Heatwave: An Evening Standard 'Best New Book' of 2021

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When I Grow Up’ by Robert Scragg in Afraid of the Shadows edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds) This a teen angsty version of Camus’ The Stranger. The narrator is a 17 year old boy on vacation, feeling completely isolated while surrounded by the revelry of others. He has a strange preoccupation with losing his virginity, which is really a silent cry for the attention of just anyone. Oscar è morto perché l’ho guardato morire senza muovere un dito. È morto strangolato dalle corde di un’altalena, come i bambini nei fatti di cronaca. Oscar non era un bambino. A diciassette anni non si muore così, senza farlo apposta. Ci si stringe il collo per provare qualcosa. Forse stava cercando un nuovo modo di godere. In fondo siamo tutti qui per godere. Comunque sia non mi sono mosso. Da lì è derivato tutto il resto. You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void’ Le Point

Heatwave by Victor Jestin - Audiobook | Scribd Heatwave by Victor Jestin - Audiobook | Scribd

Mooie sfeerschepping van het campingleven ook, ik heb nooit op een camping verbleven en bij het lezen van sommige passages weet ik weer waarom me dat nooit heeft aangesproken. The young author of this first novel keeps all promises, with writing of a rare precision, mature and carnal... Moving and cinematic’ La Vie I heard singing through the canvas, a long line of people dancing around my tent. I’m a little older now. I kissed a girl, then lost her. Oscar died. Oscar is dead because of me, because I did nothing. Because I didn’t move. And I didn’t move because at that moment I couldn’t. I would rather have died like him, and we could have watched each other die while the others danced.” Non intervenire, restare immobile a guardare – tanto più che Oscar dava l’impressione di averci ripensato, di volersi liberare dalle corde dell’altalena – è come ammazzare?The story opens with him watching a suicide and making the conscious decision to not stop it. The reason being hinted at that this other boy had the attention of the girl he wanted to be with. Like when you loath another person and have that horrible fleeting thought, “Oh why don’t they just die and leave me alone then my life would be so much easier,” but in this instance he gets exactly what he wants and is filled with a general malaise. The book was written in French (titled La Chaleur) and, of course, we read the translated version. That may have caused a couple of editing errors but, in general, I thought it was very well-written—especially considering the author wrote when he was just 23 years of age. Others must have agreed, as it won several awards, including the Prix Femina des Lycéens 2019 and the Prix de la vocation 2019. It was nominated for several other awards.

Heatwave | Book by Victor Jestin | Official Publisher Page Heatwave | Book by Victor Jestin | Official Publisher Page

The Clifton Vampire’ by TE Kinsey in Afraid of the Shadows edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds) Blindsided’ by Caroline England in Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time edited by Samantha Lee Howe (Telos Publishing) Léonard voelt zich niet goed in zijn vel - hij heeft er de leeftijd voor - en het kunstmatige campingleven met zijn opgedrongen groepsgevoel, de apérospelletjes, de aquagym maakt het er allemaal niet beter op. The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Murders that Stunned an Empire , Julie Kavanagh (Grove Press UK) The headline Gold Dagger, awarded for the crime novel of the year, sees Hawkins nominated for A Slow Fire Burning (Doubleday), alongside Billingham’s Rabbit Hole (Sphere) and Imran Mahmood’s I Know What I Saw (Raven). Ray Celestin is also in contention for the award for Sunset Swing (Mantle), which has also received nominations for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for thriller of the year, and the Historical Dagger.

Tense and brief, this text plays with the codes of a first novel to paint a portrait of a sad and aloof teenager.”— L’Humanite Tense and brief, this text plays with the codes of a first novel to paint a portrait of a sad and aloof teenager’ L’Humanite This isn’t a conventional crime novel. There’s no doubt as to the crime committed or who is complicit. In fact, it’s stated up front in this captivating first paragraph: “Oscar is dead because I watched him die and did nothing. He was strangled by the ropes of a swing, like one of those children you read about in the newspapers.” Instead, it explores the main character’s behaviour and reaction to Oscar’s death. There’s no resolution, no comfort here and the reader will be left to make their own conclusion. And that’s about all I can say without revealing too much. It’s a good story, though slightly far-fetched at times. It certainly will be a summer none of the campers will ever forget! Ultimately, Heatwave is an intriguing thriller which examines good versus evil and humanity’s underlying barbarism when faced with unfamiliar situations. It also comments on societal pressure to conform and, on the other side of the spectrum, questions the artificial nature of people’s behaviour, their superficiality and their ability to ignore the issues they don’t want to deal with.

Heatwave | Book by Victor Jestin | Official Publisher Page

This drawn-out wandering of a boy outside the norm has been brought to life by the incredible precision of this young author’s voice’ PrimaHis first instinct is to bury the body, as though hiding it will undo what has happened. But the memory of the buried body haunts him on this sweltering beach.