Suspects

The narrator is creating short biographies of some of the most famous characters in film noir, including Noah Cross, Norma Desmond, Norman Bates, and Harry Lime. They start to meet each other outside the films, and the book is becoming a novel. The narrator is not merely the author but also has a mission to carry out, a lost family link to find, and a thread to pull so that nearly all these disparate characters come together to form a kind of society. Suspects is a commentary on film noir and the forms of Hollywood story-telling, and is also a dazzlingly original work of fiction. It is an examination of identity and the construction of self through the medium of narratives, or simply as a fascinating take on movie fandom.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 20 June 2022
Publisher: Oldcastle Books Ltd

Noah Cross, Norma Desmond, Norman Bates, and Harry Lime are just a few of the nearly a hundred names that flood the narrator's mind as he begins to craft short biographies of some of the most iconic characters in the history of film noir. He paints complete lives, lives as vivid as the dreams projected on the screen. These characters then begin to cross paths outside of the movies, as if they were real people with real needs and passions. The book is evolving into a novel. We recognize the names and faces, such as Jake Gittes from Chinatown, Laura Hunt and Waldo Lydecker from Laura, Rick and Ilsa from Casablanca. But were Noah Cross and Norma Desmond lovers in the twenties, and did she and Joe Gillis have a son who grew up to be Julian Kay in American Gigolo?

For the narrator, he is not just the author. He is married to Laura Hunt's sister, and he has a mission to fulfill: a lost family link to find, a thread to pull to bring nearly all these disparate characters together to form a kind of society. Suspects is the most inspired of film noir commentaries and Hollywood storytelling forms. It is, in a way, a biographical dictionary, but it is also a dazzlingly original work of fiction, so full of America, of an old man's dread of loss and failure, and of a simultaneous love and rage for these movies that you may find its impossible world as real and as touching as any you have ever inhabited.

Ultimately, Suspects can be read as an unsettling examination of identity and the construction of self through the medium of narratives, or simply as a fascinating take on movie fandom. Either way, this book is a must-read for anyone who loves film noir and the intricate world of Hollywood storytelling.

Weight: 244g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 39 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780857305107