Death of a Murderer
Rupert Thomson(Author)
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
1st Edition
Published on 2. April 2007
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-7475-8804-7 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
Towards the end of November 2002, Billy Tyler, a police constable in his mid-forties, is summoned to the mortuary of a hospital in Suffolk. For the next twelve hours, from seven in the evening till seven in the morning, he is responsible for guarding the body of the notorious child-killer, Myra Hindley. In the face of public hostility and media frenzy, Billy's job, as his superior puts it, is to 'make sure nothing happens'. As a seasoned police officer, Billy's approach is utterly professional, but as the night wears on, in the eerie silence of the hospital, the dead woman's presence begins to assert itself, and Billy's own problems and anxieties - a stalled career, a fractious marriage, a disabled daughter - gradually acquire a new and unexpected significance. In this daring novel, Rupert Thomson takes on one of the most controversial subjects of our time and addresses the difficult questions that arise from it. Who do we love, and why? How do we protect our children? What separates us from the people we call monsters?
A vivid evocation of an extraordinary moment in crime history, Death of a Murderer is one man's dark night of the soul, a gripping meditation on the fears and temptations that haunt the lives of all of us.
A vivid evocation of an extraordinary moment in crime history, Death of a Murderer is one man's dark night of the soul, a gripping meditation on the fears and temptations that haunt the lives of all of us.
Reviews / Votes
'Rupert Thomson reaches the summit of his powers with his new book DEATH OF A MURDERER, a novel of beautiful moral complexity. We thought we knew Myra Hindley, and were done with her, but Thomson brings a fresh awareness of life and death to the matter, and shows, in the goodness of the telling, a wealth of the novelist's art.' Andrew O'Hagan Praise for DIVIDED KINGDOM: 'Thomson is probably the best writer of my generation wonderful and full of wonders a uniquely disturbing tale for our time.' Amanda Craig, Literary Review 'A book of real depth and superb storytelling it has 'future classic' written all over it.' Mail on Sunday 'Relentlessly compelling and enormously impressive strange, evocative and sensuous.' Daily TelegraphMore details
Edition
1., Aufl.
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7475-8804-7 (9780747588047)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions

Rupert Thomson
Death of a Murderer
Book
02/2008
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€11.90
Article is exhausted; no reprint
Additional editions

Rupert Thomson
Death of a Murderer
E-Book
08/2012
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Paperbacks
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Rupert Thomson is the author of seven previous novels. His books have been shortlisted for awards including the Writer's Guild Fiction Prize for Air and Fire and the Guardian Prize for Fiction. He lives in Barcelona with his wife and daughter.