We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
Midnight in a Perfect Life
On sale
26th May 2011
Price: £9.99
From the BOOKER-shortlisted author of THE KEEPERS OF TRUTH. A writer’s journey towards fatherhood throws up shadows from his past.
Karl is a troubled writer standing on the precipice of forty. After a degree of success in his early career he is now battling with what he terms his ‘opus’, his legacy to the world. But his partner Lori, the main breadwinner, is also thinking about her destiny and wants a child. As they embark on fertility treatment, Karl is forced to confront his deepest fear – that he will turn out to be like his father, a travelling salesman who was found dead after apparently committing murder when Karl was just thirteen.
Unbeknown to Lori, Karl has already taken loans out against their house to pay for his mother’s care home, and his freelance work, ghosting for a crime writer called Perry Fennimore, has dried up. As the fertility treatment progresses, Karl feels increasingly distanced from his relationship and the safety of home, and attracted to the shadowlands of Chicago’s backstreets. When Fennimore re-emerges with a proposal, Karl begins to tap this new source of creativity – but just how far will he go in his pursuit of the ultimate story?
Karl is a troubled writer standing on the precipice of forty. After a degree of success in his early career he is now battling with what he terms his ‘opus’, his legacy to the world. But his partner Lori, the main breadwinner, is also thinking about her destiny and wants a child. As they embark on fertility treatment, Karl is forced to confront his deepest fear – that he will turn out to be like his father, a travelling salesman who was found dead after apparently committing murder when Karl was just thirteen.
Unbeknown to Lori, Karl has already taken loans out against their house to pay for his mother’s care home, and his freelance work, ghosting for a crime writer called Perry Fennimore, has dried up. As the fertility treatment progresses, Karl feels increasingly distanced from his relationship and the safety of home, and attracted to the shadowlands of Chicago’s backstreets. When Fennimore re-emerges with a proposal, Karl begins to tap this new source of creativity – but just how far will he go in his pursuit of the ultimate story?
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
A gentle and reflective novel
[Collins] is a stylist, blessed with the gift of having something worth saying
Collins is a considerable stylist . . . his prose has a thoughtful, sinewy quality, a kind of subliminal toughness of mind
One of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only in Ireland but anywhere in recent decades
This excellent novel draws on several genres . . . to make something unique
Part detective story, part philosophical tract with a nod to both Donna Tartt and STephen King, this novel is compelling, thought-provoking and just a little bit spooky