- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: No Exit Press (11 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1842430416
- ISBN-13: 978-1842430415
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,449,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Ghost of a Flea (A Lew Griffin Novel)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Richly atmospheric, haunting, utterly compelling, the Lew Griffin novels are magnificent. James Sallis is an outstanding crime writer - an outstanding writer period." - Frances McDormand
Product Description
In his old house in uptown New Orleans, Lew Griffin is alone again...or almost. He and Deborah are drifting apart. His son David has disappeared again, leaving behind a note that sounds final. Heading homeward from his retirement party, his friend, Don Walsh has been shot while interrupting a robbery. Worst of all, Lew himself is directionless, no longer teaching, with little to fill his days. He hasn't written anything in years. Even the attempt to discover the source of threatening letters sent to a friend leaves him feeling rootless and lost. Through five previous novels, James Sallis has enthralled and challenged readers as he has told the story of Lew Griffin, private detective, teacher, writer, port, and a black man moving through a white man's world. And now Lew Griffin stands alone in a dark room, looking out. Behind him on the bed is a body. Wind pecks at the window. Traffic sounds drift aimlessly in. He thinks if he doesn't speak, doesn't think about what happened, somehow things will be alright again. He thinks about his own life, about the other's, about how the two of them came to be here...In a series as much about identity as it is about crime, Sallis has held a mirror up to society and culture, while at the same time setting Lew Griffin the task of discovering who he is. As the detective stands in that dark room, the answers begin to come clear and the highly acclaimed series builds to a brilliantly constructed climax that will resonate in readers' minds long after the story is finished.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ian Rankin described James Sallis as one of his favourite writers and I have since become a Sallis fan. I've read everything I can lay hands on and this bloke is VERY, VERY GOOD. Sharp meditations on the nature of -- well -- mystery! Tasty stuff.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Beautifully bewildering
20 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a long-time fan of the Lew Griffin series--some of the books are positively radiant, some get rather bogged down in sentimentality. But Sallis always writes exquisitely; his use of language is never less than beautiful. In order to make any sense at all of Ghost of a Flea, it's important to have read the previous books. Without those frames of reference, this book maunders along. It's a bit like reading in a roomful of candles that flicker if there's even the hint of a breeze. Yet every so often the air is still and the candle flames grow bright and what has been written springs to life, conjuring scenes and characters that are fully three-dimensional. Other times, it's difficult to follow the narrative thread. Past and present intermingle; characters are presented almost in the assumption that the reader is already aware of their context and therefore none is presented--which is why I think it's so important to have read the preceding books before approaching this one. Things happen seemingly at random; there are small mysteries to be solved, but they are secondary to the anthologies, the footnotes of Griffin's thoughts. This book is worth reading for the complex beauty of its language, but does not stand alone without the five companion books to assist in identifying the characters, their histories, and their ultimate impact on the central character. This is not a traditional mystery in any way. But it is very much worth reading for those moments when the light is full and everything suddenly springs to life.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
They Don't Get Much Better . . .
18 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
. . . than this. The previous reviewers are much more eloquent than I, so I'll just say that having discovered this author through his newer works, I read this series start-to-finish, and am dumfounded that I never heard of these books. This guy is the real deal, folks. This is WRITING!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A superb conclusion to a graceful series
3 May 2003
Format:Hardcover
I finished this book with tears running down my face. Often, when an author ends a series, one is frustrated, annoyed at the author, even feeling sold short. Not so here. Completing this book, I had the feeling that the story could have wrapped up in no other way -- despite the fact that I had not guessed where it was going. Deeply satisfying, Ghost of a Flea leaves us feeling fortunate to have come to know a group of characters who are real, believable, and somehow terribly important to us. This series is over, but one is left hungry for more of Sallis' distinctive writing.
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