From Publishers Weekly Right from the hair-raising start of this stunning debut, readers will know that something awful is going to happen at the British boys' boarding school, Kirkston Abbey. Thanks to Redmond's masterfully subtle foreshadowing, a brooding sense of impending disaster is maintained throughout his gripping suspense thriller. Set in the late '50s and bookended by a pair of scenes in which a reporter introduces and closes the story, the narrative centers on loner Richard Rokeby. "Arrestingly good looking," sharp-tongued, smart and aloof, Rokeby unnerves schoolmasters and students alike. James Wheatley, campus tough guy, will do anything to impress and befriend Rokeby, but Rokeby gives his friendship to sensitive Jonathan Palmer instead. Rokeby and Palmer recognize an indefinable "something" that bonds them intensely, and during one school holiday, they play an angry little game on a Ouija board. The details given to the reader are scant at first, but the eventual violent results are terrifyingly vivid. Rokeby becomes possessive of Palmer, domineering and jealous, evolving into an amoral monster and coolly rattling all the skeletons in the closets of Kirkston Abbey's faculty and students. Redmond tantalizes with his miserly description of those secrets, adding to the novel's cumulative power; an aura of tangible menace hisses behind the narrative's unfolding like a slow fuse heading for dynamite. There's a dark fairy tale at the core of the mystery (both Palmer and Rokeby have serious stepmother issues) and a kind of ethical dilemma for readers, who will not know whom to root for as the villains and heroes mutate and shift positions. The climax is refreshingly nonformulaic. Readers will welcome a writer bold enough to leave some things to the imagination, especially when that audacity is accompanied by the finesse Redmont displays here. $150,000 ad/promo. (Sept.) FYI: London lawyer Redmond's novel has been published in the U.K. as The Wishing Game. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal The lives of four British schoolboys are drastically altered when one of them befriends the school rebel, a young man consumed by rage whose only joy seems to be outsmarting and humiliating those around him. The two boys begin to play with a Ouija board, which unleashes an evil power and apparently gives them the ability to learn the exploitable secrets of those around them. While it paints a vivid and harrowing picture of life at a claustrophobic British boys' school, complete with hazing, harassment, and homosexuality, this book never quite gets off the ground. Certain crucial details are omitted, such as the origin of the evil power or exactly how the boys are able to discover the skeletons in everyone's closets. Regrettably, just as the action picks up, first novelist Redmond begins to tell the story from the point of view of another boy, an outsider to the evil doingsAa narrative strategy that does little for what could have been a fairly exciting conclusion. Recommended only for larger libraries.ALisa Bier, Albuquerque P.L., NM Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews
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我通常不太喜欢探讨社会议题的作品,总觉得它们容易说教或流于表面。但这本书,它通过一个引人入胜的故事外壳,非常巧妙地植入了对当下社会结构和权力运作机制的深刻洞察。它没有直接地批判,而是通过构建一个极端化的情境,让我们不得不去直面一些我们日常选择回避的问题。角色们的挣扎,其实就是我们现实生活中隐喻性的缩影。作者在处理群像戏时显示出了惊人的功力,他能够让几十个配角都拥有清晰可辨的个性、口音乃至思维定式,这使得整个社会图景显得无比真实可信。我特别欣赏书中处理“信息不对称”这一点,它精准地揭示了在信息被垄断或扭曲的环境下,个体是如何被系统性地边缘化和操控的。读完后,我感觉自己对周围世界的运作规律有了更清晰、也更警惕的认识。它不仅仅是一本娱乐性很强的作品,更像是一面棱镜,折射出现实世界中那些我们习以为常却又细思极恐的运作逻辑。
评分说实话,我一开始对这本书的期待值并不高,认为它大概率会是那种堆砌流行元素的商业小说。然而,这本书真正吸引我的地方在于其世界观的构建——它太有创意了,而且逻辑自洽得令人震惊。作者似乎构建了一套完整的、甚至带有微观物理学意味的内部规则体系,并且严格遵守这些规则来推进叙事。每一个超乎寻常的设定,都不是为了炫技而存在,而是紧密服务于推动人物命运的核心冲突。我尤其喜欢它在描述一些关键转折点时所使用的视角切换技巧。原本以为故事是围绕A人物展开的,但突然间镜头拉远,揭示了B人物对A行动的微妙影响,这种全局观的展现,让整个故事的格局瞬间被打开了。对于喜欢硬核设定和精密世界构建的读者来说,这本书绝对是惊喜。它不是那种读完就忘的消遣品,它更像是一张需要仔细研究的地图,每一条路线的交叉点都隐藏着作者深思熟虑的伏笔。我甚至忍不住去查阅了一些作者的访谈,想知道他是如何设计出如此庞大而又严丝合缝的体系的。
评分这是一部结构极其精巧,充满哲学思辨的作品,它探讨的主题远超出了单纯的故事情节本身。我常常在阅读过程中停下来,思考作者抛出的那些关于人性、道德边界以及宿命论的拷问。角色塑造的层次感非常丰富,没有绝对的好人或坏人,每个人物都有其深埋的动机和无法言说的过去。你很难用简单的“正义”或“邪恶”去标签化他们,他们更像是复杂的生态系统中的各个组成部分,相互制约,共同驱动着故事向一个不可逆转的终点滑去。作者的文字风格内敛而富有韵律感,即便是描述最血腥或最压抑的场景时,笔触也保持着一种近乎冷静的疏离感,这反而加深了那种深入骨髓的寒意。它不像某些作品那样靠不断的感官刺激来维持注意力,而是通过精妙的心理侧写和隐晦的象征手法,让你自己去发掘文字背后的深层含义。读完合上书本后,那种久久不能散去的“后劲”非常足,它迫使你重新审视自己对某些既定观念的看法。这是一本需要反复咀嚼,并且值得被纳入“年度思考之书”的佳作。
评分这本书的叙事节奏简直让人欲罢不能,作者对于情节的掌控力堪称一绝。一开始,我还担心故事会陷入某种刻板的套路之中,毕竟现在市面上的悬疑惊悚类小说太多了,大多都是虎头蛇尾或者在关键时刻掉链子。但从翻开第一页起,我就被拽入了一个完全陌生的世界,那个世界的规则冷酷而迷人。主角的每一次选择都充满了张力,你几乎能感受到他肩上压着的千斤重担,每一次呼吸都像是踩在刀刃上。我特别欣赏作者对环境的细致描摹,无论是那种令人窒息的密闭空间,还是那种广袤却暗藏杀机的开阔地带,都描绘得栩栩如生,让人仿佛身临其境。更妙的是,作者巧妙地运用了多条故事线,它们看似平行发展,却在适当的时候以一种近乎完美的几何结构汇合,产生巨大的情感冲击。那种“原来如此”的顿悟感,是阅读这类作品最大的乐趣之一,而这本书成功地将这种乐趣最大化了。我甚至有好几次因为情节的急转直下而猛地从沙发上弹起来,心脏怦怦直跳,不得不放下书深呼吸几分钟才能继续。这种纯粹的、肾上腺素飙升的阅读体验,我已经很久没有体会到了。
评分这本书的文笔简直可以称得上是文学享受,它读起来更像是在品味一首长篇的、充满张力的现代诗歌。语言的密度非常高,没有一句是多余的,每一个词汇的选择都精准地到位,充满了画面感和情绪重量。那种感觉就像是作者用最少的墨水,却描绘出了最广阔的风景。它不太侧重于快节奏的行动场面,反而更深入地挖掘了人物内心深处那些隐秘的角落和自我怀疑。那种细腻到近乎痛苦的内心独白,让人读了会忍不住感同身受,仿佛作者直接接入了你的意识流。我发现自己会不自觉地放慢阅读速度,不是因为情节难懂,而是因为那些优美的、措辞精妙的句子值得被反复回味。特别是关于“记忆”和“真实”的段落,作者对时间和感知的处理非常出色,它模糊了我们日常生活中对客观现实的认知,让人在阅读过程中产生一种轻微的眩晕感。这种对语言艺术的极致追求,使得这本书的阅读体验非常独特和高级。
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