- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Myrmidon Books Ltd; New Ed edition (25 Nov 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 190580203X
- ISBN-13: 978-1905802036
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 610,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"Sebastian Beaumont's novel Thirteen is the best thing I have read this year and one of the two or three finest books I have come across since the new century kicked in." --Scott Pack
"Sebastian Beaumont pulls off two impressive feats in his first novel. He writes a colloquial, first-person narrative that is consistently engaging; and he creates a dreamlike, alternate world without stretching the reader's credulity or patience." --Nicholas Clee, The Guardian
"Stimulating and entertaining" --Francis King
"Sebastian Beaumont pulls off two impressive feats in his first novel. He writes a colloquial, first-person narrative that is consistently engaging; and he creates a dreamlike, alternate world without stretching the reader's credulity or patience." --Nicholas Clee, The Guardian
"Stimulating and entertaining" --Francis King
Product Description
Thirteen is not a number, it is a state of mind. "Thirteen" is the story of Stephen Bardot, a taxi driver working on the night shift in Brighton. He works such long shifts that he is often driving while exhausted, and it is then that he starts to experience major alterations to his perception of reality. People start to take lifts in his cab who know things they shouldn't, and who ultimately may not even be real, although the question of what constitutes reality forms one of the basic themes of the novel. He regularly gives lifts to Valerie - beautiful, haunting, but terminal - from 13 Wish Road to her 'positive thinking classes' at the Cornerstone Community Centre on Palmeira Square. When he is no longer asked to collect her, he fears that she is dead, and queries this with Sal, one of the night operators. Her response turns Stephen's world upside down. 'But Stephen,' she tells him, 'there is no such address. Wish Road doesn't have a number thirteen.' She's right. Wish Road's odd numbers are 7, 9, 11, 11a, 15, 17...And number 11a looks totally different from the house he thinks of as number Thirteen. So where has he been collecting Valerie from all this time? A house that doesn't exist? As time passes, the world gets weirder. People appear (and disappear) who know far too much about Stephen and his past, and who lure him further and further into the twilight world of Thirteen. But if he asks any questions, he gets hurt. Ultimately, he decides, for the sake of both his safety and his sanity, he must walk away. But "Thirteen" has no intention of letting him go...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was hooked on this one from the moment I picked it up. I love books that play around with the idea of what is real and what isn't. Having a central character (Stephen Bardot) who is a taxi driver working a night shift is a great way of introducing weird characters and strange atmospheres. The author conjures up that spooky middle-of-the-night way of thinking, and runs with it as far as it is possible to take it. I've never really thought of wrestling with your own unconscious as a life-or-death struggle, but that is exactly what Stephen faces. Self-knowledge comes at a hefty price here and it is sometimes unclear whether it is worth it. I found the story spine tingling, macabre and wildly funny by turns.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Beaumont's debut is assured, compelling and elegant.
Anyone who has ever experienced the lifestyle, stresses and strangeness associated with nocturnal taxi-driving will easily empathise with the narrator, and Beaumont builds nicely on that initial sympathy to draw the reader into a macabre dreamscape where the hypnological and hallucinatory lock horns over the sanity of the exhausted, confused driver.
I read this in two sittings and it lingered for days - a slow-burner of a story, infused with memory, guilt, and dominated by the surreal, Bacon-esque threesome involving the tangled limbs of landscape, memory and relationships.
An excellent debut, and beautifully produced too.
Anyone who has ever experienced the lifestyle, stresses and strangeness associated with nocturnal taxi-driving will easily empathise with the narrator, and Beaumont builds nicely on that initial sympathy to draw the reader into a macabre dreamscape where the hypnological and hallucinatory lock horns over the sanity of the exhausted, confused driver.
I read this in two sittings and it lingered for days - a slow-burner of a story, infused with memory, guilt, and dominated by the surreal, Bacon-esque threesome involving the tangled limbs of landscape, memory and relationships.
An excellent debut, and beautifully produced too.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Reading this book, I felt as if I had entered another dimension, a strange world where everything was slightly off-centre. Stephen ( the central character ) is a believable and likeable companion on the journey. The little anecdotes about the passengers he carries in his taxi are so realistic, that the "fantasy" elements of the story are grounded by these day to day events, and the whole thing just sucks you in. A very readable writing style, it was definitely a pleasure to spend time with this author.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Easy and Intriguing - just what I needed
I devoured Thirteen in two days. It was exactly the kind of book that I felt like reading when I read it. Good place, good time. Read more
Published on 30 May 2009 by Mr. SD Halliday
I ate this book for lunch!
I could not put this book down... A fantastic, gripping story. A must read for anyone who is interested in alternative worlds, it really got my imagination going!! ENJOY!
Published on 13 Sep 2008 by drift_wood
Intriguing and deft
A couple of reviewers have commented that the conclusion of this book is ambiguous - something I had worried about while reading it. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2008 by booksy
13 - Unlucky for Beaumont
Thirteen revolves around the mental state of Stephen Bardot, a nighttime taxi driver. Through a combination of exhaustion and depression he finds himself involved in a world where... Read more
Published on 25 July 2008 by Wildlife Bookworm
This novel really draws you in to its state of mind...
Stephen Bardot is depressed after the failure of his business, and agrees to become a night-time taxi driver for a year. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2008 by Annabel Gaskell
A state of mind
This is an enthralling read that only leaves you pondering the rather implausible and unnecessary loose ends after you've read it. The journey's worth the head scratching. Read more
Published on 27 May 2008 by Archy
What a journey, what a ride
Stephen Bardot, the hero of this book, decides to delve into the hallucinatory world in the back of his own dark mind. Read more
Published on 16 May 2008 by Dr. E. Draper
Haven't read it yet, don't know.
Just wanted to thank you all. I read his 'The Cruelty of Silence' some years ago and wanted to send it to a friend for Christmas, so just happened upon all these 5 star reviews. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2007 by Mrs. Michele R. Simpson
A delightful find...
You know that feeling you get when you find some money down the back of the sofa? That sense of cheating dumb fate and actually getting up on the deal somehow? Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2007 by bloodsimple
Superb , deep yet accessible.
This is a very observant look by someone who knows their subject, about the phenomenon of depression and also,though very much linked, the lives of those who inhabit the "night... Read more
Published on 19 July 2007 by Mr. Ian Gillibrand
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