For Robert Pendleton, a professor clinging to tenure and living in the shambles of his once-bright literary career, death seems to be the only remaining option. But his suicide attempt fails, halted at the last moment by the intervention of Adi Wiltshire, a graduate student battling her own demons of failure and thwarted ambition. During Pendleton's long convalescence, Adi discovers a novel hidden in his basement: a brilliant, semi-autobiographical story with a gruesome child-murder at its core. The publication of Scream causes a storm of publicity: a whirlwind into which Adi, Horowitz and the still-incapacitated Pendleton are thrust. The novel is treated as an existential masterpiece and looks set to bring its author the success he's always sought – when, ironically, he is no longer in a condition to appreciate it – until questions begin to be asked about its content: in particular about the uncanny resemblance between Pendleton's fictional crime and a real-life, unresolved local murder. Enter Jon Ryder, a world-weary detective who could have walked off the pages of a police thriller, and the hunt for the murderer is on. Irish author Michael Collins, whose Keepers of the Truth was a Booker Prize finalist in 2000, took great risks with this murder mystery, love story, academic satire, psychological study, and gritty police proceduraland they all paid off. Described as a "stunning tour de force" ( Seattle Post-Intelligencer ), Death of a Writer brilliantly transcends diverse genres as it simultaneously juggles different plot threads. While the first part of the novel is smart and compelling, it really picks up speed when it transitions from a college satire into a frightening, unnerving police procedural. While critics were hard-pressed to characterize the novel, all agreed that it's serious literature. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. As a has-been writer borders on death, a graduate student finds his long-lost literary masterpiece, a story of a gruesome murder. When it becomes clear that the fictional murder is based on a real-life murder, questions about the author begin to mount. There are two, possibly three novels hidden in this intriguing, if uneven, book. The first is a genuinely funny satire of both the modern literary world and academia. The second is a philosophical look at the nature of literature and the relationship between fact, fiction, and autobiography. The third is a murder mystery, although most readers will solve that as soon as the murder is revealed. Unfortunately, the author's seeming disrespect and dislike of his characters diminishes the effect of the novel. Still, this is an ambitious, if not always enjoyable, mix of academic satire and literary thriller. Marta Segal Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Michael Collins is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has garnered numerous awards, including a Pushcart Award for Best American Short Stories and The Kerry Ingredients Irish Novel of the Year. His novel The Keepers of Truth was short listed for the Booker Prize and the IMPAC Award. Collins is also an extreme athlete and is currently training for The North Pole Marathon in 2006. He lives in Seattle. WARNING: English teachers should not read this novel except under close supervision. Do not mix with alcohol or annual evaluation. If you experience dizziness or feelings of sympathy with the protagonist, do not induce vomiting or self-recrimination. Drink milk and watch Sandy Dennis in "Up the Down Staircase." Seek professional career advice immediately. The rest of us can consume Michael Collins's new novel about a suicidal English teacher somewhat more safely. But only somewhat. Death of a Writer is as caustic as it is brilliant, a concoction of academic satire, German philosophy and literary criticism mixed up as a haunting murder mystery that will leave you disoriented -- and deeply amused. After Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, Richard Russo's Straight Man, Jane Smiley's Moo, et al., the comedy of academic life is so well documented that to read those books cover to cover would take longer than paying off your student loans. But Collins's addition to this genre is strikingly smart and decidedly darker, a "glimpse into the gallows of despair that permeated the academic world," as one character puts it. Indeed, Death of a Writer burns with the heat of a million college blue books going up in flames. We're introduced to E. Robert Pendleton, a clinically depressed, habitually recalcitrant English teacher at Bannockburn College. Founded by a wealthy Russian émigré industrialist, Bannockburn has since grown into a "venerable cradle of mediocrity . . . sold at exorbitant prices to talentless drones of despairing, wealthy parents." Pendleton arrived 22 years ago in a desperate effort to find employment after his career as a writer of experimental fiction fizzled. Although he is apparently secure and comforta