Killing the Rabbit [Mass Market Paperback]

Alison Goodman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2007

Murder is the main attraction in this dark and wickedly comic new thriller that follows a young indie filmmaker on her way to fame, fortune, and a shoot-out to the death.

Hannie Reynard landed every aspiring filmmaker’s dream: a hefty grant to make her documentary Freaks or Frauds. But the groundbreaking film that was supposed to launch Hannie’s career may kill her first. Blowing the grant money on a lost weekend in Paris was bad enough, but now the “stars” of her film–women who share a unique genetic trait–have stopped talking…and started disappearing.

Coupled with a burned-out ex-classmate hitching his own hopes for a comeback to her project, Hannie finds herself the unlikely co-star of a movie that will never be made if a very powerful someone has anything to say about it. For Hannie is already in the crosshairs of his chief “cameraman”–a ruthlessly unconventional hit man who never misses a lethal shot.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even for a suspense thriller protagonist, Goodman's Hannie Reynard encounters some seriously grisly stuff—and that's before she even leaves the bathroom. The heroine, an Australian documentary filmmaker, suffers from Crohn's disease, a chronic, incurable bowel disorder that can be, well, pretty gross (She had hunched on the cold toilet for fifteen minutes, pushing out small globules of mucus and blood). But illness doesn't deter her from aggressively pursuing her latest project, a film about young women considered medical freaks; Hannie's real problem is that her interview subjects are being mysteriously evasive. When they start dropping dead, Hannie and her partner, Mosson Ferret, a bean counter from the Independent Film Fund, are unwittingly thrown into the midst of a murderous international plot. Meanwhile, Hannie's got a dark secret to protect that, if revealed, could jeopardize her career and her budding romance with Mosson; Mosson, meanwhile, has a secret of his own he's trying to keep. Unfortunately, Goodman spends too much time with the minutiae of her (admittedly vivid) characters to deliver much suspense, which may leave readers with a chronic case of the snoozes. (Aug.)
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Review

"Take one part Michael Crichton-style sci-fi speculation and two parts Australian ambience, add the hot-button topicality of women's reproductive rights plus a colorful array of endearing misfits and evil henchmen for spice, stir in generous helpings of white-knuckle suspense and corporate cloak-and-dagger intrigue, and shake well, and you have the recipe for Killing the Rabbit, a delectable debut thriller from Alison Goodman. You'll eat it up!"—Stephen Woodworth, author of Through Violet Eyes and With Red Hands

"A sharp, aware and compelling thriller, taking the genre into exciting new territories."—Michael Marshall, author of Blood of Angels

“Quite simply the best first adult speculative novel I've read in years. I'm tempted to invoke the names of Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Marge Piercy, and even Quentin Tarantino ... but Goodman's near-future vision and ripped-from-the-tabloids premise are so unique I'd rather not compare her to anyone. I hope and believe that Killing the Rabbit marks the arrival of a major new talent on the speculative scene.”—Chris Moriarty, author of Spin Control

“Alison Goodman's Killing the Rabbit is a tour de force that defies all the rules, choosing life and character and story over any conventions of genre. The result is mesmerizing and wickedly brilliant, unlike anything I've ever read, and every word of it sheer genius.”—MindUnbound.com

"Every fascinating, unique character leaps off the page and lingers long after it's turned. Goodman has a winner!" —Kelley Armstrong, author of Exit Strategy

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (July 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553590111
• ISBN-13: 978-0553590111
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 6.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #888,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, August 11, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killing the Rabbit (Mass Market Paperback)

Hannie Reynard is embarrassed and a bit frightened as she wasted her Independent Filmmakers Fund grant on a weekend in Paris. Now, the acting finance director Mosson J. Ferret is auditing her books. She remembers him from film school before he dropped out. However, Hannie is unaware that Mosson is bored and wants to get behind the camera; he plans to "blackmail" her into letting him film her documentary, Freaks or Frauds on women containing a gene mutation that enables them to naturally kill their fetus by reabsorbing it; she would direct.

At the same time, the Forecaster drew up a two hundred year strategic plan for his Company Osaga-Fowler Pharmaceutical, but knows that the firm could be in trouble due to the "RabbitWoman Mutation" that enables some human females to self absorb a fetus; thus if this internal abortion mutation spreads as the Forecaster expects based on Darwinism, the Company's best selling contraceptive line would sink and consequently so will the firm though generations into the future. His job .is to insure all females who contain the mutation die. Soon the filmmakers and the Company's subcontracted help will meet as the Freaks are being eliminated.

This is a dark tale that extrapolates Japanese long term planning and a woman's reproductive rights to extremes that will leave the audience wondering how business firms and right to life groups would behave if a long term natural challenge to their respective positions occur. In this case, murder is the obvious weapon of the Company, but the right to life groups' reaction was never explored. Thus the audience obtains a tense thriller based on a fascinating premise that focuses too much on the hits rather than on how society reacts to the RabbitWoman mutation. This tale is entertaining and exciting; on the other hand KILLING THE RABBIT is of those that could have been a classic thought provoker.

Harriet Klausner