The American
Published on 28. October 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-553-82572-5 (ISBN)
Description
The locals in the Italian village where he lives call him Signor Farfalla - Mr Butterfly. He is a discreet gentleman who spends his time studying rare butterflies.
But Farfalla's real profession is deadly. He considers himself an artisan, not for the butterflies he paints but for the guns he creates for assassins.
Farfalla has resolved to make his next job his last. Then, perhaps, he can settle down comfortably in the Italian village he has grown to love and enjoy the remainder of his life without constantly looking over his shoulder.
But a treacherous circle is closing in on him...
But Farfalla's real profession is deadly. He considers himself an artisan, not for the butterflies he paints but for the guns he creates for assassins.
Farfalla has resolved to make his next job his last. Then, perhaps, he can settle down comfortably in the Italian village he has grown to love and enjoy the remainder of his life without constantly looking over his shoulder.
But a treacherous circle is closing in on him...
Reviews / Votes
There are echoes of Nabokov in this in this tense and poetic mystery * Today * Crisp yet lyrical, simple yet intelligent...haunting, shocking, and tense...Readers looking for thought-provoking literary fiction can't do any better than this * Booklist * A psychological suspense thriller invested with life-and-death gravitas * Seattle Times * With Farfalla, Booth has a created a rich, conflicted antihero whose clever rationalizations mask a soul weary with self-doubt * Boston Globe * The lazy, languid setting is an eerily effective backdrop for the fresh and beguiling murder intrigue...With first-rate characters and a gradual buildup of suspense, Booth constructs a focused, tightly written novel * Publishers Weekly * A psychological suspense thriller invested with life-and-death gravitas * Seattle Times * Booth's prose exhibits such a nicely pointed clarity that it would be all too easy to devour this beguiling story and to take for granted its artful construction, its sparkle, its vivid conjuring of character and landscape * Sunday Times *More details
Edition
Media tie-in
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Edition type
Media tie-in
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
452 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-553-82572-5 (9780553825725)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Martin Booth, novelist, critic, biographer, children's author and social historian, died of a brain tumor in 2004. Shortly after diagnosis, he began to write his acclaimed memoir of his childhood in Hong Kong, Gweilo which he completed shortly before his death. Amongst his acclaimed novels were Hiroshima Joe, based on the life of a real down-and-out Briton who had survived the Nagasaki atomic raid, The Industry of Souls, which was short-listed for the Booker prize, and A Very Private Gentleman, which has now been filmed as The American, starring George Clooney.