- Hardcover: 308 pages
- Publisher: Avon Books; First Edition edition (July 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380974460
- ISBN-13: 978-0380974467
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 874,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Blue Place
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Product Description
Review
'It's hard to overpraise the taut plotting and broad intelligence of this thriller' Washington News; 'Ms Griffith is an astonishingly gifted writer' Allen Ginsberg
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
A stylishly erotic and suspenseful new thriller from an award-winning author.
Formerly an undercover police lieutenant, Aud Torvingen has the pale eyes of a wolf. Born into diplomatic society, she now makes Atlanta her home, gliding easily between the world of silken elegance and that of sleaze and sudden savagery. Late one night, out walking just to stay sharp, Torvingen has a chance encounter with a running woman; seconds later a house explodes and the woman disappears. But Julia Lyons-Bennet will return, seeking Aud's protection from a deadly international game of forgery, drugs, and murder. Aud knows there is danger here, pulling her back once again to that cool blue place where everything slows down and takes on a crystal clarity: that place where violence is bliss. The danger excites Julia as well -- sexy, refined, frightened Julia -- forging an intense erotic bond between the two women that hangs in the balance -- along with their lives.
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First Sentence
tary tract, the soft suck of breath move the liquid gently, but definitely. Not this water. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
tary tract, the soft suck of breath move the liquid gently, but definitely. Not this water. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read on and on into the night wanting to get to the end and yet knowing I would regret it's ending. I found this book to be exhilarating and moving.
Aud was the ultimate "butch", strong and sexy. Her character was intelligent as well as open to suggestion.
Having visited Altanta several times, it was interesting to walk through Atlanta one more time from the eyes of a woman such as Aud as well as explore the ice of Norway.
Women struggle with feelings of inadequacy most of their lives. I applaud Griffith for confidently putting the characters, Aud and Julia down on paper in such a self-assured way.
I must admit to finding some of the book lacking as the male characters seemed quite flat, but I attributed them to the pronounced quality of Aud Torvingen.
Ms. Griffith's use of metaphor and carefully placed descriptions of biological functions were accurate as well as interesting.
My hat's off to Nicola Griffith for putting together a book that should inspire many lesbian writers, women writers, to allow for the possibility of women as successful not throughly dependent on a man to survive.
I enjoyed it very much and have recommended it to my friends.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Destined to become a classic of the genre. This is a rip-roaring, unputdownable, cracking page turner. A stunningly well paced narrative, building from a slow burn start to an ending that delivers a devastating blow.
Aud Torvingen - 6ft Norwegian Uberbabe. Ex-cop, and now bodyguard, self-defence expert, freefall skydiver, master carpenter, glacier climber and top horticulturist to boot(!!). A lethal killer. Super-cool, confident and in control. But becomes fallible as soon as she falls in love with Julia Lyons-Bennet, the woman whom Aud has been hired by, to protect.
This is a bitter-sweet love story, with a strong central character that you care deeply about. In Aud Torvingen, Nicola Griffith has created the quintessential Lesbian Icon. Intriguing, complex and believable.
By the very nature of the genre you know a tragedy is just waiting to happen. And the bad guy is screamingly obvious. But this doesn't matter. It is the journey that counts.
The narrative takes you to places you don't usually come across in this genre, and has a beautiful sence of time and place. Very evocative of the Norwegian landscape, mixing as it does myth and fable, the fjells, local cuisine, character and temperament.
The novel itself is reminiscent of David Lindsey's 'Requiem for a Glass Heart' in it's central Lesbian relationship, breakneck narrative thrust and killer ending.
Like all great novels 'The Blue Place' leaves you desperate for more. But how can any future installments ever hope to compare with such an astonishing and accomplished work - and one that is so obviously a one off.
A pleasure to read this outstanding novel. Extremely Highly Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
After devouring Griffith's first two well-written, well-researched works of speculative fiction(Ammonite, Slow River), I was looking forward to Blue Place. Even with the change of genre, I expected more intelligent and literary fiction. I was not entirely disappointed. As usual, Griffith researched the locations and the science well - and the writing was skillful. Her imagination, though - so prevalent in the first two books, seems to have taken a particularly dark turn. Aud Torvingen is an Aryan dream - monied, educated, strong,white - if only she weren't a lesbian. Except for her unsettling enjoyment of violence, she is too perfect - a kind of female Scharwzenegger. This kind of character deserves a satirical edge and there is none. And lastly, I didn't find the book much of a thriller in the traditional sense. There is intense action, violence, wild chases, etc - but, in the end you care less about "who done it" than about Aud herself and her personal evolution. And, in the end, the promise of such an evolution is dashed. Stick to speculative fiction, Nicola - you're MUCH better at it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A MUST-READ!!!
Nicola's Griffith writing style is something i never ran across reading a lot of lesbian fiction or fiction.
A must-read book.
A mixed feelings in the end of the book. Read more
A must-read book.
A mixed feelings in the end of the book. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2008 by K-Nurik-K
Kiss Me, Deadly
The first Nicola Griffith book I read was Slow River. That book (notwithstanding its somewhat bewildering intercutting of time-frames and of first- and third-person narrative) was... Read more
Published on 5 April 2007 by Paul Magnussen
Psychopath Lady Cop on the Loose!
Excuse me? Would blood-lusting Aud get past the psychological assessments of the police force? Since she did I assume this book is a critique of the Atlanta police unit! Read more
Published on 3 Sep 1999
One of the best books I've read in a long time.
Nicola Griffith won me over on page 3 when she described Atlanta in winter as "a pale black and white photograph of a city. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 1999
Good writing, Bad story
I considered myself a great fan of Nicola Griffith's after reading Slow River. However, The Blue Pace did not live up to my expectations. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 1999
Compelling, complex, genre-defying
Complex, layered, The Blue Place is a genre masterpiece. It centers on - indeed, is told from the first-person point of view of, Aud Torvingen, a Jane Bond fantasy super-heroine. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 1999
Dyke Queen Lover of Lesbian Detective Fiction
Quite a change of pace from the other two books in Griffith's oeuvre, but I agree with the other reviewers who liked this one. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 1999
Darkness in life's morning
Nicola Griffith's novels are focusing more and more astutely on the struggle to separate from family, the transition described as eloquently by Gail Sheehy as by the new-age... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 1999
Every book is killer!
Nicola has written four novels, and edited three anthologies. Each of these has won a major award, which is all the more remarkable given her movement from sf writer to sf editor... Read more
Published on 7 May 1999
A great read with interesting characters and description
Once you suspend your disbelief with respect to a 29 year old woman from Denmark being a retired Atlanta police lieutenant, this "novel of suspense" is a great read. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 1999
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