The Quiet Twin - Hardcover

Vyleta, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155468904X ISBN 13: 9781554689040

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011

Synopsis

In Nazi-occupied Vienna, a string of unsolved murdershas thrown the residents of one apartment building intoa state of uneasy watchfulness. Anton Beer, a young doctorwho has made a study of forensic psychology, is asked by theretired Professor Speckstein to investigate. It is an unwelcomerequest: Speckstein’s job is to spy on the building’s residentsfor the Nazis, and Doctor Beer has his own reasons for keepinghis private life hidden from public scrutiny. When Beerdiscovers a paralyzed young woman in a neighbour’s apartment,his life is further complicated. The woman is unable totalk and deathly ill, and Beer, whose own wife has recently lefthim, smuggles her into his home to nurse her in secret.

As the story unfolds in propulsive, gripping prose, DanVyleta captures the atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion thatwas part of encroaching Nazi culture, and explores our disturbinginstinct in times of threat to turn a blind eye to uncomfortablerealities. The darkest mystery at the heart of this astonishingnovel reveals itself to be not a question of whodunit somuch as the temper of a diseased society in which every person’sactions are infected by the possibility of evil.

About this title

About the Author

Giller Prize–shortlisted and globally acclaimed author Dan Vyleta is the son of Czech refugees who emigrated to Germany in the late 1960s. Though he now calls Canada his home, he lives and teaches in the UK. His debut novel, Pavel & I, was published in thirteen countries and translated into eight languages. His second novel, The Quiet Twin, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His most recent novel, The Crooked Maid, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a Globe and Mail Book of the Year. Visit him online at danvyleta.com and on Twitter @danvyleta.

Review

`Resembles Hitchcock's Rear Window rescripted by Dostoevsky and Kafka' * Sunday Times * `A provoking thriller in which nobody is what they seem' * Daily Telegraph * 'Vyleta's subtly engaging thriller is tense with violent acts that are, perhaps above all else, a manifestation of the era's anxieties' * Independent * 'Vyleta's story of a crime in Vienna during the early days of World War Two makes him the heir to the throne left empty since the death of Graham Greene. Yes, he's that damn good' * San Francisco Chronicle *

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 155468904X
• ISBN 13: 9781554689040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384