Product Description

This collection of interwoven stories is a gripping, haunting read, with an edgy tone reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe at his most dazzling and thought-provoking. Its dark, disquieting images linger long after the book itself is finished.

'Duncker is a mistress of suspense . . . a writer of fascinating versatility. Her preoccupations - sex, power, obsession, archaeology, perversion, revenge, food - are always consuming, never prosaic. Seven Tales of Sex and Death is a febrile, fascinating, disquieting read. It asserts itself for what it is: serious stuff, to be read in one gulp and then mulled over for days' MAGGIE O'FARRELL, Independent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #404646 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'These tales are night-pieces... amoral, vindictive and unforgiving... The seven tales were written to disturb and provoke. I want my readers to revisit the cliches of sexuality and violence, to read them afresh - and to think again' Patricia Duncker

Financial Times
‘This collection of stories confirms Patricia Duncker as one of Britain’s leading fiction writers . . . She should be required reading’

Michael Arditti, Independent
‘This is a wonderfully engaging and rewarding collection, shot through with wit and perversity’

Customer Reviews

Fascinating tales
These tales give us all the hallmarks of Duncker's fine writing and I couldn't put it down - wonderfully erotic and powerful stuff. Definitely one I'd recommend!

Not one of her best...
I really dislike this collection of `stories'... it is definitively not one of Duncker's best publication. After the first story (acceptable...) the decline is fast and irrevocable. Everyone dies, one way or another, and some have sex... occasionally... and this is supposed to be the link between these disjointed and utterly boring narratives...? I think not! Erotic...? Absolutely not!
Some of these stories are obviously Francophile and tediously so... And I resent the unnecessary Q & A sessions, full of clichés and just thrown in for effect (such as on p.161): "How many are there? Two people, both wearing dark glasses. Does Monsieur Barthez advertise? Yes, in Le Monde, the holiday supplement. No water in it, though? Or has he filled it up? Of course he's filled it up." And so on, all this in the course of half a page...
In this `book' Duncker is definitively scraping the crumbs off her bottom drawer...