Perfect Days: A Novel - Hardcover

Montes, Raphael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594206406 ISBN 13: 9781594206405

Publisher: Penguin Press, 2016

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

An Amazon Best Book of February 2016: Brazilian medical student Teo Avelar is not your standard protagonist: for starters, he lives with his mother and his best friend is a cadaver. He is also a psychopath, with no (living) friends, who falls for an aspiring screenplay writer who is his polar opposite. Clarice is bombastic and passionate, while Teo comports himself with a quiet stoicism. After he falls for her, he quickly kidnaps Clarice—with the idea that she only needs time to fall for him—and the wheels are set in motion for Montes’ odd, macabre, fast-paced, twisted, and twisty novel. Is it for everyone? Not at all. But if you’ve ever wondered what Humbert Humbert would look like in modern times, you might want to pick up this short, dark, kind of sick, alternately propelling and repellant book. In its own creepy way, it’s kind of perfect. -- Chris Schluep

About the Author:

Raphael Montes was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1990. He is a lawyer and a writer and his short stories have appeared in Playboy and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. His debut novel, Roulette, was published to much acclaim in Brazil in 2010 and was a finalist for the São Paolo Literature Prize. Perfect Days is being published in 13 countries. Montes published his third book, The Village, in August 2015, earning him comparisons with Stephen King. He also writes screenplays for cinema and television.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1594206406
• ISBN 13: 9781594206405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272