Back From The Dead

First published in 1999 by Pan Macmillan and published in 2000 in Pan Books, this is Chris Petit's second novel after 'The Psalm Killer'. Cover image is a still from The Falconer, copyright Chris Petit, Iain Sinclair. Storyline: 'Did you close my eyes? I often wonder what happened. If it was you who found me and was I still beautiful?...Or do you never think of me at all? Am I just the past to you? And if you are thinking, "She can't come back," don't bet on it.' McMahon, an ageing rock star, has started receiving letters-yearning, obsessive letters from a girl called Leah containing information that only she could know. But Leah is dead and has been for a long time, so who is writing the letters? Tough city cop Youselli is hired to track down the mystery of Leah, fighting resistance from McMahon himself who doesn't seem to want to remember and from others who seem to have reasons for wanting to forget. In no time he is drawn into a surreal world of crazy love and dangerous obsession. This is a powerful, chilling novel about people on the road to self-destruction...