Presence of Evil - Softcover

Moffitt, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812883128 ISBN 13: 9780812883121

Publisher: Stein & Day Paperback, 1986

Synopsis

Nick Andrews uncovers a macabre secret that draws him into Black Bay's crumbling community of eccentrics and the insane, after moving into an old house near the sea

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Moffitt's second novel, after the highly praised The Retreat of Radiance, may be about "an obscure grocer in a drear street in a decaying suburb on the edge of a continent far beyond the centers of power," but elegant prose, swift plotting and fascinating characters raise it far above its parochial setting. Nick Andrews, semi-retired foreign correspondent, moves to a small Australian seaside town where he hopes to find himself and save his new but already tottering marriage. Danby, a "haven for rejects," is filled with people in varying stages of madness: homeless teenagers on the beach, street crazies, retired theatrical ladies in the next-door rest home and, not least, the "obscure grocer," John Lynch, whose religious-cum-sexual fantasies could fill a casebook. Nick tries to discover the mild-mannered Lynch's disturbing secrets and finally, very late, realizes that his own step-daughter is Lynch's target. Among the best characters are the ruefully funny Nick, Lynch's schizophrenic sister Olive and old Mr. Whittecombe, WW I hero and ex-taxi dancer. Lynch himselffunny, sad and drivenis a gem. Foreign rights: Goodman Associates. November 19
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stein & Day Paperback
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0812883128
• ISBN 13: 9780812883121
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 245