Shear (Parks, Tim) [Paperback]

Tim Parks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 1995 | Series: Parks, Tim

In the hallucinatory light and heat of a Mediterranean island, a geologist arrives to inspect a granite quarry where a worker has been killed in suspicious circumstances. Briefed in advance to write a damning report, he brings along his young mistress and pushes his wife and family to the back of his mind. But his blithe plans are disrupted by the arrival of the dead man's widow, hell-bent on revenge; a fax from his wife announcing her pregnancy; and a threatening dispute with the quarry owners. Conflicting messages and complex motivations abound until, from the dust and roar of quarry and stone mill, the jagged contours of a harrowing conspiracy emerge. By the time the home office instructs him to drop the case, it is too late. He has already stumbled into a web of blackmail, deception, and murder. "Shear, " a geological term, occurs when "pressure is applied in at least two different and not diametrically opposite directions, " and in Shear Tim Parks has created a shattering portrait of a man confronting multiple forces and mounting obsessions. At stake is his marriage, his affair, his career, the life of an unborn child, his own life, and the lives of innocent people. Inevitably, all decisions and choices will emerge as suspect. Even integrity can be "just a cover for escape."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Parks's versatility and supple prose is again manifested in his sixth novel, his second foray into the psychological suspense genre (though this work has neither the mesmerizing narrative voice nor the taut pacing of the praised Juggling with the Stars .) Here he uses geological metaphors to delineate the moral and emotional conflicts of his characters--"shear" being the way a quarried rock may expand and break after enormous stresses are released. Sent to Italy to investigate the death of a quarry employee, geologist Peter Nicholson receives bribes of cash and sex from Thea, daughter of the firm's wily boss, and is told to write a report exonerating the company. Marrried and a father, Nicholson feels his body's texture fatally vulnerable to his own "shear." Though he has brought along his mistress, 18-year-old Margaret, he nonetheless succumbs to Thea's seduction. His pregnant wife faxes him from England, threatening an abortion. The dead man's widow and child show up with a shard of blood-stained rock. In this area of the world, rock is ubiquitous-- in door and window sills, basins, stairs, cobblestones. Grimly introspective, Nicholson is haunted by the arid volcanic landscape and the "evil in the rock" which infects his foes and himself. Only "his pearl" Margaret (a play on the etymology of her name) remains free of taint, pearls being organic rather than mineral. Events turn sinister, while the tale takes on mythic resonance from the region's ancient gods--Theseus, Neptune, Pandora. Unfortunately, some of the technical analyses of rock components are turgid, but the tale's horrific denouement proves memorable.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Expecting a relaxing business trip abroad with Margaret, the young mistress he adores, English geologist Peter Nicholson is unpleasantly surprised when his inspection of a quarry operation producing materials for the massive Marlborough Place Project requires more than cursory attention. At first, problems seem limited to routine details of quality control, but the shrill presence of half-mad Mrs. Owen, widow of an employee killed at the site, is troubling: she insists retribution is due for her husband's death, but the company dismisses questions concerning her accusations. Looking deeper, Peter becomes entangled in suspicions and in a sexual liaison with the plant director's manipulative daughter. His problems are compounded when a FAX arrives announcing his wife's pregnancy and Margaret promptly decrees that their affair must end. Peter feels his identity cracking; his dreams are troubled by visions of an evil presence in the local rock. The sudden disappearance of Mrs. Owen pushes Peter to act, leading to a cliff-hanging denouement as tragic as it is inevitable in this dark, brilliantly realized thriller. Good vacation reading; recommended for most public libraries.
Starr E. Smith, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Ppbk Edition/ 1st Printing edition (June 16, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802133606
• ISBN-13: 978-0802133601
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,833,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The effect of shear on granite and a geologist called Peter, February 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shear (Parks, Tim) (Paperback)

Tim Parks attained prominence with the Booker nominated "Europa", but "Shear" seemed the more interesting novel. As a one time quarry man turned novelist, Parks writes with rare authority about a geologist called Peter Nicolson who is sent to a Mediterranean island to inspect a granite quarry whose product for an Australian project has resulted in the "accidental" death of a construction worker. Using the language of geology and images drawn from the world of mineralogy (eg, shear, quartz, feldspar, etc), Parks scores with a gripping thriller that has you on the edge of your seat all through its 210 pages. The pace doesn't let up, in fact gathers pace until it delivers a shattering climax at the very end. The words "there was evil in the rocks" early in the novel sets the tone for what ensues. The philandering protagonist(Peter) isn't exactly a sympathetic character. He is unfaithful to his pregnant wife from a marriage gone stale, yet thinks nothing of cheating on his travelling companion mistress while on his investigative mission. In the course of his five-day stay on the island, Peter finds himself equally subject to the effects of "shear" that granite slabs are exposed to in their voyage to their final destination. Even the moral choices that Peter is confronted with each step of the way are tainted by motives which are suspect. Without spoiling the fun for readers of this highly ingenious and dazzlingly written suspense novel, I can only say that "Shear" is entertainment of the first order and noboby who has read it will feel disappointed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book combining geology and modernist fiction., July 2, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Shear (Parks, Tim) (Paperback)

Tim Parks is the author of several distinguished works of fiction
and non-fiction. In addition, he has produced well received
translations of Italian fiction including the work of
Italo Calvino. Sheer is a novel which demonstrates the author's
usual linguistic brilliance along with a surprising
knowledge of geology, both aspects of which combine to produce
a work of extraordinary richness and vitality. A
geologist, finding himself the dupe of big money interests,
falls into an ever widening pit of sexual and ethical malaise.
An extremely interesting novel by one of the best of today's
younger English writers.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over-analytical and tedious, October 18, 2001

By 

J. Mullin (Plantation, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shear (Parks, Tim) (Paperback)

Some writers can do a lot with a bare premise for a plot, expertly weaving interesting subplots and characters around in a mosaic that captures the reader's imagination even though the reader may ultimately remember little of the story. William Gay and Richard Russo are examples. Other writers, like Tim Parks, take what should be very entertaining premises for novels and turn them into psychological tales of guilt and deception, sapping almost all of the entertainment out of a good story. Shear is an example.

I had previously read Europa by Tim Parks, and while that book didn't overwhelm me I recognized Parks' writing skills and thought I should give him another try, considering the acclaim he receives in England and elsewhere. Having read Shear, I have to face the fact that maybe he just isn't my type of author. Shear takes place on a sunswept Mediterranean island, although we seldom learn very much about our setting other than that. The protagonist is geologist Peter Nicholson, sent from his home office to investigate a rock quarry and to write a report explaining a slab's collapse in a construction project that killed a worker in Australia.

Peter is not a terribly sympathetic character, he brought his 22 year old mistress Margaret along for a little fun in the sun, (he is 40 with a pregnant wife and kids at home). Peter receives a fax from his wife announcing her pregnancy, and much of what constitutes "drama" in the novel surrounds Peter's guilt at his inexplicable failure to respond, by phone or even by fax, to his wife's announcement. Peter is desperate to prolong his relationship with young Margaret, sensing that she is about through with him, and yet he wastes no time in bedding a beautiful interpreter on the island named Thea, even as he realizes she was probably put in his path to soften the blow of his report on the construction mishap.

You would think with all this infidelity, and with the drama surrounding a contruction accident (the widow from Australia shows up demanding answers, and determined to find a guilty scapegoat), that the plot would be fast-paced and dramatic. Wrong. Parks endlessly piles on these rock metaphors, and spends so much time exploring Peter's guilty psyche that basically every other character is simply along for the ride.

We care little for Margaret or Thea, cause the author barely describes them. At times, when Peter is crawling in or out of bed with one of them, I had to go back a page or two to find out which girl he was sleeping with presently. We know nothing of how the affair with Margaret got started, and have no real visual picture of any character in the novel. As for setting, Joseph Conrad in Nostromo made his Central American mining locale a principal player in the story; here there is nothing very unique or memorable in the locale.

The book was relatively short, at about 200 pages, but seemed longer to me since after about 25 pages a night I put it down. Many love Park's psychological style, as the editorial reviews and positive Amazon feedback attests, but in this reviewer's humble opinion Shear was a swing and a miss.