
Dishonest Days
Richard House(Author)
Picador (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 21. January 2027
Book
Hardback
624 pages
978-1-5098-3642-0 (ISBN)
Description
Dishonest Days is a thrilling, continent-sweeping novel of conspiracy and revenge from the Man Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Kills.
1986, the Laos-Cambodia border. Fourteen women drown in an accident, all of them participants in a drug trial for Panzet Pharmaceuticals. Scattered between their bodies, boxes of Aspinex DP1024, the unstable and highly addictive variant of a painkiller sold by Panzet. Their deaths are covered up, along with the drug's harmful side effects.
Cuna, Colombia. West Core, an American mining company, funds the worst excesses of the Colombian civil war, laundering money for the cartels. The company forces thirty-five miners to smuggle a cache of emeralds into the United States: their backs are cut open, the jewels inserted into the flesh, and stitched closed.
Edgerton, Wyoming. Peter Norstrom, an employee of West Core, dies of an AIDS-related illness after his employers cut his health insurance in a petty act of revenge. His lover Tom Gellert, researching the impact of long-term exposure to hazardous chemicals at a West Core mine, seeks retribution against the company with an act of domestic terrorism which will trigger a decades-long guerrilla protest movement.
At the heart of all this sit Richard and Patsy Wildemann, the owners of Panzet, West Core and more companies besides, reclusive billionaires who profit from war and disease while laundering their reputations through art and philanthropy.
Stretching from the recent past into the near future, Dishonest Days is an epic thriller that examines the decisions made by people caught up in the waves of history, and what it means to atone for one's mistakes. It is a novel about blood and emeralds, security and power, perfect for readers of Don DeLillo, Roberto Bolano and Thomas Pynchon.
'House's writing is spare and compelling' The Guardian
'A writer at the top of his game' Los Angeles Times
'With a single observation he can give lasting resonance to a few seconds of human awkwardness. House gives us vivid pictures: powerful, bleak, beautiful' The Times Literary Supplement
1986, the Laos-Cambodia border. Fourteen women drown in an accident, all of them participants in a drug trial for Panzet Pharmaceuticals. Scattered between their bodies, boxes of Aspinex DP1024, the unstable and highly addictive variant of a painkiller sold by Panzet. Their deaths are covered up, along with the drug's harmful side effects.
Cuna, Colombia. West Core, an American mining company, funds the worst excesses of the Colombian civil war, laundering money for the cartels. The company forces thirty-five miners to smuggle a cache of emeralds into the United States: their backs are cut open, the jewels inserted into the flesh, and stitched closed.
Edgerton, Wyoming. Peter Norstrom, an employee of West Core, dies of an AIDS-related illness after his employers cut his health insurance in a petty act of revenge. His lover Tom Gellert, researching the impact of long-term exposure to hazardous chemicals at a West Core mine, seeks retribution against the company with an act of domestic terrorism which will trigger a decades-long guerrilla protest movement.
At the heart of all this sit Richard and Patsy Wildemann, the owners of Panzet, West Core and more companies besides, reclusive billionaires who profit from war and disease while laundering their reputations through art and philanthropy.
Stretching from the recent past into the near future, Dishonest Days is an epic thriller that examines the decisions made by people caught up in the waves of history, and what it means to atone for one's mistakes. It is a novel about blood and emeralds, security and power, perfect for readers of Don DeLillo, Roberto Bolano and Thomas Pynchon.
'House's writing is spare and compelling' The Guardian
'A writer at the top of his game' Los Angeles Times
'With a single observation he can give lasting resonance to a few seconds of human awkwardness. House gives us vivid pictures: powerful, bleak, beautiful' The Times Literary Supplement
Reviews / Votes
House's writing is spare and compelling * The Guardian * A writer at the top of his game * Los Angeles Times * With a single observation he can give lasting resonance to a few seconds of human awkwardness. House gives us vivid pictures: powerful, bleak, beautiful * Times Literary Supplement *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5098-3642-0 (9781509836420)
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

E-Book
approx. 01/2027
Picador
€21.99
Not yet available
Person
Richard House is an author and artist. As well as the digital-first novel The Kills, he has written two previous novels (Bruiser and Uninvited), which were published by Serpent's Tail in the 1990s. He is a member of the Chicago-based collaborative Haha.