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"'A unique crime writer whose fictional world was brutal, realistic and harrowing in the extreme' Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian 'Peopled by a fast-talking shower of queens, spades, morries, slags, shysters, grifters and grafters of every description, The Crust on its Uppers is one of the great London novels' New Statesman A State of Denmark is a fascinating and important novel by one of our best writers in or outside of any genre' Time Out"
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A plain-clothes copper in Paris, Kleber is 40 years old, drinks hard and smokes fifty a day. He is devoted to his young wife, Elenya, a former prostitute whom he rescued from her pimp, but he is embittered by 22 years on the streets, and his sleep is haunted by dreams of death. Kleber has many enemies, and only one friend: a criminal named Mark. When Kleber is suspended from the police force for punching a fellow officer, his underworld adversaries seize their chance to bring him to heel. Down but not out, Kleber will show no mercy to those who harm the ones he loves. Derek Raymond?s final book ? the typescript was discovered after his death in 1994 ? Nightmare in the Street is a fitting finale to a career spent writing about, and indeed living among, the darkest reaches of humanity.
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Kleber was a plain-clothes copper; he worked for the Police Judiciare out of police station number 50, Boulevard de Sebastopol. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Kleber was a plain-clothes copper; he worked for the Police Judiciare out of police station number 50, Boulevard de Sebastopol. Read the first page
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Written in the midst of the "Factory" series, this story takes place in Paris, where Derek Raymond lived for many years. The main character does have a name, Kleber, but he also has a lot in common with the nameless detective of the aforementioned series. If you liked "I was Dora Suarez", "He died with his eyes open" or "How the dead live", read this book. But do not believe what the synopsis says: "Nightmare in the Street" was NOT Derek Raymond's final book. It was written in 1987 and published in France in February 1988 with the same title (Cauchemar dans la rue), but under Derek Raymond's real name, Robin Cook. There was a German edition too at the time.
Format:Paperback
This is not one of 'The Factory' novels. It is set in Paris, specifically the down-at-heel Sebastopol area, in the Eighties but with an odd whiff of the Fifties.
Kleber is the 'street' obsessed cop who 'goes into the minefield first'. His personal loyalty to friends coupled with his desire for natural justice leads him down a dark and lonely path. The first half of the novel narrates this jouney into the wild side with economy and it appealed greatly. For all his ability to irritate his bosses and peers, Kleber is an intriguing character.
The second half focused at length on Kleber's adoration of his wife the Polish ex-prostitute Elenya. This section of the novel needed drastic editing as the reader endures endless musings on death, love and the afterlife. Throw in several second rate poetry offerings and all that seemed missing were a few clips from the film 'Ghost'.
Apparently written in English it still felt like a translation. Existential musings, with repeated visits to bars to guzzle kir, become quite tedious. There seems to be a debate over whether this work was his last and whether it was intended for publication.
Kleber is the 'street' obsessed cop who 'goes into the minefield first'. His personal loyalty to friends coupled with his desire for natural justice leads him down a dark and lonely path. The first half of the novel narrates this jouney into the wild side with economy and it appealed greatly. For all his ability to irritate his bosses and peers, Kleber is an intriguing character.
The second half focused at length on Kleber's adoration of his wife the Polish ex-prostitute Elenya. This section of the novel needed drastic editing as the reader endures endless musings on death, love and the afterlife. Throw in several second rate poetry offerings and all that seemed missing were a few clips from the film 'Ghost'.
Apparently written in English it still felt like a translation. Existential musings, with repeated visits to bars to guzzle kir, become quite tedious. There seems to be a debate over whether this work was his last and whether it was intended for publication.
Format:Paperback
This was the first Derek Raymond book I'd read. The language seemed a bit clunky at first, but the story dragged me in nonetheless. Weighing in at just under 200 pages it's a quick read. All the standard noir fare is there, existential angst, introverted defunkt cop etc. etc. But the dream sequences and constant reflection on memories running parallel to the main story are what made it for me.
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