- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Pan Books; New edition edition (7 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330487620
- ISBN-13: 978-0330487627
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,577,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Fiddleback comprehensively demonstrates that JM Morris has all the assurance and authority of a seasoned veteran; this is a truly chilling debut.
Ruth Gemmill grows worried when her younger brother Alex stops returning her calls. He has been living in the small village of Greenwell and working as a teacher, so Ruth travels there to find out what has happened to him. She meets an intimidating wall of silence from the locals, and the growing unease the town generates in her is worsened by the blank non-cooperation of the police. The questions accumulate, but the most pressing is who is the "grey man" Alex's pupils saw him with just before he vanished. As Ruth's fears escalate, the tension is ratcheted up by the appearance of a brutal ex-lover she knew in London, a man who caused her years of pain. And as Ruth descends into this nightmare of mystery and suspicion, she comes ever closer to some terrifying revelations.
There are familiar elements here, of course, not least the suspicious, close-mouthed townsfolk. But Morris adroitly reinvents such tricks of the suspense novelist's trade and delivers a brilliantly orchestrated narrative. Morris is particularly successful in the first-person narrative chosen for the increasingly concerned Ruth: her growing psychological tension is perfectly matched by the ever-darkening trajectory of the mystery. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Nightmarish... [Morrris] writes superbly about a small town's subtle gathering of menacing forces' Time Out
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
frustrating,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fiddleback: A Novel (Hardcover)
This started off so well that I was intrigued and read the whole thing in one go - only to feel completely let down at the end. I re-read the last few pages several times in case I'd missed something but no, it really felt like a cop-out ending; almost as though the author had realised that she couldn't tie up all these incredible but intriguing plotlines, and had simply gone for the easy option. So much was left unexplained that the early promise simply didn't follow through. Very disappointing after an excellent read throughout the rest of the book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immaculate!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fiddleback: A Novel (Hardcover)
I'm not one to toady, but this is one helluva book. JM Morris has confounded expectations of the old woman in danger novel, weaving together a deft plot that is progresively stranger the further you go with it. Stitch it altogether, though, the begining, the middle, the flashbacks, and the stunning end and you get a heck of a read as well as being stunned by Morris's ambition for the book. This is a corker...
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb debut,
By
This review is from: Fiddleback: A Novel (Hardcover)
Like David Pirie's Mystery Story, another neat debut thriller about the search for truth in a weird northern town, Fiddleback constantly subverts the reader's expectations. Not that one has time to dwell: the narrative is so compelling, it pulls you with it right through to the clever dénouement. Difficult subjects -- abusive relationships, blossoming sexuality, homophobia -- are handled with great skill and sensitivity. Rewarding stuff. Killer last line (don't look).
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