Search other book
review web sites
Your one stop for finding multiple professional reviews of recently released books.
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
In The Raw Shark Texts, Eric Sanderson wakes on the floor of his flat with no idea who he is. He finds a letter from "the first Eric Sanderson" who tells him to visit a Dr. Randle, who informs that he suffered a traumatic accident three years earlier which killed his partner, Clio. She also instructs him not to read or write any more letters to himself. He instantly forgets his sessions with Dr. Randle, and finds not only more letters from his earlier self, but letters from a person he doesn't know. The letters inform him to concoct a bland false identity, because his memories are being eaten by a shark called the Ludovician (it can be seen in action by flipping the pages of the book). Eric constructs a shark cage made of four dictaphones playing random conversations, and sets out to find himself. That involves secret societies, an undead Mr. Nobody, and a girlfriend called Scout who looks a lot like Clio. Steven Hall's novel has received mostly positive reviews with The Independent saying, "All this adds up to an absorbing if erratic book, by turns completely daft and surprisingly moving, marshalled and related with impressive straight-faced confidence and not half as much clever- cleverness as the sceptical reader might fear."
Editor's Pick
[click book cover for amazon.com page for
The Raw Shark Texts]
[click "Buy from the UK" for amazon.co.uk page for
The Raw Shark Texts]