The Library of Shadows

Oct 8, 2024 3:33 PM

Author:Mikkel Birkegaard,Tiina Nunnally

Imagine that some people have the power to affect your thoughts and feelings when you read, or they read a book to you. They can seduce you with amazing stories, conjure up vividly imagined worlds, but also manipulate you into thinking exactly what they want you to.

When Luca Campelli dies a sudden and violent death, his son Jon inherits his second-hand bookshop, Libri di Luca, in Copenhagen. Jon has not seen his father for twenty years since the mysterious death of his mother.

When Luca's death is followed by an arson attempt on the shop, Jon is forced to explore his family's past. Unbeknown to Jon, the bookshop has for years been hiding a remarkable secret. It is the meeting place of a society of booklovers and readers, who have maintained a tradition of immense power passed down from the days of the great library of ancient Alexandria. Now someone is trying to destroy them, and Jon finds himself in a fight for his life and those of his new friends.

Reviews

A thrilling and dangerous literary conspiracy novel

—— Woman & Home

Powerful, passionate writing... Welsh gets it just right

—— Literary Review

Powerful... A bracing and engaging read

—— Daily Telegraph

Crime is by some distance Welsh's most restrained and thoughtful work

—— The Times

You never know what you're going to get with Irvine Welsh, other than guaranteed intelligence. But what you get here is a triumph. A brave take on paedophile rings and the minds, fast and slow, behind them... There are echoes of rebus, of Christopher Brookmyre, even of Carl Hiaasen... There's only one Welsh and you should be reading him again

—— Observer

A disturbing but vital read

—— Harper's Bazaar

An anti-Lolita; a cleverly updated view of those who protect children and those who prey on them. It also works as a slick, fast-paced thriller with a surprisingly coherent and engaging hero

—— Big Issue

There's a stark immediacy to his prose...frenetically paced thriller

—— Daily Mail

Running jokes and consciously ludicrous moments come thick and fast

—— Guardian

The taut dialogue buzzes with snappy ventriloquism. Welsh is one of our most interesting writers on the minutiae of human consciousness

—— Sunday Telegraph

Essentially a stunning exploration of the darkest parts of the human psyche, one which will haunt the reader

—— Socialist Review

There is no doubt that Crime is a page-turner

—— New Statesman

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