The Traveller : and other stories / Stuart Neville ; [foreword by John Connolly].

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Title:

The Traveller : and other stories / Stuart Neville ; [foreword by John Connolly].

Author:

Neville, Stuart, 1972-

Connolly, John, 1968-

ISBN:

9781641292030

Physical Description:

322 pages

Contents:

Introduction / by the author -- Foreword -- Part I: New monsters. Coming in on time -- The green lady -- Echo -- London safe -- Queen of the hill -- The night hag -- Black beauty -- Part II: Old friends. Followers -- Faith -- The craftsman -- The last dance -- The catastrophist -- The traveller.

Abstract:

"The book is divided into two parts: New Monsters, which contains seven chilling stand-alone tales that traverse and blend the genres of crime fiction, horror, and speculative fiction; and Old Friends, which contains five short pieces that reveal the origins or hidden backstories of Neville fan-favorite characters like Albert Ryan, Roberta Garrick, and of course Gerry Fegan. It also contains the long-awaited novella The Traveller, the companion piece to The Ghosts of Belfast and Collusion, which answers the question of what happened to Jack Lennon and his daughter, Ellen, after they fled Belfast seven years ago. The thirteen stories in this collection, which includes never-before-published pieces, span the decade since the publication of the now-classic The Ghosts of Belfast, and in his revelatory personal introduction Neville describes how each story fit into his career as a writer. Complete with a foreword from Irish crime fiction legend John Connolly, this volume is the perfect indulgence for fans of ghost stories and noir, and is a must-have for devotees of Neville's prizewinning Belfast Cycle novels"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Fathers and daughters -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Northern Ireland -- Fiction.

Genre:

Short stories.

Suspense fiction.

Detective and mystery stories.

Added Author:

Connolly, John, 1968-

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Fiction Book Hardback	120791002830528	F NEV	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A darkly glittering collection of Northern Irish noir by Stuart Neville, Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning author

Since his debut novel, the modern classic The Ghosts of Belfast , was published a decade ago, Stuart Neville has written nine other critically acclaimed novels and achieved international recognition as one of crime fiction's great living writers.

Now for the first time Neville offers readers a collection of his short fiction--twelve chilling stories that traverse and blend the genres of noir, horror, and speculative fiction, and which bring the history and lore of Neville's native Northern Ireland to life. The Traveller concludes with the long-awaited eponymous novella, the companion piece to The Ghosts of Belfast and Collusion .

Complete with a foreword from Irish crime fiction legend John Connolly, this volume is the perfect indulgence for fans of ghost stories and noir, and is a must-have for devotees of Neville's prizewinning Belfast novels.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Set mostly in the author's native Northern Ireland, the 13 tales of horrific crimes and terrifying horrors in this splendid collection from Edgar finalist Neville (The Final Silence) are divided into two sections. Highlights from the first, "New Monsters," include "Coming In on Time," about the anguish of anticipating the unlikely return of a mother; "The Green Lady," in which ghosts and a legendary woman lure a youngster fishing for sticklebacks into trouble; and "London Safe," in which unthinkable consequences await a boy who grows up to find his father living another life in England. "Old Friends," the second section, brings back characters from Neville's novels, notably reprehensible Gerry Fegan of The Ghosts of Belfast, who appears in four stories. The captivating title novella resurrects a presumably dead Fegan as a contract killer hired to avenge the deaths of twin sons. In the tense "Faith," a priest agrees to commit murder for a parishioner; in the disquieting "The Craftsman," Albert and Celia Ryan of Ratlines settle past debts. Each entry turns on an unexpected ending. This chilling assortment of Northern Irish noir is not to be missed. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

Life in contemporary Ireland is bracketed in these 12 tales--all but one of them reprints--by the experiences of young people who've scarcely tasted it and veterans who wish they hadn't. Neville's foreword notes the pleasure he takes in writing stories that provide a break from the long-haul commitments of his novels. But that break is severely limited by both the stories' thematic consistency and their recycling of characters and plotlines from the novels. The six stories in "New Monsters," the first part of the collection, focus on innocents, mostly children, forced all too early in life to confront the ghosts of the past. A boy struggles to deal with the sudden absence of his mother in "Coming in on Time." The title character of "Echo" is defined by his uncanny bond to the sister who died before he was born. "London Safe" tracks a grown man's ill-fated reunion with the father who left him as a child. In the second part, "Old Friends," the focus shifts to the ghosts themselves, dead-eyed souls like IRA hard case Gerry Fegan (last seen in The Ghosts of Belfast, 2009) and aging killer Albert Ryan (from Ratlines, 2013), who can't forget the violent roles they've taken in the Troubles. Child and ghost collide most memorably in The Traveller, the concluding novella, in which Ellen McKenna, the daughter of pensioned cop Jack Lennon (from The Final Silence, 2014), is caught in the crossfire between her father and the nameless assassin, long presumed dead, who's targeted him for a client who, like everyone else in Neville's remorseless world, just can't let the past go. Irish noir done to a turn, with just enough tearful sentiment to turn the screws tighter. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.