Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Pg. 69: Declan Burke's "Absolute Zero Cool"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke.

About the book, from the publisher:
Absolute Zero Cool is the latest novel from Declan Burke, one of Ireland’s most innovative crime fiction writers. “A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny.” (John Banville).

Absolute Zero Cool is a post-modern take on the crime thriller genre. Adrift in the half-life limbo of an unpublished novel, hospital porter Billy needs to up the stakes. Euthanasia simply isn’t shocking anymore; would blowing up his hospital be enough to see Billy published, or be damned? What follows is a gripping tale that subverts the crime genre’s grand tradition of liberal sadism, a novel that both excites and disturbs in equal measure. Absolute Zero Cool is not only an example of Irish crime writing at its best; it is an innovative, self-reflexive piece that turns every convention of crime fiction on its head. Declan Burke’s latest book is an imaginative story that explores the human mind’s ability to both create and destroy, with equally devastating effects.
Learn more about the book and author at the Crime Always Pays blog.

Burke is the author of Eightball Boogie (2003) and The Big O (2007). He is the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (Liberties Press, 2011), and hosts a website dedicated to Irish crime fiction called Crime Always Pays.

The Page 69 Test: Absolute Zero Cool.

--Marshal Zeringue