The Late Man

by James Preston Girard

Book Overview

Starting with a search for a serial killer in the back woods of Kansas, The Late Man delves into the darker regions of the human spirit. Three fully realized characters become drawn into their own... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451405889
• ISBN13: 9780451405883
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Onyx Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

More than Just a Mystery

Girard has an ability I usually don't find in this genre, to give detail of settings and people to make you feel you are there along side them. Rather than the typical supreficial, get to the story nature of mysteries, it goes several levels deeper. The people become very real and you care about them as much as you care about whodunnit. The people are not some stereotype. The weaving of contrasts and similarities between the three main characters puts us on a level with them, we've all been there in some way. What starts out as bleak lives, mistakes are made, hope is lost, leaves the reader feeling there is a future. I can't wait for his new novel to come out.

A well written novel with a genre heart

"The Late Man" is an elegiac, beautifully written novel whose story happens to fit the constraints of genre. But to say that it is not strictly speaking a "genre novel" is meant as praise; this is a beautiful book that sneaks up on you and lingers with you long after you have turned the last page. I recommend this book to all "genre" lovers- be they crime novels, detective novels, or murder mysteries- who want a little more weight, a little more feeling with their entertainments. "The Late Man" makes me hope that this was not a one shot from Mister Girard; that many more novels of this caliber will issue forth from him.