Product Description

The shop is everything to him - always neat and tidy, safe and reliable, the rental DVDs carefully categorised, alphabetised and memorised. He thinks he knows his customers, until the bloodstains begin to appear - on grubby banknotes, on porn DVDs, and on the shop's fresh new carpet. Then the girl comes into his life, green eyes and fresh scarlet slashed beneath her thin cotton blouse. He wants to rescue and protect her. He wants to be with her. Forever. Murky and disturbing, "9987" is a jagged, tragic crime story set in a disturbing, uncaring world where only three things are constant: fantasy, loneliness and love. 'Gripping, cinematic, voyeuristic. A delightfully disturbing debut' - Caroline Smailes ("Black Boxes", "In Search of Adam").

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307379 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 268 pages

About the Author
Nik Jones is a teacher and occasional barman from County Durham. After being asked politely to leave Canada had little option but to attend Bath Spa University and study Creative Writing and Media Communications. It was here he started this, his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Cinematic - what a true description!!!
The description says "cinematic" and cinematic it most definately is. There aren't many books that you picture yourself in from the minute you start reading but this is one of them. You can imagine yourself as a visitor to the DVD store in the book or even as a fly on the wall. Nik's descriptions of the characters are ones that allow you to be part of the story gradually building to a thorough understanding of their lives. Read this and you will understand what I mean - As a debut I am well impressed, I look forward to Nik's next book and hope he gets the recognition for 9987 he deserves.

Abandon soap all ye who enter...
...the pages of this very fine debut novel. It's a dirty read. Besmeared with blood, bodily emissions and general voyeuristic misery, 'He' our narrator, is like a shambling Mickey Rourke in the film 'Angel Heart' who finds his way to Hell via Robert De Niro - like you do...except 'He' is already in Hell, but keeps on descending. And love, love will only tear him apart. This is a repulsively funny book. Well done Mr Jones.

Mr Jones writes like William Burroughs meets Colin Bateman in Consett.

An author to watch
9987 kept me enthralled from start to finish.

I now understand why Caroline Smailes referred to it as 'Cinematic'. This is one to watch and I mean that quite literally. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was made into a movie in the next few years.

The main character is most endearingly disturbed. I know such a thing should be impossible but I challenge you to read the book without thinking the same thing...well for the first half of the novel anyway. I blame Nik Jones's skill at luring the reader into initially believing that his main character is simply a diligent worker, confused, obsessive but generally a well intentioned young man.

Eventually his darker side is revealed but by then the reader has already fallen under the spell of his gentle 'mommy's boy' alter ego. By the last chapter he is clearly, irredeemably and unlovabley psychotic. Even then Nik Jones still managed to shock me with the ending to 9987, perhaps I am too gullible or perhaps I'm not. You'll have to buy a copy and make your own mind up.

I dare you to spend an evening in after reading this without making sure your doors are locked, windows are shut and curtains pulled tightly together.