Without Mercy by Renate Dorrestein
Frank and Phinus have been happily married for fourteen years when a senseless act loses them their only child, their teenage son Jem. From then on they are immersed in a nightmare from which there seems to be no escape. Phinus loses her ability to sleep, and the formerly gentle Frank tries to combat his grief and guilt with obsessive vengefulness which escalates out of control. A weekend visit to a country house hotel is supposed to bring the couple back together, but it erups into a series of escalating bizarre, hilarious confrontations which only emphasizes their estrangement. Dorrestein's novels are always based on a topical social issue familiar from newspaper headlines, which make them provocative and contemporary- in Without Mercy, it is a teenage shooting with echoes of American high school massacres like that at Columbine High in Denver two years ago. This heartbreaking, yet strangely funny, thought-provoking and compelling novel about guilt and grief is by a mistress of suspense who shows us all that hell is not other people as is generally supposed- that there is nothing as terrible as what a person can do to himself.
Renate Dorrestein is one of Holland's best-loved novelists. Her books regularly win prizes and appear at the top of the Dutch bestseller lists. A Heart of Stone and Without Mercy, her previous novels published in English, are published by Black Swan as is her latest novel, A Crying Shame. .Hester Velman's translation of A Heart of Stone won the Vondel Prize for Translation in 2001.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780385603539 |
| ISBN 10 | 0385603533 |
| Title | Without Mercy |
| Author | Renate Dorrestein |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Year published | 2002-08-05 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |