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SUSPENSE
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1950 Vincent Comet Motorcycle
By courtesy of Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum: With many thanks to
Ms. Dumas & Ms. Grams
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Wolf-Boy
Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel
(1440-1514)
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BOOK
ILLUMINATIONS
From Merrimon Book Reviews
HOME
ROMANCE
FICTION SUSPENSE & THRILLERS
MYSTERY HORROR
AUTHORS REVIEWER
PROFILES
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Darling Jim
by Christian
Moerk
Gothic
suspense and the seductive power of the story
Desmond, a mailman in Malahide, north
of Dublin, loses his sanity when he peers into the strange house that
children call haunted. With a horrific murder scene, the town's
residents blame him at least with their looks and innuendoes. The
authorities uncover the shocking murders of two sisters and their
aunt. Mystery surrounds the circumstances of their deaths until
the diary of Fiona Walsh, one of the murdered sisters, turns up in the
dead letter bin. Niall, an aspiring graphic artist and mailroom
worker, becomes entranced by the diary's tale of the traveling
storyteller Jim. As he woos women with his tales of wolves and
castles and yet, Jim's stories take on an ominous tone as his mythical
seem to have an eerie resemblance to the truth. Seduced
themeselves by Jim, Fiona's diary tells a haunting tale of love and
danger as she uncovers Jim's past and love burns hot with
jealousy. Niall feels inspired, indeed almost possessed, by the
voice speaking from the grave to take up the hunt for the truth behind
their lives and macabre deaths. As more clues surface, Niall
enters upon a quest to unlock the mysteries to gain a complete
perspective but the more he discovers, the more danger he
unlocks. Can he find the fourth person, a witness to the events
in the house, before time runs out? Can he unlock the shadows of
truth within Jim's stories to find the source of the wolf myth?
In DARLING JIM, Christian
Moerk's gothic thriller tells a tragic story of love and passion
through an intricate substructure of narratives, a story that the
macabre crime scene evidence leaves untold. Jealousy and love run
side by side, but no investigator could ever imagine all the plots that
led up to the shocking scene they discover. Only through stories
and a different kind of investigation can Niall uncover the passions
and events missing from the murder site. DARLING JIM is a novel that
vacillates between love story (taken to the extreme) and thriller,
between the decision to love or kill. Each new revelation takes
the story into unexpected territory, leaving the reader on edge for the
next thread in the story. Jim's stories mystify and seduce with
their tales of wolves and maidens but underneath, a frightening reality
hides behind the story. As a thriller, DARLING JIM will intrigue even the
most careful experienced suspense readers as the story twists and
turns, adding new stories with new perspectives and new evidence ----
traditional evidence in the events told by the diaries but also in the
literary tropes of the stories themselves. Jim's character haunts
with his seduction but as the story unfolds, the unveiling of secrets
of the Walsh family disturb just as deeply.
DARLING JIM is a
chilling tale of suspense and seduction that combines elements of
horror, fariy tale or archetypal mythology with a creepy modern
reference, and a murder mystery with intricate psychological
factors. Christian Moerk combines a multitude of narrative
voices, giving this novel an intriguing variey of prose styles.
From the haunting description of Desmond's discovery, the narrative
moves from a landscape influenced by the dark, violent murder in an
almost supernatural way (or at least a natural world with empathy for
the spiritual) to the bureaucratic world of the post office and Niall's
artistic longings. From there, the authors increases the layering
of narratives in diaries which themselves relate Jim's oral
storytelling. One one level, DARLING
JIM is a thriller that will keep the reader guessing until the
last page. On another level, with its intricate narrative
structure and even comments by the characters themselves, Christian
Moerk tells a fascinating tale about the seductive power the story
itself. DARLING JIM
paints a haunting portrait of literature itself that will intrigue
readers versed in genre theory as the novel plays with genre
conventions while commenting on them, creating a truly innovative work
of suspense on multiple levels.
Publisher:
Henry Holt and Company (March 2009)
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
Review
courtesy of Amazon Vine
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