Presence of Evil - Hardcover

Moffitt, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812830393 ISBN 13: 9780812830392

Publisher: Stein & Day Pub

Synopsis

Nick Andrews uncovers a macabre secret that draws him into Black Bay's crumbling community of eccentrics and the insane, after moving into an old house near the sea

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Moffitt's second novel, after the highly praised The Retreat of Radiance, may be about "an obscure grocer in a drear street in a decaying suburb on the edge of a continent far beyond the centers of power," but elegant prose, swift plotting and fascinating characters raise it far above its parochial setting. Nick Andrews, semi-retired foreign correspondent, moves to a small Australian seaside town where he hopes to find himself and save his new but already tottering marriage. Danby, a "haven for rejects," is filled with people in varying stages of madness: homeless teenagers on the beach, street crazies, retired theatrical ladies in the next-door rest home and, not least, the "obscure grocer," John Lynch, whose religious-cum-sexual fantasies could fill a casebook. Nick tries to discover the mild-mannered Lynch's disturbing secrets and finally, very late, realizes that his own step-daughter is Lynch's target. Among the best characters are the ruefully funny Nick, Lynch's schizophrenic sister Olive and old Mr. Whittecombe, WW I hero and ex-taxi dancer. Lynch himselffunny, sad and drivenis a gem. Foreign rights: Goodman Associates. November 19
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stein & Day Pub
• ISBN 10: 0812830393
• ISBN 13: 9780812830392
• Binding: Hardcover