The Resurrectionist

by O'Connell, Jack

• ISBN13: 9781565125766
• ISBN10: 1565125762
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-08
• Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary

Part classic noir thriller, part mind-bending fantasy, The Resurrectionist is a wild ride into a territory where nothing is as it appears. It is the story of Sweeney, a druggist by trade, and his son, Danny, the victim of an accident that has left him in a persistent coma. Hoping for a miracle, they have come to the fortress like Peck Clinic, whose doctors claim to have "resurrected" two patients who were lost in the void. What Sweeney comes to realize, though, is that the real cure to his son's condition may lie in Limbo, a fantasy comic book world into which his son had been drawn at the time of his accident. Plunged into the intrigue that envelops the clinic, Sweeney's search for answers leads to sinister back alleys, brutal dead ends, and terrifying rabbit holes of darkness and mystery.O'Connell has crafted a mesmerizing novel about stories and what they can do for and to those who create them and those who consume them. About the nature of consciousness and the power of the unknown. About psychotic bikers, mad neurologists, and wandering circus freaks. About loss and grief and rage. And, ultimately, about forgiveness and the depth of our need to extend it and receive it.

Excerpts

“ I was working on a chapter in the last third of the book. It was a simple scene—Sweeney, sitting at Danny’s bedside, reads to his comatose son from the boy’s favorite comic book. As I created the scene, I asked these questions: What is he reading? What is this comic book? What’s the story and why did it resonate with the boy? Each of those questions was a booby trap. A series of land mines that detonated and exploded my original short, tight noir tale. The questions threw open a door into another realm. And I walked through.”

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Excerpted from The Resurrectionist by Jack O'Connell
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