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Ladies and Gentlemen
Ladies and Gentlemen
Oct 31, 2024 5:27 AM

Author:Adam Ross

Ladies and Gentlemen

A hotshot young lawyer, burdened by years of guilt and resentment, comes to the aid of his irresponsible kid brother, only to realise he's a pawn in a treacherous scheme. A lonely professor, frequently regaled with outrageous tales by the office handyman, suddenly fears he's being asked to abet a murderous fugitive. A man down on his luck closes in on a mysterious job offer while doing a good turn for his fragile neighbour, but his efforts backfire in a terrifically surreal - and hilarious - manner. Four college kids goad each other on in a series of escalating dares, culminating in a result as ambiguous as it is tragic. An enterprising adolescence uses his brief career as a child actor to fulfil the crush he has on a friend's seemingly untouchable older sister.

Laced throughout with glimmers of redemption and a refreshing combination of warmth and cynicism, these noirish narratives have a youthful energy that belies their hard-won wisdom, and together they showcase one of our most outstanding new writers.

Reviews

One of our truly essential new writers

—— GQ

Ross is the kind of writer who gets into his often-dysfunctional characters' heads with ease and inhabits them with compassion, giving them a sense of vulnerability... His prose has a pleasing ease to it, without being easy - there's an edge to the worlds he creates that rewards closer reading and prevents sentimentality or predictability. Definitely one to watch

—— Lesley McDowell , The Herald

If you like short stories with a sharp twist in the tale, Adam Ross' astringent collection will be perfectly to your taste

—— Daily Mail

Witty and well-shaped short-story collection... Ross charts the progress of his characters' disillusionment with a compelling mixture of sympathy and ironic detachment

—— Nick Rennison , Sunday Times

Ross is a gifted writer with a soft spot for the kind of stop - you - in - your - tracks twists that will have readers dropping their cups of tea, slow-mo, into their laps

—— Alice Wylie , Scotland on Sunday

Vivid depictions of modern anxiety and a lament to humankind's waning attachment to commitment, deftly told by one of the most accomplished new writers working in the US today

—— Yasmin Sulaiman , The List

Ten years ago the American short story was in decline. Now it is once again a vital genre

—— Ruth Franklin , Prospect

Distinctive, surreal and intelligent

—— Antonia Charlesworth , Big Issue in the North

Sublimely irresistible

—— Tim Samuels , theholbornmag.com
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