Half World: A Novel - Hardcover

O'Connor, Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1476716595 ISBN 13: 9781476716596

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2014

Synopsis

Inspired by real CIA operations, the riveting novel of a fraying CIA analyst who conducts secret mind-control experiments and the young agent who, years later, uncovers the appalling legacy of the program and the people destroyed by it.

In the 1950s, the CIA began a clandestine operation known as Project MKULTRA, in which unwitting American citizens were subjected to insidious drug and mind-control experiments. In the two decades the program ran, a nation’s trust was betrayed and countless lives—and families—were destroyed.

Haunted and inspired by these real-life events, acclaimed novelist Scott O’Connor has crafted a riveting, tour de force literary thriller that vividly imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program through the eyes of one of its more unexpected victims. CIA analyst Henry March, an unassuming “company man” forced to spearhead MKULTRA’s San Francisco branch, finds himself bridging an untenable divide between his devotion to his wife and children—his beloved Hannah and sweet autistic Thomas—and the brutality of his daily task. Torn between duty and conscience, Henry’s own identity begins to fray, until he finally reaches the ultimate breaking point. Amid the wreckage, Henry March disappears without a trace, taking with him the evidence of his sins and becoming the deepest ULTRA mystery of all.

Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent will risk everything to find Henry, protect Hannah, and piece together the staggering aftermath of the crimes before it’s too late.

Hailed as “one to watch” (Los Angeles Times), especially for his ability “to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters” (The New York Times), O’Connor has crafted a stunning, sensitive, and psychologically astute look at the depths to which a government will sink in service of its own power and the strength required of the human spirit to set itself free. Gorgeous and unflinching, Half World is both a page-turning drama and a transcendent celebration of our enduring capacity for hope.

About this title

About the Author

Scott O'Connor lives in Los Angeles. His 2004 novella Among Wolves was praised by the Los Angeles Times Book Review for its ''crisp, take-no-prisoners style,'' and they hailed the author as ''one to watch.''

Review

"O'Connor writes with vivid descriptive detail and acute psychological insight, as well as flashes of searing, wry humor and occasional moments that simply break your heart." Source: The Boston Globe

"O’Connor writes with grace and force." Source: Publishers Weekly

"Gripping...The perfect book for our present moment." Source: The Daily Beast

"O’Connor’s spare prose amplifies the horror of his story. It also compels the reader to inhabit his characters’ lives. Half World is a stunningly grim and emotionally harrowing read and an astute and evocative portrayal of government paranoia during the Cold War and Vietnam War eras." Source: Booklist (Starred Review)

"Fascinating...O'Connor is a gifted stylist, and he vividly captures the rabbit hole that swallows agents, their families, and their victims alike." Source: Library Journal

"An invigorating historical thriller... Intimately gripping... O'Connor writes with fire." Source: Kirkus Reviews

"O'Connor shows the beauty, the complex blend of dirty truth and high ideals that reveal the human in all of us with an intimacy, elegiac gravitas and deep respect. A strong voice." Author: Chris Abani Source: author of The Virgin of Flames and GraceLand

"Half World is all in. A taut and suspenseful narrative. Well-wrought flawed characters. Prose that is pitch perfect. The truth is, Scott O’Connor is a beautiful, sage-like, and terrifying writer." Author: Andrew Krivak Source: National Book Award finalist and author of The Sojourn

"Scott O'Connor's Half World is like being granted clearance to classified files about a bizarre and fascinating moment in our nation's history--this is literary suspense of the highest order, and with every page I was intrigued a bit more, horrified a bit more, until I felt I, too, had been brainwashed and found it impossible to stop reading this beautifully written and utterly compelling novel. Now I must read it again. Now I must..." Author: Alan Heathcock Source: award-winning author of Volt

Praise for Untouchable:

"Scott O'Connor speaks softly and somehow manages to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters... a voice so insistently stirring, you want to lean in close to catch every word." Source: The New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1476716595
• ISBN 13: 9781476716596
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432