THE
TRAVELLER
AND OTHER
STORIES
By
Stuart Neville
(Forward by John Connolly)
Publisher:
Soho Press (October, 2020)
Format: Hardcover
Price: $27.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-64129-203-0
Kindle:
$14.99
Reviewed
by Shirley Wetzel
(December, 2020)
Since
his stunning debut novel, THE GHOSTS OF
BELFAST, in 2009,
Stuart Neville has become the undisputed king of Belfast noir. THE
TRAVELLER contains twelve chilling stories of
noir, horror, ghosts,
and speculative fiction, as well as a novella, THE TRAVELLER, which became the first
chapter of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST.
The
book is divided into two parts: New Monsters
features seven stand-alone stories incorporating and blending diverse
crime
fiction genres. The characters are new, but are as quirky and unique as
Neville’s earlier saints and sinners. Old Friends
tells the backstories
of larger-than-life disgraced spy Gerry Fagan, as well as Albert Ryan
and
Roberta Garrick.
The
novella THE
TRAVELLER is a companion piece to Neville’s novels, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST and COLLUSION, updating
the fate
of characters like Jack Lennon and his daughter Ellen over a ten-year
period.
There
is a lengthy foreword by the renowned Irish
author John Connolly, recalling how he reluctantly accepted a
manuscript from a
young unpublished author, only to realize he’d discovered a rare new
talent. He
told a colleague that he’d just read the best post-Troubles Irish novel
ever
written, perhaps even the finest Irish novel yet written.
Every novel since THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST has affirmed that talent. He won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and his novels have been shortlisted for several prestigious awards. He is a master of short stories, a form in which he excels. Highly recommended.
Copyright © 2020 Shirley Wetzel. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of the author is prohibited. OMDB! and OMDB! logos are trademarks of Over My Dead Body!