|
Loading... The Lying Tongueby Andrew Wilson
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This thriller has echoes of Patricia Highsmith's novels, although is not as good as them. The main character, a British man who has just graduated from university, is offered a job in Italy to assist a very eccentric old writer who lives a reclusive life in a Palazzo in Venice. Unknown to his very private employer, he plans to write a biography about him. In the process of his research into the old man's life he discovers his very well hidden secrets and develops a duplicitous relationship with him. Although the young researcher is initially portrait as a naive character, much darker sides of his personality are discovered later on. This depiction of the narrator does not work well, it is quite clumsy and it is not robust enough to make the end of the story believable. (  ) alalba | Sep 6, 2009 |  When reading The Lying Tongue by Andrew Wilson, I took issue with the characters at every turn, but that's not to say this is anything more than just my personal preferences. The book is about Adam Woods, a recent college graduate from England who plans to tutor a young man in Venice. When those plans fall through, he begins a stint as a personal assistant to the eccentric, reclusive writer Gordon Crace, whose first novel was a major success, but he never wrote a follow-up. Crace doesn't want to discuss his writing or his personal life, but Adam begins uncovering the details. He tells Crace that he's in Venice to write a novel, but soon he decides he will secretly gather information to write Crace's biography. more (  ) annaeccentric | Jul 15, 2009 | This book, The Lying Tongue by Andrew Wilson, is a psychological suspense story set in modern day Venice but involving a mystery from 1960s England. The mystery itself and the unexpected solution are inventive but some of the plot elements seemed random and irrelevant. Adam is a recent college graduate who is an aspiring writer. Through a series of random events, he ends up employed by a one-time writer who is now holed up in a villa in Venice. Adam is supposed to take care of cleaning, cooking and home maintenance but ends up working on the author's correspondence and finds what appears to be a blackmail letter. He decides to find out the history behind the letter and ends up in a complex situation caused by lies and deception. The writing was good in this book and the ending was creepy and strange. http://webereading.com/2009/04/wherev... (  ) klpm | Apr 29, 2009 | Adam goes to Venice for a tutoring job and an opportunity to work on his novel but on arriving he is told the offer of employment no longer stands. Instead he is put in touch with Gordon Crace, a reclusive author of one very successful book who has never published again following his first success with The Debating Society. Adam becomes intregued by Crace, especially when part of his duties as personal assistant lead him to discover letters from a would-be biographer hinting at a scandal and some attempts at blackmail from a near illiterate woman in England. Adam decides to abandon his novel and focus on writing his own biography of Crace and returns to England to investigate. It is here that we discover his own secrets before a return to Venice and a final confrontation. This book was fairly gripping and I was keen to discover the facts behind the mystery, although when I did I was a little disappointed. Adam's own life was far more turbulent and shocking that that of his subject and a bit more of his story would have pleased me more. But the book was easy to read and well paced and would suit someone wanting a bit of light reading with a touch of mystery, perhaps even holiday reading for someone visiting Venice who likes to theme read. I won't be on the look-out for more by this author but if I stumble across something I will probably give it a go. ( ) Jodyreadseverything | Oct 4, 2008 | The Lying Tongue is a masterful psychological thriller, expertly written to the unpredictable end. Adam Woods, a young college dropout, lands a job with Gordon Crace, a former teacher, author, and recluse. The book chronicals Adam's less than stellar life at the same time we learn bits of pieces of Crace's life. The use of the reclusive lifestyle along with Crace's unorthodox demands on Woods makes for tense and quite spellbinding writing. Although this is not a "feel-good" book, it is wonderful suspenseful writing. (  ) ddirmeyer | Jul 13, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
Adam Woods arrives in Venice from England to take a job and work on his novel. The job quickly evaporates, so he finds another, as amanuensis to a reclusive old author, Gordon Crace. Things start out in a straightforward manner. The author is eccentric, to say the least, but after tidying up the place and perusing the fine art collection, Adam settles in. Crace has written one book, refuses to talk about it and tells Adam that he doesn't want his authorial life even mentioned. It is over.
The only thing we know about Adam is that he just graduated from college and his love affair ended badly. We subsequently find out that when his girlfriend broke up with him he raped her to show her how much she really wanted to be with him. Enter Adam, the sinister creep. That is just the beginning of what we find out about him, about Gordon and what they are both capable of in this revelatory tale of two truly despicable people. After finding two interesting--and damning--letters among Gordon's castabout papers, Adam decides to abandon his novel and write Crace's biography.
Wilson keeps us guessing as Adam leaves Gordon for a week, pleading a need to attend his grandmother's funeral. He goes back to England to head off another biographer, to snoop around to see what she has gleaned, and to do a bit of research on his own. Things do not go exactly as planned, but Adam is more than equal to whatever heinous act it takes to advance his own cause. When he returns to Venice and Gordon, the creep factor increases dramatically and ends in a crafty and perfect conclusion, one that the reader is not prepared for... which makes it that much better. --Valerie Ryan
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
Wikipedia in English
