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Midnight Cab |
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Midnight Cab |
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基本信息·出版社：Canongate Books
·页码：336 页
·出版日期：2005年01月
·ISBN：1841956244/9781841956244
·条形码：9781841956244
·版本：第1版
·装帧：精装
·开本：32开 Pages Per Sheet
·外文书名：午夜计程车
内容简介 Publisher Comments:
A terrified three-year-old boy is found clinging to a wire fence at the side of a country road. His mother had whispered to him to never let go, and then she vanished. The only clue found by authorities as to the child's identity is a photograph of two summering teenage girls and a letter presumably written from one to the other. Sixteen years later, Walker Devereaux finds himself in Toronto to uncover the truth about his biological parents, of whom he has a dim memory. Working as a cab driver, Walker befriends Krista, a pretty, demanding, wheelchair-bound night dispatcher. Krista and Walker become fast friends, and she can't help but involve herself with Walker's quest to understand his shrouded identity. Soon enough, though, their off-hours sleuthing turns perilous as they become the prey of another abandoned boy who has transformed himself into the embodiment of his own desperate, violent, and sinister pathologies.
Review:
"Adapted from a popular Canadian radio drama, this light, engaging first novel by playwright Nichol is a coming-of-age story steeped in mystery. Abandoned by the roadside at the age of three, 19-year-old Walker Devereaux sets off to find his birth parents with the aid of only two clues: a photo of his mother as a child and a cryptic letter to her from her best friend. In pursuit of his past, he leaves his adoptive family and girlfriend in Big River and moves to Toronto, where he finds work on the graveyard shift at a cab company. He falls in with his dispatcher, the attractive, wheelchair-bound Krista Papadopoulos. Together, they follow the trail of Walker's parents as it leads from Toronto's chic Forest Hill neighborhood to the shores of Lake Erie and finally to Kingston, Jamaica. Nichol weaves in the story of Bobby, an animal-torturing, Hannibal Lechter — like character who Walker must confront if he is to learn his family's dark past. In an attempt to dissuade them from probing further, Bobby sets Krista's car on fire and kills Walker's cat, Kerouac. Undeterred, Walker soldiers on. Nichol's instincts as a playwright serve him well. The dialogue between Walker and Krista is quick and playful, and though the suspense rarely builds to Hitchcockian heights, the novel is well paced and the pages turn quickly." ----Publishers Weekly
Synopsis:
Abandoned by his mother 16 years ago, Walker Devereaux is in Toronto to find the truth about his parents. Working as a cab driver, Walker befriends Krista, a wheelchair-bound night dispatcher. But they soon become the prey of another abandoned boy who has transformed himself into the embodiment of his own desperate, violent, and sinister pathologies.
Abandoned by his mother 16 years ago, Walker Devereaux is in Toronto to find the truth about his parents. Working as a cab driver, Walker befriends Krista, a wheelchair-bound night dispatcher. But they soon become the prey of another abandoned boy who has transformed himself into the embodiment of his own desperate, violent, and sinister pathologies.
Book Dimension
Height (mm) 237 Width (mm) 163
作者简介 James W. Nichol has been a prominent playwright in Canada since 1970.
Midnight Cab was inspired by his immensely popular radio drama of the same name, broadcast on CBC in 35 half-hour episodes and sold internationally on cassette. His adaptation of Margaret Laurence’s
Stone Angel is currently revived in productions across Canada. Peggy Delaney, his most recent radio series, will feature eighteen new episodes on the CBC’s Mystery Project this fall.
Midnight Cab is James Nichol’s first novel.
媒体推荐 Customer Reviews
From Publishers Weekly Adapted from a popular Canadian radio drama, this light, engaging first novel by playwright Nichol is a coming-of-age story steeped in mystery. Abandoned by the roadside at the age of three, 19-year-old Walker Devereaux sets off to find his birth parents with the aid of only two clues: a photo of his mother as a child and a cryptic letter to her from her best friend. In pursuit of his past, he leaves his adoptive family and girlfriend in Big River and moves to Toronto, where he finds work on the graveyard shift at a cab company. He falls in with his dispatcher, the attractive, wheelchair-bound Krista Papadopoulos. Together, they follow the trail of Walker's parents as it leads from Toronto's chic Forest Hill neighborhood to the shores of Lake Erie and finally to Kingston, Jamaica. Nichol weaves in the story of Bobby, an animal-torturing, Hannibal Lechter–like character who Walker must confront if he is to learn his family's dark past. In an attempt to dissuade them from probing further, Bobby sets Krista's car on fire and kills Walker's cat, Kerouac. Undeterred, Walker soldiers on. Nichol's instincts as a playwright serve him well. The dialogue between Walker and Krista is quick and playful, and though the suspense rarely builds to Hitchcockian heights, the novel is well paced and the pages turn quickly.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile Another fine project by the CBC, the Midnight Cab series boasts clean production values and an able, believable cast. The plot thickens like instant oatmeal as our narrator, Walker Devereaux, a 19-year-old new to the big city of Toronto, works his first shift as a cab driver, only to find a body in the trunk. He soon develops into an amateur sleuth, as well as a friend and advisor to local cops. Walker is supported by a sympathetic and colorful group of misfits. Each player sinks his teeth into his role, as is essential for engaging radio drama. Light jazz and well-modulated sound effects make this a fine listen. Even the packaging is top-shelf. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. From Booklist Basing his first novel on his radio drama of the same name, Canadian playwright Nichol generates a fair amount of suspense in an archetypal story of the search for home. Walker Devereaux was three years old when he last saw his mother, who left him clinging to a wire fence alongside a highway. Now 19, he leaves his adoptive family in Big River to track down his birth parents in Toronto. He has only a letter and a photograph, left in his pocket, as clues. After landing a job driving a cab, he becomes involved with his wheelchair-bound dispatcher, Krista Papadopoulos. The two make great headway until they realize someone is sabotaging their search. Meanwhile, flashbacks also tell the story of wealthy but emotionally damaged Bobby Nuremborski, whose every malfeasance is covered up by his status-conscious, demanding father. The way the two story lines converge is telegraphed from the get-go, but suspense remains high because Nichol has a genuine gift for both language and plotting.
Joanne WilkinsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review ?Canadian writer James W. Nichol has turned his riveting 35-part radio drama into his first novel, and it?s a spellbinder? --
Toronto Sun?[a]n impressive debut?.Nichol weaves all this churning emotion into a tight, complex narrative replete with red herrings and sudden outbursts of violence?.Just as the late great mystery writer L.R. Wright turned the pastoral Sunshine Coast in British Columbia into a nightmarish swamp, James W. Nichol extracts a creepy sense of menace from Ontario?s cottage country.? --
Hamilton Spectator, 9 March 2002
?A must-read from one of Canada?s best playwrights?? --
Ottawa Citizen, 10 March 2002
?Refreshing?.I read the book in one fell swoop.? --
Vancouver Sun, 23 February 2002
?A delightful ride?. Now fans of the widely popular CBC radio program
Midnight Cab will step on it to pick up James W. Nichol?s book of the same name?. Nichol?s reality-based descriptions of Toronto are delightful?.Hyptnotic?.Nichol?s elegantly simple and taut prose becomes addictive.? -- Rebecca Caldwell,
The Globe and Mail, March 2, 2002
?Take one nineteen-year-old determined to discover the identity of his parents, team him up with a rebellious young woman tied as much to her family as to her wheelchair, and threaten him with the sick violence of an unknown psychopath. The result: a mesmerizing story of two unforgettable people whose pairing is as gratifying as it is unlikely.? -- Timothy Findley
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Midnight Cab is a superb piece of suspense fiction which somehow manages to be warm and chilling at the same time.? -- John MacLachlan Gray
