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Title: Free by Paul Vincent ISBN: 1-84426-255-3 Publisher: Upfront Publishing Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A great black comedy read!
Comment: British author Paul Vincent's latest novel, Free, centers around a story of a young man, Sal, who falls madly in love with a dark haired woman with blond eyebrows, Gabrielle, at a pavement café in Northern Spain.
After a brief courtship, the two decide on marriage, which shortly takes place, after both move from their homes in England to the Basque Country of Spain.
Very soon thereafter, Sal receives the first of a series of eight harrowing and threatening letters, the first of which states: "Dear Sal: I will send just 8 letters to you. By the 8th letter, you will either love me or I will have killed you. You know me."
It turns out that the sender of the letter is the former lover of Gabrielle, Alex Lawrence, who claims to be still married to Gabrielle, and he is going to win her back at any cost, even if it means murder. In fact, Alex presents a false marriage certificate to Sal, when they first personally meet up. He further goes on to inform Sal that he still loves Gabrielle, and if he cannot have her, no one else can, even though, as he claims, she is deceitful, an impostor and a gold digger, who will fleece Sal out of every penny he has.
The plot effectively takes on all of the elements of a compelling black comedy, notably the author's sense of the absurd, and the themes of death, personal misfortune and even morbid subjects as the hideous murder of Sal's working assistant, Olaia, and the twice kidnapping of a baby, Sal and Gabrielle's daughter, Amy.
Cleverly mixed into the plot is the question of Gabrielle's sometimes-rash behavior, bordering on the insane, prodding the readers to ask who is she? After all, Sal had known very little about her background prior to their marriage. Is she in fact the stalker and the sender of the letters and did she kidnap their baby girl? Is what Alex told Sal true? Interesting enough, even the ending of the story leaves the reader still pondering these same questions.
To even more complicate the plot, political elements are also introduced, when the reader learns that Sal's father was from the Basque Country and his mother was from Ireland.
Could it be that Ireland's IRA or Spain's ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna- a Basque fatherland and liberty group who wish to create an independent homeland in Spain's Basque region.) are somehow mixed up into the plot.
Most significantly, throughout the reading of the novel, readers are constantly propelled to continually read on through this exciting, somewhat chilling, and even comical narrative. Vincent fully grasps what black comedy is all about. He is an expert in never losing sight of its elements in a way that will no doubt prove to be satisfying to fans of this genre, as well as those who are not familiar with black comedy.
Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures
Rating: 4
Summary: NOT AN AVERAGE THRILLER
Comment: I could not get enough of this. It is very human and laid back and yet also a pure adrenalin rush, a combination you wouldn't think is possible. I could not recommend this any more highly.
Rating: 5
Summary: A THRILL RIDE...
Comment: It has the kind of pace you'd expect from James Patterson but is more literary. A mild mannered man starts receiving letters threatening his life and we, the reader, start to think in fact it's his wife who's sending them. The next thing we know, his life is turned upside down, and he's wanted for a murder and kidnap he didn't do. It would be hard to find a top quality book that is as gripping and funny as this. I loved it.
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Title: The Big Bad Wolf: A Novel by James Patterson ISBN: 0316602906 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 17 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: A Cold Heart: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman ISBN: 0345452550 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: 3rd Degree by James Patterson, Andrew Gross ISBN: 0316603570 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford ISBN: 0399151397 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Lost Light by Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316154601 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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