Written by the author of "The Girl Who Passes for Normal", which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and "The Order of Death", this is a chilling novel about a sick man who advertises for somebody to kill him and then regrets this.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Tom Carter, 41, is childishly demanding, verbally and sexually abusive of his wife, Carol, and just plain rude--venting his anger and frustration at being told he has terminal cancer, with only nine months to live. In British author Fleetwood's intricate, unsettling psychological drama, Tom gets more than he bargained for when he advertises for someone to kill him--or help him kill himself--when his illness worsens. Rick Austen, a young, disturbed artist with a rich fantasy life and an obsession with the macabre, gets the job and becomes deeply involved in Tom's desperate attempts at pyschological self-destruction. The ominous tone of the story's opening neatly contributes to suspense as Fleetwood's British-accented New Yorkers play complex mind games involving Tom's rage; Carol's love and anger; and Rick's alternate fascination and disgust with Tom and sympathetic attraction to Carol. Masterfully building narrative tension to the decisive, unexpected climax, the author reveals the hair-trigger balance between raw emotion and the rational, established surface of daily existence.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Euthanasia-minded terminal cancer patient meets disturbed young man who just might oblige--even if the patient changes his mind about getting killed--in this overdrawn page-turner from the prolific Fleetwood (The Past, 1987; Paradise, 1986; etc.). Successful businessman Tom Carter is into power--he treats his filmmaker-wife Carol, his mistress Christine, and even his secretary Rose like dirt--and isn't about to be slowed down by hearing that he has only a few months to live. Instead, his ad in the New York Review of Books (naturally) puts him in touch with erratic painter Rick Austen, whose devoted sister Cassie spends her time running interference between Rick and the rest of the world. Tom hires Rick to kill him, but thinks better of it after making a down payment. Too late: Rick, who's begun to tail Tom from woman to woman, is so appalled at his petty cruelty that he'd love to kill him for free. This striking, familiar situation isn't enough for a book, but Fleetwood tries gamely, showing us Rick meeting Carol, Carol meeting Cassie, Tom consulting three Catholic priests, Tom taking up with a slatternly prostitute, Carol and Cassie going to see the prostitute . . . and throwing in a serial killer who's dispatching street bums--a man who'll give the strained finale a last, incredible twist. One speedy read--the price per minute you'll spend with this book is off the chart. Despicable Tom, though, may linger in your memory like a bad restaurant meal. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You Don't Have To Like These Characters To Like The Book,
By H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: The Mercy Killer (Hardcover)
In Hugh Fleetwood's bizarre novel THE MERCY KILLER Tom Carter has just been told by his physician that he is terminally ill and has little time to live. He decides that he will hire a killer to take him out of his misery when the disease progresses. A painter, Rick Austin-- whose sister is Cassie-- answers Carter's ad for a murderer that he runs in the NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS. Then Carter changes his mind and wants to live after all. He has a wife Carol, who has a clubfoot, whom he treats like dirt, as well as a mistress named Christine who doesn't get much better treatment from him.
Mr. Fleetwood mixes up these characters in some fascinating ways. Even though you won't care much for any of them, you will get all caught up in the plot, which has a couple of surprises near the end of the novel. Additionally the author weaves a subplot about a serial killer who is preying on homeless people into the main story line. Mr. Fleetwood is right clever in letting his reader know that it's fine not to like these characters as he uses animal imagery over and over to describe them. Window blinds make Rick become "tiger-striped." His near-sightedness makes him owl-like. He sometimes looks like a hawk; "today he looked more like an eagle, or a vulture." "He [Rick] bit his lip, as if he wanted to peck at someone with his beak; he clenched and unclenched his hands, as if he wanted to tear at someone with his talons." While Tom is a fish in an aquarium, Eileen, a prostitute, exposes her body "with the indifference of a butcher skinning a chicken." Carol, though willing to "play the sparrow," was ultimately on the "side of hawks," but Rick was "beautiful. Like an eagle." Cassie has porcupine quills. The list goes on and on. This novel is well worth your reading time.
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