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The Keepers of Truth Michael Collins

The Keepers of Truth By Michael Collins

The Keepers of Truth by Michael Collins


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Summary

Prose with bite. A dark new novel from much-praised young Irish writer

The Keepers of Truth Summary

The Keepers of Truth: Shortlisted for the 2000 Booker Prize by Michael Collins

It is the mid-80s in post-industrial America. Men no longer produce things with their hands but Pac-man consumer culture has yet to lift the recession. In a small town graced with the decaying hulks of defunct factories, young journalist and college dropout Bill churns out lengthy essays on the death of industry and of America itself for The Daily Truth, whose scoops rarely rise above the latest home-bake contest. Bill broods over the suicide of his father and the decline of their family ? an industrial empire built on refrigerators and founded on his immigrant grandfather?s dream of America. The static summer is punctured when local bad boy Ronny Lawton reports his father missing. A dismembered finger is found and all suspect the son of murdering his hated father, but nothing can be proved. The sorry tale of the white trash Lawtons hypnotises the town and Ronny Lawton becomes a local icon. Bill becomes increasingly obsessed with the story ? he gets involved with Ronny?s estranged wife, finds a decomposing human head, and ends up as a suspect in the murder case himself. Things come to a head and Ronny Lawton holds his wife, child and Bill hostage in a confrontation with the FBI. Bill escapes with the woman and child and contemplates the American dream gone sour.
Michael Collins? writing is sharp and intense ? the decline of the town, of an era, of a culture, of individual lives, is detailed in a gripping narrative. Intertwined with a meditation on the state of America and on failed dreams is the story of the axe-murder investigation which keeps you on the edge of your seat as the characters rush headlong to their destruction ? cathartic and inevitable.

The Keepers of Truth Reviews

[Collins] is a stylist, blessed with the gift of having something worth saying * SCOTSMAN *
A style so arrestingly visual it hijacks the reader's concentration; dazzling with the energy and originality of the language * INDEPENDENT *
Collins is a considerable stylist . . . his prose has a thoughtful, sinewy quality, a kind of subliminal toughness of mind * TELEGRAPH *
Collins is undoubtedly an exciting talent, capable of writing razor-sharp prose and he has produced a gripping, stylish novel that deserves to be read * TLS *
One of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only in Ireland but anywhere in recent decades -- Susan Hill * THE TIMES *

About Michael Collins

Michael Collins was born in 1964. He was educated in Belfast, Dublin and Chicago. His short stories have been awarded the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Award in Ireland and the Pushcart Prize in America.

Additional information

GOR007627506
9781861591784
1861591780
The Keepers of Truth: Shortlisted for the 2000 Booker Prize by Michael Collins
Used - Good
Hardback
Orion Publishing Co
2000-01-27
297
Short-listed for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002 Short-listed for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002 Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 2000
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Keepers of Truth