Name: Absolute Zero Cool
SKU: SQ2850044
Availability: InStock

Description

Absolute Zero Cool is a post-modern take on the crime thriller genre. Adrift in the half-life limbo of an unpublished novel, hospital porter Billy needs to up the stakes. Euthanasia simply isn’t shocking anymore; would blowing up his hospital be enough to see Billy published, or be damned?

What follows is a gripping tale that subverts the crime genre’s grand tradition of liberal sadism, a novel that excites and disturbs in equal measure. Absolute Zero Cool is not only an example of Irish crime writing at its best; it is an innovative, self-reflexive piece that turns every convention of crime fiction on its head. Declan Burke’s latest book is an imaginative story that explores the human mind’s ability to both create and destroy, with equally devastating effects.

Reviews

“A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funy. Imagine, if you can, a cross between Flann O'Brien and Raymond Chandler” ––John Banville

“Among the most memorable books of the year, of any genre” ––Sunday Times

“Absolute Zero Cool is unlike anything else you'll read this year . . . laugh-out-loud funny . . . this is writing at its dazzling, cleverest zenith. Think John Fowles, via Paul Auster and Rolling Stone . . . A feat of extraordinary alchemy.” ––Ken Bruen

“Among all the recent crop of Irish crime novelists, it seems to me that Declan Burke is ideally poised to make the transition to a larger international stage.” ––John Connolly

“If you want to find something new and challenging, comic crime fiction is now the place to go; Declan Burke [is] at the vanguard of a new wave of young writers kicking against the clichés and producing ambitious, challenging, genre-bending works.” ––Colin Bateman

Author

Declan Burke

Declan Burke is one of Ireland’s leading crime fiction authors. He reviews regularly for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, and hosts the website Crime Always Pays. His novels include Eightball Boogie (2003), The Big O (2007), Absolute Zero Cool (2011) and Slaughter’s Hound (2012).

Absolute Zero Cool was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards, and received the Goldsboro/Crimefest ‘Last Laugh’ Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel. Declan is the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (2011). He lives in Wicklow with his wife and daughter, where he is not allowed to own a cat, or be owned by one.

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