Product Description

There was a sailor's graveyard in Moon Beach. This was where the funeral business first started. Rumour had it that the witch's fingers used to reach out and sink ships. But there hadn't been a wreck for years, and all the funeral parlours had moved downtown. From the author of "Dreams of Leaving".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266516 in Books
• Published on: 1991-03-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

A very different - and superb - book.
This was the second book by Rupert Thomson which I had read (the Book of Revelation was the first - The Five Gates... is far superior to my mind). I didn't know what to expect; from the title one would presume some sort of horror, but infact this wasn't to be the case.

Firstly, the quality of writing in this book is superb. For me, his use of language compares with Martin Amis; a description of someone's skin as being "green, like the colour of slow rivers" is one phrase which really stuck in my mind, but the book is full of throwaway descriptions which please and astonish by turns.

The story almost plays second fiddle to the wordsmithing, but it's still very good. The characters are complex individuals, and they are set in a story which doesn't feel the need to be conventional but doesn't seem forced for all that.

Those with an obsessive need to pigeonhole novels may find themselves frustrated by this; its not horror, its not a thriller, its not a whodunnit or a crime novel...throughout the entire book, there's the faint whiff of the supernatural - quite where this smell emanates from is very hard to pinpoint.

In summary, this is a fabulous book: uneasy, unusual, but unputdownable as well. Highly recommmended if you like something a little out of the ordinary.

The Five Gates of Hell lead to heavenly fiction
This is by far the best Rupert Thompson novel I've read so far (after Soft and The Insult) and in Thompson's visionary kingdom of descriptive imagery only the three-eyed are kings. If you prefer novels with a clear sense of direction you'll possibly appreciate this more than his other books, though it still shares his trademark similes which animate people and objects on every page ,immersing you further into the well-crafted characters and plot.
Riveting stuff - be prepared for some late nights.

More twists and turns then a one-way system... brilliant!
From the outset the book tries to dazzle and confuse. Following two seemingly seperate characters through their lives, proving life is by no means simple... Brilliantly written if a little coarse at times, but thought provoking and a blooming good read.