The Orchid Eater

The Orchid Eater

Sunshine and surfing. Drugs and grenades. Streetwise preachers and serial killers. Thereâ€™s a reason the words â€œtroubledâ€ and â€œyouthâ€ go together.

Mike James may be young but it would be a stretch to call him troubled. Heâ€™s never been laid. He fears he never will be. The only fact of life that seems inevitable is death. Still, itâ€™s summer vacation, a season for optimism, and heâ€™s about to get his very own room for the first time, in a house above glitzy Bohemia Bay. His luck is bound to change!

But very bad choices bring bad luck in their wake, and after a night of juvenile mayhem, Mike finds his summer quickly turning into a nightmare. His old friends are disappearing. His new friends canâ€™t be trusted. The only girl he meets is probably an hallucination. So forget about sex.

Death, on the other handâ€¦his chances of experiencing that are looking better all the time.

First published in 1994, reprinted in France (as part of Gallimardâ€™s classic SÃ©rie noire line of noir crime novels), this marks the first ebook publication of The Orchid Eater.

Reviews:

â€œWith unusual insights into the cruel extremism and vulnerability of adolescence, this suspenseful thriller of psychosis and serial killing follows the parallel stories of a young murderer and the boy he might have been in the quiet Southern California town of Bohemia Bay. Laidlaw peoples Bohemia Bay with colorful multidimensional characters, both teenaged and adult, and tells their grisly story with evocative prose in a penetrating, convincing voice. Clever plotting and a lively pace fortify an imaginative, offbeat and often unnerving tale.â€ â€“ Publishers Weekly

â€œA kind of Dazed and Confused seasoned with psychotics. â€¦ Harks back to such illustrious predecessors as Jim Thompson and Ross Macdonald. Adding his own patented brand of sometimes hallucinatory proseâ€¦Laidlaw has conjured up a multileveled thriller out of our cultural detritus and shared shame.â€ â€“ Paul di Filippo, Asimovâ€™s Science Fiction Magazine

â€œAn original tale cut from the fabric of the surreal and nightmares. Youâ€™ve never encountered anything as bizarre as Laidlawâ€™s fiction and his cast of unique characters.â€ â€“ World of Fandom

â€œOne of the most refreshing things about The Orchid Eater is its lack of an intrusive moral overlay. [D]eceptively complex and finely structured. On the surface runs an easily followed, suspenseful story, but at times the careful web of resonance and connection Laidlaw has woven can be glimpsed beneath it.â€ â€“ Robert K.J. Killheffer, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

â€œMuch about this book reminded me of the small coastal towns and people in John Steinbeckâ€™s fiction. Laidlaw writes with the same flavor, the same attention to the underclass seething with purpose and life beneath the calm exterior of a tourist backwater beach community. Itâ€™s rich and wise and the world in it is as real as the one outside our doors.â€ â€“ Billie Sue Mosiman,

â€œExcellent suspense, with unpredictable twists and turns â€¦ racy sexuality and provoking encounters.â€ â€“ The Bookwatch

â€œHighly recommended.â€ â€“ K. Ptacek, Mystery Scene
Country USA
Manufacturer Freestyle Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-06-29
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Freestyle Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-06-29
Format	Kindle eBook

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