Antwerp

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

A brutal killer, inspired by the Belgian artist Paul Delvaux, leaves each of his victims posed as if in a painting. Meanwhile cult film director Johnny Vos is making a low-budget biopic about the same artist. He hires women from Antwerp's red light district and from an internet voyeur house as extras in order to recreate the poses of Delvaux's famous sleepwalking nudes. When two prostitutes end up murdered, English film critic Frank Warner, in town to interview Vos, turns Investigative Journalist and becomes personally involved when his own girlfriend goes missing. In the search for the killer, everyone is implicated. Simultaneously macabre and erotic, Antwerp will not release you until its final page has turned.

Reviews

"'A gory but erotic thriller... This is a chilling and exhilarating read' Observer 'Beautifully written... a mesmerising blend of surrealism, satire and thriller... a fictional answer to the strangest art-house noir' Independent 'Antwerp is lit expressionistically, with a palette that combines the vulgar neons of the city's red light district with a silver nitrate glow. Cinema-going has clearly equipped Royle with a keen understanding of the mechanics of voyeurism, and he repays the debt by imitating the grammar of cinema' Independent on Sunday"

Author Bio

Nicholas Royle was born in Manchester in 1963. He is the author of four novels, including The Director's Cut (Abacus, 2000) and more than 100 short stories, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines. He has edited eleven anthologies including A Book of Two Halves (Phoenix) and The Time Out Book of New York Short Stories (Penguin). He lives in Manchester with his wife and two children.