The Animal Hour [Hardcover]

Andrew Klavan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1993

When Nancy Kincaid arrives at her downtown office, she is chased from her building by her colleagues, who claim that they have never seen her before, while photographer Zach Perkins turns up missing after the headless corpse of a woman is found in his bed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maneuvering the plot of his latest urban thriller with the irresistible skill of a three-card monte expert, Klavan leaves his mesmerized readers the winners. In New York City on Halloween morning, recent college graduate Nancy Kincaid arrives at the office where she works for an ambitious city pol. But her co-workers don't recognize her; she finds a gun in her purse and hears odd voices talking about a killing to take place that night, at 8 o'clock, the "animal hour." She runs to a park, shoots a persistent panhandler, and evades the pursuing police in the tunnels of the subway. Meanwhile, we meet Oliver Perkins, an appealingly scruffy poet who is kind to old women and babies, and whose book of poems bears the title The Animal Hour. Oliver's brother, Zach, a photographer for Downunder magazine, has disappeared; fearing Zach may be back on drugs, Oliver looks for him in old haunts but finds only the viciously mutilated, decapitated corpse of a young woman. Nancy's increasing terrors--she escapes Bellevue and survives a drop from her parents' Gramercy Park apartment with skills she didn't know she had--are interwoven with Oliver's growing anxieties and his encounters with the NYPD (with the FBI behind them). A cross between Rod Serling and James Ellroy, Klavan ( Don't Say a Word ) spins a nonstop New York City horror tale whose 8 p.m. resolution, while leaving a few questions unanswered, satisfactorily caps the rapid-fire entertainment. BOMC and Time-Life Condensed Book Club selections; film rights to Tri-Star.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Klavan struts his Edgar award-winning stuff here. Even if the plot were not suspenseful and the characters not well developed, you'd keep reading because the hook is so good: the heroine believes she is Nancy Kincaid--but nobody who knows Nancy recognizes her, and Nancy's mutilated body has just been found by the police. In addition, the woman who believes she is Nancy is hearing voices that tell her that she must kill a man at 8 o'clock, the "animal hour." The viewpoint shifts from Nancy to Oliver Perkins (a poet and Nancy's destined victim) to his brother Zach, druggie and suspected killer. Klavan immerses us in Nancy's hallucinatory perceptions of a world already made strange by procession of freaks dressed for a Halloween parade. Recommended for popular collections. BOMC and Time-Life Condensed Book Club selections.
- Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 309 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; First Edition edition (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671740105
• ISBN-13: 978-0671740108
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,195,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Klavan has been nominated for the Mystery Writer of America's Edgar award five times and won twice. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including Don't Say A Word, filmed starring Michael Douglas, True Crime, filmed by Clint Eastwood, and Empire of Lies. He is currently writing a series of thrillers for young adults called The Homelanders. The first two novels in the series are The Last Thing I Remember and The Long Way Home. Klavan is a contributing editor to City Journal and his essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among other places. His satiric video commentaries can be seen on PJTV.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it three times! it's spooky, (gory), and funny, May 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Animal Hour (Paperback)

This book had me guessing, and wrong, about what was going on until almost the very end -- and i loved it! I've recommended this to friends who have enjoyed it as much. Sometimes the world doesn't make much sense, but Nancy Kincaid's "very bad day" wins the prize. (i've retyped this review 6 times trying not to give away plot details... just read the book, really. :-)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relentless pace, May 31, 2005

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Animal Hour (Hardcover)

Reality and delusion are difficult to separate in Klavan's "The Animal Hour," a spiraling nightmare set in New York at Halloween. Nancy Kincaid begins her day by going to work - where no one recognizes her. Oliver Perkins wakes in a hangover haze to his grandmother's desperate appeal to find his younger brother.

As the day proceeds, Nancy's personality disintegrates, hammered relentlessly by a compelling voice and Oliver's pursuit leads him to a gruesome murder scene. Klavan ("Don't Say A Word") cuts between characters at moments of peak suspense, a time-honored device which ratchets up the tension admirably. Unfortunately it also calls attention to the characterization - strictly cut-out. But you can't have everything and Klaven's handling of action and psychological horror is heart-stopping.

Portsmouth Herald

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun suspense-thriller, April 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Animal Hour (Paperback)

Unlike the other reviewer from San Francisco, I have to admit that I really enjoyed this book for the suspense novel it is. I've successfully handsold several copies to customers where I moonlight based on the synopsis of the protagonist showing up at work only to find that none of her coworkers claim to know her. What I enjoyed about it most was that half way through the book I was sure there could be no resolution to my satisfaction without involving the occult or some supernatural goofiness, but Klavan actually accounts for everything quite nicely and summed it all up to my satisfaction. It wasn't great literature but a fun summer read. Sometimes that's all you need.