Rupture [Paperback]

'Its been some time since I picked up a first novel and literally couldn't put it down. This tale of bullying, isolation, turning a blind eye and pursuing the truth is in essence a police procedural, told in the third person, but all the testimonies that build up the case are monologues, slowly piecing the whole picture together. Its about a school shooting and its brilliant.' --Bookseller

'absorbing, convincing and truly frightening... Lelic manages to evoke in crisp, accessible prose what it's like to work in a modern school where bullying is rife. Perhaps most terrifying of all is the author's gift for characterisation... The narrative is gripping... Lelic's novel fuses the police procedural and school genres, twisting many familiar situations and characters into the stuff of chillingly realistic nightmares.' --The Times

'A tour de force of storytelling from Picador.' --Granta

'Rupture examines one of the great horrors of our times - the school shooting. Slowly, painfully, by means of brilliantly presented monologues and spare narration, the causes are revealed, and they are even more shocking. It's impossible to believe this is a first novel.' --Donna Leon

'Rupture is a brilliantly plotted detective story that kept me hooked. Lelic, once a journalist, writes crisp engaging prose in which every word counts... Taking the usual clichés of detective fiction, Lelic turns them on their head and arrives at a place of hope. A remarkable achievement.' --New Books magazine

'There's a buzz in the publishing world about Simon Lelic's debut novel, Rupture... [Lelic] is set for literary stardom.' -
--The Times Magazine

'A powerful debut exploring the effects of institutionalised bullying... Lelic's spare prose and multi-voiced narrative make this a gripping, disturbing read.' --Marie Claire

'A superior detective novel, Rupture by Simon Lelic opens with a teacher who kills three pupils in assembly before turning the gun on himself, while the young policewoman Lucia May is set the task of finding out what led to such an awful act.' --Daily Express

'Set during a stultifying London heatwave, this is a disturbingly realistic, taut piece of writing.' --Guardian

'Artfully offering a range of perspectives on the events leading up to the fatal day, Lelic manages to make the murderer sympathetic as he sensitively explores the varying degrees of responsibility for the tragedy borne by others whose response to bullying was inadequate. This deeply human and moving book heralds a bright new talent.'
--Publishers Weekly

'Rupture is a brooding and contemplative novel that serves as a damning indictment of the pernicious nature of bullying and the effect on its victims.' --Waterstone's Books Quarterly

'Lelic has an exceptional talent for voice. This talent means the reader is yanked into the narrative, and teased into persisting... Lelic can write like a poet... The pace is as ferocious as the subject, and some characters are expertly grotesque. Lelic's novel may be his first; but you wouldn't know it, it is so controlled, yet confidently reckless.' --Independent

`Rupture, it turns out, is not necessarily a crime novel but one which trenchantly addresses a host of issues: bullying, a lost generation of children at odds with society and the struggles of adults to come to terms with the cruelty in their own nature. It is a remarkable debut.' --Daily Express

**** `Simon Lelic's gripping debut is draped in this torn social fabric . . . we are skilfully drawn into the plot by the competing voices . . . I see a TV film on the horizon.' --Time Out

'Lelic's first novel is impressive in its scope and structural daring. A third-person narrative inhabiting Lucia's mind alternates with first-person eyewitness accounts, and Lelic superbly captures the wildly different vocabularies and rhythms of speech of parents, teachers and pupils. This is a superior detective novel, proof that crime fiction can break free of the bounds of the genre into something much more complex.'
--Daily Telegraph

`Just confident and accomplished . . . [Lelic] captures the different tones of characters' voices brilliantly and the novel is a cool, controlled view of various kinds of institutionalised cruelty and corruption . . . his restraint is admirable and Rupture has none of the common self indulgences of debut novels. He is definitely a writer to watch.' -- Spectator

'An absorbing debut novel that investigates why a hitherto benign teacher pulled the trigger on three of his pupils.' --The Times

'Lelic clearly has a talent for voices.' --Big Issue

'This superior detective novel about a teacher who goes on a shooting spree in his school manages to break free of clichés.'
--The Daily Telegraph

'Subverting the more usual cliché's surrounding tales of schoolroom massacre, debut novelist skilfully interweaves witness accounts with events unfolding in Lucia's personal and professional life. This dynamic and youthful read captures the dog-days of the summer term in a drab inner-city school.' --Independent

'This impressively structured debut unfolds like an origami model to reveal its urgent central question... Lelic handles his harsh subject matter with great sensitivity, concluding on the most fragile note of hope.' --Guardian

'Lelic plays intriguingly with structure and builds his story into a disturbing depiction of oppression and cruelty.' --Metro

A stunning debut from a truly original new voice in contemporary fiction