Cocaine Nights by J G Ballard
In Cocaine Nights, J. G. Ballard stretches the taught canvas of his transgressive vision over the framework of old-fashioned mystery. The setting: the swank Spanish resort of Estrella de Mar, where young retirees from Europe's chillier climes bask in a lifestyle of endless leisure. Into the queasy beauty of this artificial environment steps Charles Prentice, a London travel writer who has come to visit his brother Frank, manager of Club Nautico--tennis and swim club by day, coked-up discotheque by night. Frank is in jail, having confessed to setting an explosive fire that has taken five alive. Certain the confession was coerced, Charles lances his own investigation. But Frank isn't interested in salvation, and the Spanish police don't want their open-and-shut case corrupted by a meddling Brit. Refusing to abandon his crusade, Charles soon finds himself drawn into Estrella de Mar's dark underworld, and as Cocaine Nights accelerates toward its disturbing climax, Ballard once again reveals his visionary mastery.
Ballard, J. G.: - James Graham Ballard (15 November 1930 - 19 April 2009) was an English novelist and short story writer who was a prominent part of the science fiction New Wave movement. His best-known novels are the controversial Crash, an exploration of sexual fetishism connected to automobile accidents, and the loosely autobiographical Empire of the Sun, about his childhood internment by the Japanese during World War II after the invasion and conquest of Shanghai, where Ballard was born in the International Settlement. Both books were adapted into films, by David Cronenberg and Steven Spielberg respectively. So distinctive was his work that the adjective Ballardian entered the language, defined by the Collins English Dictionary as resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments. Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in June 2006, from which he died in London in April 2009.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781887178662 |
| ISBN 10 | 188717866X |
| Title | Cocaine Nights |
| Author | J G Ballard |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Counterpoint |
| Year published | 1998-08-01 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |