of anyone who has written with the crazy conviction and energy that Tim Willocks brings to this novel."
--The New Yorker
"Beautifully vivid. . . eminently believable . . . triumphantly realized . . . Willocks has a gift."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Vividly rendered . . . a fascinating journey . . . powerfully brutal yet poetically achieved."
--Entertainment Weekly
"A finely written novel . . . Green River Rising is more than a thriller."
--The Washington Post Book World
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRandom House Value Publishing
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0517361442
- ISBN 13 9780517361443
- BindingHardcover
- Rating
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