Light at Dusk: A Novel [Hardcover]

Peter Gadol (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

Will Law, a rising star in the U.S. Foreign Service, mysteriously walks away from his post and, in Paris, falls into the arms of his onetime lover Pedro. When the child of a mutual friend is kidnapped by a Nationalist gang, Will is reluctantly drawn back to the diplomatic world he abandoned. Fighting against a rising tide of French anti-immigrant hatred, the Americans launch a deperate search across the city. In the process, Will must challenge the moral burdens of his past, and in an attempt to rescue the child, he must also find a way to redeem himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The City of Light becomes the city of lost children in Gadol's (The Long Rain) intricate tapestry of jealousy and self-discovery. It's some time in the future, and in Paris, bombs explode in the M?tro and children of immigrants are kidnapped by angry mobs. "France for the French" is the battle cry of the far-right French Front, which, having gained political power, is increasing its hostility to foreigners, especially those from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, while retaliations by radical immigrant factions have Paris under siege. Diplomat Will Law has walked away from his job at the U.S. Foreign Service in Mexico and drifted to the terror-ravaged city, where he reignites an affair with his erstwhile lover, Pedro Douglas, a student of French architecture. Then Will encounters Jorie Cole, another American expatriate, and Nico, a four-year-old boy who is apparently her son. After Nico is kidnapped by a roving gang of terrorists, Will learns that Jorie's story is more complex than she initially let on: Nico is the son of Jorie's Lebanese lover, Luc Chamoun, whom Jorie planned to leave, taking Nico with her. But now the boy is gone, and Will joins forces with Jorie to search Paris for him, leading to a suspenseful climax. As the title hints, this is a novel of perception and misperception, of light refracting reality. Pedro is alternately a main character and the third-person omniscient narrator who relays the quasi-imagined events of Will and Jorie's journey even when absent from the scene. The tragedy in Mexico that haunts Will is gradually revealed, and it casts its moral shadow into the present. Gadol blends ruminative philosophical passages within the framework of a crisp, action-packed story. The intricate plot remains lucid with finely wrought crystalline writing that leads the reader through a spellbinding narrative. Author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Elegant, exquisitely mannered prose; tight suspenseful plotting...Light at Dusk will not look out of place...on the shelf somewhere between Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene.”—Ben Ehrenreich, LA Weekly

“Light at Dusk...has sinew and heart and a bracing sobriety.” —Randall Curb, Boston Review

“A spellbinding narrative.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Gadol brings you into his story quickly. His prose is lyrical but beautifully spare.” —Richard Wallace, Seattle Times

“[A] riveting, cinematically seductive tale.” —Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312203365
• ISBN-13: 978-0312203368
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,189,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The City of Light, on a day of darkness, April 25, 2000

By 

Daniel Marley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light at Dusk: A Novel (Hardcover)

A place and time -- Paris, now -- are adroitly rendered in Peter Gadol's outstanding new work. Three Americans abroad find themselves facing moments of personal crises on a most inopportune day, as the City of Light faces an intense, dark struggle of its own. The political turmoil of the Parisian streets spills over into these characters' already messy lives; and finding a missing little boy becomes, for a day and night, the one important thing at which they must not fail.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tautly suspenseful, moody, heartbreaking...a new gadol jewel, May 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Light at Dusk: A Novel (Hardcover)

Peter Gadol--the great hope of American fiction as far as I'm concerned--has done it again. If you became totally caught up in the sophisticatedly lovable characters and witty intrigue of Gadol's THE MYSTERY ROAST, or the darker yet equally compelling tones of his CLOSER TO THE SUN, you're in for an exquisite surprise with this, the wunderkind's latest. LIGHT AT DUSK is the kind of polished-perfect jewel you can devour in a single dusk-hour, and if you're in Paris, the novel's setting, while you do so, all the better. Thirtysomething Pedro is in Paris, reunited with old flame Will and ruminating on their troubled history, when he unexpectedly makes the acquaintance of Jorie, a haunted-seeming fellow American woman, and her young charge and "sort of" son, foreign-skinned Nico--who is then kidnapped by rightist nationalist thugs under their very noses! What follows are 24-some hours of nail-biting suspense, a Louvre's worth of political and erotic tension plus bedeviling moral ambiguity, and most of all a dark-eyed, tight-lipped little Lebanese boy who will utterly seize and break your heart. Whether or not you've ever known the moody romance of a foggy day in Paris-town, you'll fall swiftly and willingly under the spell of LIGHT AT DUSK. I think this is the book that will put Gadol over the top as our new neo-noir storyteller and postmodern fablist. Rest assured, you'll fall in love with Gadol's particular city of light...at dusk. Simply put, absolument parfait!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Three Americans in Paris, June 21, 2000

By 

Joseph J. Hanssen "Joe" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light at Dusk: A Novel (Hardcover)

This brooding thriller is set in Paris played out by three Americans named Will, Pedro, and Jorie. Will abandons his Foreign Service post and returns to Paris to take up with an old lover named Pedro, who welcomes Will back after an absence of 7 years. The two then become involved with a diplomat's daughter, Jorie, who is mothering a Lebanese boy named Nico. When Nico is snatched away by a French Nationalist gang, the suspense begins. Finding the missing little boy becomes the main thrust of this story and from there on the story moves right along to its conclusion.

The story is interesting enough and keeps you turning the pages to the end, but I wish the relationship between Will and Pedro had been developed more fully, and with more detail. I would recommend this book, because Gadol's writing is very smooth and the words just seem to flow off the pages. The ending was unexpected and a real surprise. All in all a good read.