Product Description

A stunning thriller about identity theft from this masterful
American writer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303780 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Time Out
`Boyle is unashamedly an entertainer ... the shambolic criminal
justice system is as well realised as it is in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the
Vanities'

Independent
`Boyle is masterful at putting you right there with Dana, feeling
the full force of each injustice'

Economist
`Entertaining, headlong, and told with the sharp, droll and
inventive prose one would expect from an author of this calibre'

Customer Reviews

Seems like I am the only person who enjoyed this book!
I greatly enjoyed this book and I was surpised to see that others on the whole have been pretty negative about it. Perhaps it is weak compared to his other works - I don't know, because this was my first experience of a TC Boyle novel. I thought the quality of the characterisation was excellent and I was drawn straight in to the deaf girl's world. The identity thief was also portrayed extremely well - much more complex than just a cartoon bad-guy. I really look forward to reading more by this author.

A disgruntled student speaks out!
As an undergrad writing my dissertation on this and East is East I feel compelled to jump to the book's defence! I think people miss the point of T.C Boyle's work. His books are thinly veiled fables of the modern age masquerading as airport literature. Yes his plots are predictable. Admittedly his prose is far from the style of the more elegant American writers, but he is easy to read and focuses upon issues that are pertinent in our time. Read the text literally. Amongst the identity theft of the plot is a transparent metaphor for the identity theft that postmodern society exacts upon us (see theorists such as Baudrillard). Peck is a victim of the system, devoid of a sense of self he assimilates the identities of others. I give this three stars as I would hasten to give five stars to some texts in the canon. However, try Paul Auster's work for truly challenging and eloquent American writing.

NOT HIS FINEST HOUR
T C Boyle has written some cracking books, but this isn't one of them. The plot is just silly - as others have said, too many coincidences, a very poor ending and the never-answered question of why they don't call the cops - and the characters appear to have come from a stock library of goodies and baddies. Boyle shows off his command of the language but to no material effect. The descriptions of what is being cooked are as boring as it gets. I felt cheated, because I stuck with all of this rubbish in the hope of a strong ending, or at least an upturn in the quality of the story. No such luck.