Bookbot

Irving Pardoen

    A Good Hanging And Other Stories
    Tooth and Nail
    A Desert in Bohemia
    Bambino 44
    Omnibus: De Paardenfluisteraar & De Wolvenlus
    First They Killed My Father
    • From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot, this narrative reveals the harrowing realities of war crimes and the extraordinary resilience of a small girl and her family. Repackaged to coincide with a Netflix film produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, the story chronicles Loung Ung's life until the age of five in Phnom Penh, where she was one of seven children of a high-ranking official. A lively child, she cherished the vibrant city markets and her playful interactions with her parents. However, everything changed when the Khmer Rouge invaded in April 1975, forcing her family to flee and hide their identities. They moved from village to village, ultimately dispersing to survive. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, while her siblings faced their own struggles in labor camps. As the Vietnamese forces advanced and dismantled the Khmer Rouge, Loung and her surviving siblings began to reunite. Inspired by her brother's bravery and supported by her family's sacrifices and her sister's kindness, Loung persevered to build a courageous new life. This insightful and compelling story is both harrowing and hopeful, leaving a lasting impact.

      First They Killed My Father
      4,4
    • Bambino 44

      • 444pagine
      • 16 ore di lettura

      Unione Sovietica, 1953. Il regime di Stalin è al vertice, con l'entusiastica collaborazione del Ministero della Sicurezza e dell'MGB (precursore del nefando KGB), l'organismo di polizia segreta la cui brutalità e la continua pratica di torture non sono un segreto. La popolazione è costretta a credere che il crimine è stato debellato in tutto il paese, che tutti sono felici e che il governo rappresenta il punto di riferimento e di ispirazione morale per ogni cittadino modello. Quando tuttavia il cadavere di un ragazzino viene ritrovato sui binari di un treno, l'ufficiale dell'MGB Leo Demidov si sorprende che i genitori del piccolo morto siano convinti si tratti di omicidio. I superiori di Leo gli ordinano di non indagare né su questa morte né sulle altre che seguiranno. Leo obbedisce, anche se sospetta che qualcuno di molto importante possa essere implicato. Smetterà di obbedire nel momento in cui alla giovane moglie Raisa arriveranno minacce affinchè diventi lei stessa garante e spia dell'operato di Leo. Da agente inquisitore allineato con i diktat governativi, Leo diventerà un nemico pubblico da snidare, inquisire e sicuramente eliminare. Costretti a fingere di non amarsi per non nuocersi a vicenda, Leo e Raisa, dovranno proteggersi dal nemico ufficiale e potentissimo, e dai tanti nell'ombra di cui ignorano l'identità.

      Bambino 44
      4,1
    • It is 1945. As the German Army retreats and the tide of war sweeps back over Eastern Europe, the lives of the inhabitants are changed forever.

      A Desert in Bohemia
      3,9
    • Tooth and Nail

      • 293pagine
      • 11 ore di lettura

      Scottish homicide detective John Rebus has been sent to help London police catch a serial killer with a gruesome M.O. Teamed with a London cop, Rebus lets a psychologist into the case and develops a bizarre portrait of a vicious killer. Now it's only question of who is going to get busted first: the cop with the accent who breaks all the rules--or the psycho painting London with blood

      Tooth and Nail
      3,9
    • A Good Hanging And Other Stories

      • 288pagine
      • 11 ore di lettura

      Edinburgh is a city steeped in history and tradition, a seat of learning, of elegant living, known as the 'Athens of the North'. But that isn't all. The city's flip-side is a city of grudges, blackmail, violence, greed and fear - where past and present clash and old wounds fester. In any year Detective Inspector John Rebus can expect gang warfare, murder, assault and battery at the very least. In this collection he investigates the hanging of a student actor during the Festival, an arson attack on a bird watcher and the witnessing of an apparent miracle...

      A Good Hanging And Other Stories
      3,9
    • The Sunday Times bestseller - an intensely moving and beautifully written new novel from the Booker-prize winning author of Last Orders and Waterland

      Mothering Sunday
      3,9
    • Thursday's Children

      • 432pagine
      • 16 ore di lettura

      When psychotherapist Frieda Klein left the sleepy Suffolk coastal town in which she grew up, she never intended to return. Left behind were friends, family, lives and loves but alongside them, painful memories; a past she wouldn't allow to destroy her. Then, years later, an old classmate appears in London, asking Frieda to help her teenage daughter, and long-buried memories resurface. Death soon follows, leaving Frieda no choice but to return home to confront her past. And the monsters no one else believed were real . . . Through a fog of conflicting accounts, hidden agendas and questionable alibis, Frieda can trust no one as she tries to piece together the shocking truth, past and present. Before another innocent dies. When it comes to psychological suspense, there's none better than Nicci French. And Thursday's Children is Nicci French at her very best. Praise for Nicci French 'Brilliantly crafted.' Daily Mirror 'Magnificent.' Evening Standard

      Thursday's Children
      3,9
    • L'uomo che sussurrava ai cavalli

      • 400pagine
      • 14 ore di lettura

      In una mattina d'inverno Grace, unica figlia di Annie, una giovane donna in carriera, e di Robert, un avvocato, viene travolta da un camion mentre è in sella al suo cavallo. La ragazzina, in seguito alla caduta, deve subire l'amputazione della gamba, ma anche Pilgrim, l'amato cavallo di Grace, è gravemente ferito e dovrebbe essere abbattuto. Tornati a casa, sia Grace che Pilgrim manifestano i sintomi di un grave trauma psicologico: Grace ha perso completamente la gioia di vivere, Pilgrim sembra in preda a una oscura follia e nessuno lo può avvicinare. Consapevole del legame che unisce sua figlia all'animale, sicura che guarirà solo se guarirà Pilgrim, Annie ricorre all'aiuto di un cowboy che ha il "dono" di saper ammansire i cavalli selvaggi.

      L'uomo che sussurrava ai cavalli
      3,9
    • Eye of the Red Tsar

      • 352pagine
      • 13 ore di lettura

      It is the time of the Great Terror. Inspector Pekkala - known as the Emerald Eye - was the most famous detective in all Russia. He was the favourite of the Tsar. Now he is the prisoner of the men he once hunted.

      Eye of the Red Tsar
      3,8
    • Agent 6

      • 499pagine
      • 18 ore di lettura

      1965. Leo Demidov, ex agente della polizia segreta, è costretto dal granitico apparato sovietico a restare a Mosca mentre la moglie e le figlie partono per New York in missione diplomatica. Il viaggio finisce in tragedia e Leo chiede di indagare sul terrorista che ha attaccato la sua famiglia. La risposta è di nuovo e sempre una: NIET. Assetato di giustizia e di verità, Leo inizia allora la sua personale ricerca, da Mosca all’America degli anni Sessanta fino all'Afghanistan tormentato dall'invasione russa degli anni Ottanta, in un’odissea che svela i lati nascosti della storia, della politica e, in ultima istanza, della natura umana.

      Agent 6
      3,9
    • A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat, spreadeagled, cross-like on the floor, between two burned-down candles, a five-pointed star daubed on the wall above. Just another dead addict - until John Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurks behind the facade of the Edinburgh familiar to tourists. Only Rebus seems to care about a death which looks more like a murder every day, about a seductive danger he can almost taste, appealing to the darkest corners of his mind . . .

      Hide & Seek
      3,9
    • De flamingo

      • 366pagine
      • 13 ore di lettura

      Set in the 1960s, in Jacksonville, Florida, this "great American tale" ("Atlanta Journal & Constitution") tells a compelling story of living, feuding, fireworks and an extraordinary family whose home is the biggest drive-in theater in the world.

      De flamingo
      2,5
    • Dave Egger's parents died from cancer within a month of each other when he was 21 and his brother, Christopher, was 7. They left the Chicago suburb where they had grown up and moved to San Francisco. This book tells the story of their life together

      A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
      3,7
    • Het seizoen van de kersenbloesem

      • 360pagine
      • 13 ore di lettura

      Het seizoen van de kersenbloesem schetst een fascinerend en intiem beeld van een land waarvan wij zo weinig weten. Het tekent een eerlijk en gevoelig portret van een onvergetelijke familie en een bijzondere vrouw. Het seizoen van de kersenbloesem begint in de jaren zeventig van de negentiende eeuw. De zoon van grootgrondbezitter Miwa is de meest begeerde vrijgezel uit de omgeving. Tot ieders verbazing kiest de familie echter de dochter van de eenvoudige dokter Shirai tot zijn bruid: Ayako, die zo mooi is dat mannen die haar tegenkomen pardoes in het water vallen. Ayako krijgt vier kinderen, waaronder Haruko. Haruko´s leven speelt zich aanvankelijk af op het platteland, binnen de muren van de hofstee waar ze woont met haar familie en bedienden. Hun huis fungeert als middelpunt van de gemeenschap, waar de dagen en seizoenen volgens vastgestelde patronen verlopen. Maar de tijden veranderen, en de traditionele maatschappij komt steeds meer onder druk van buitenaf te staan. Het seizoen van de kersenbloesem is de liefdevolle, geromantiseerde biografie over de moeder van de auteur, op wie Haruko werd gebaseerd. Ruriko Pilgrim schreef een buitengewoon aangrijpend portret van eenJapanse familie in een tjidperk waarin Japan veranderde van een introverte, traditionele maatschappij naar een moderne, op het Westen gerichte economische wereldmacht.

      Het seizoen van de kersenbloesem
      3,3
    • The Echo

      • 343pagine
      • 13 ore di lettura

      In this hypnotic novel of psychological suspense, a homeless man is found starved to death in the garage of a ritzy London home. The police chalk it up to an unfortunate accident, but a journalist, Michael Deacon, is intrigued. Amanda Powell, a socialite whose wealthy husband vanished five years ago after being accused of embezzlement, is just as interested as Michael in finding out who died in her garage. They have no idea that this simple story will unveil a web of deceit that is an appalling as the people behind it.

      The Echo
      3,7
    • De staatsburger

      • 459pagine
      • 17 ore di lettura

      An eccentric Count who runs a famous Paris horror theatre, cursed with unexpected death . . . A beautiful young heiress and aspiring leading lady who just might be involved in the dark arts . . . An enigmatic gentleman whose shadowed past will at last be exposed. Their fates and hidden agendas intertwine in Sarah Smith’s compelling novel of an ancient house, dark arts, and love gone wrong–a murderous tale unfolding in the shadow of the guillotine. . . .

      De staatsburger
      1,4
    • Until It's Over

      • 376pagine
      • 14 ore di lettura

      A murder case pushes six roommates to their breaking point, in this chilling and erotic new thriller.

      Until It's Over
      3,6
    • The Breaker

      • 447pagine
      • 16 ore di lettura

      The acclaimed author of The Echo spins a hypnotic tale of mystery and intrigue. After a woman is brutally raped and murdered--events to which her mute three-year-old daughter was a witness--the police turn their investigation on the victim's husband.

      The Breaker
      3,6
    • The American

      • 384pagine
      • 14 ore di lettura

      A haunting psychological suspense novel, now re-released to tie in to the major new film starring George Clooney

      The American
      3,6
    • Nina Landry is supposed to be taking her two children away for Christmas. However, her 15-year-old daughter, Charlie, has gone missing. Has Charlie run away? Or has something more sinister happened to her? And why will nobody take her disappearance seriously?

      Losing you
      3,5
    • Nicci French, bestselling author of thriller Blue Monday, tells the dark story of a woman trying to discover what happened to her husband in What To Do When Someone Dies. Ellie Faulkner's world has been destroyed. Her husband Greg died in a car crash - and he wasn't alone. In the passenger seat was the body of Milena Livingstone - a woman Ellie's never heard of. But Ellie refuses to leap to the obvious conclusion, despite all the whispers and suspicions. Maybe it's the grief, but Ellie has to find out who this woman was - and prove Greg wasn't having an affair. Soon she is certain their deaths were no accident. Are Ellie's accusations of murder her way of avoiding the truth about her marriage? Or does an even more sinister discovery await her? 'You'll be hooked from the first page. A compulsive page-turner' Daily Express Nicci French is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Together they have written 13 books, including Losing You, The Safe House and Until It's Over.

      What to Do When Someone Dies. Seit er tot ist, englische Ausgabe
      3,5
    • Cerchi e croci

      • 212pagine
      • 8 ore di lettura

      Vita da poliziotto, quella del sergente John Rebus. Una vita in cui il crimine è un appuntamento quotidiano, il senso d’impotenza è una costante inalterabile, le sigarette e l’alcol sono gli unici alleati per non soccombere di fronte all’angoscia delle miserie umane… Eppure nulla, nella tormentata vita di Rebus, è paragonabile alla disperazione che si è abbattuta su di lui e sulla sua città da quando è entrato in azione lo «Strangolatore di Edimburgo», che ha già ucciso due ragazzine e minaccia di colpire ancora. C’è infatti qualcosa, in quell’assassino, che perseguita John Rebus come uno spettro, che lo spinge a indagare fin nei recessi più oscuri della città, nonostante la diffidenza dei superiori, cercando anche il più piccolo indizio che serva a spiegare l’inspiegabile. Ma lui non può sapere che sta cercando nel posto e nel tempo sbagliati. Perché ciò che lo collega all’assassino non appartiene né a Edimburgo né al presente: è qualcosa che si trova nella mente stessa di Rebus, in attesa dietro la porta sprangata del suo passato. Gli ci vorranno l’affetto di una collega, la comprensiva ispettrice Gill Templer, la testardaggine del giornalista Jack Morton e l’inatteso, sofferto intervento del fratello Michael, per trovare il coraggio di capire, per individuare la strada giusta. Una strada segnata da una serie di cerchi e croci…

      Cerchi e croci
      3,5
    • The Tinder Box

      • 124pagine
      • 5 ore di lettura

      A chilling novella of prejudice, ambition and cunning as villagers react to a brutal double murder.

      The Tinder Box
      3,5
    • Complicit

      • 416pagine
      • 15 ore di lettura

      Bonnie finds her summer fling boyfriend and fellow band member, Hayden, dead on the floor of a friend's London apartment. She proceeds to hide the corpse and obliterate every sign of her presence at the crime scene. Hayden's well-known involvement with other women could have provided Bonnie a motive for murder. To complicate matters, at least one more person appears to have altered the crime scene.

      Complicit
      3,4
    • Elizabeth Costello

      • 224pagine
      • 8 ore di lettura

      Elizabeth Costello is an Australian writer of international renown. Famous principally for an early novel that established her reputation, she has reached the stage where her remaining function is to be venerated and applauded. Her life has become a series of engagements in sterile conference rooms throughout the world - a private consciousness obliged to reveal itself to a curious public: the presentation of a major award at an American college where she is required to deliver a lecture; a sojourn as the writer in residence on a cruise liner; a visit to her sister, a missionary in Africa, who is receiving an honorary degree, an occasion which both recognise as the final opportunity for effecting some form of reconciliation; and a disquieting appearance at a writers' conference in Amsterdam where she finds the subject of her talk unexpectedly amongst the audience. She has made her life's work the study of other people yet now it is she who is the object of scrutiny. But, for her, what matters is the continuing search for a means of articulating her vision and the verdict of future generations.

      Elizabeth Costello
      3,3
    • Van je familie moet je het hebben

      • 306pagine
      • 11 ore di lettura

      Van je familie moet je het hebben bevat een zorgvuldig en kundig samengestelde en ingeleide selectie door Aaf Brandt Corstius van David Sedaris' mooiste, ontroerendste en vooral geestigste verhalen: ze gaan over de dood, over zijn knotsgekke familie, over nudistencampings, over roken, over de zes tot acht zwarte mannen die Sinterklaas assisteren, over dwangneuroses, lichamelijk verval, over shoppen met zijn zus Amy, en over nog meer dood.David Sedaris is een fenomeen in de Verenigde Staten: van zijn boeken zijn meer dan een miljoen exemplaren verkocht. Zijn verhalen verschijnen in The New Yorker, hij leest voor op National Public Radio, en is regelmatig te zien bij David Letterman. Ook in België is zijn faam groot: 'Is David Sedaris de grappigste schrijver ter wereld? Wij zijn er alvast van overtuigd,' schreef Het Nieuwsblad geheel terecht.

      Van je familie moet je het hebben
      3,2
    • Moederzorg

      • 303pagine
      • 11 ore di lettura

      Een vrouw krijgt tegelijk de zorg voor haar pasgeboren kind en haar ongeneeslijk zieke moeder.

      Moederzorg
    • Parel Pocket: Ongerijmde dood

      • 398pagine
      • 14 ore di lettura

      Een misdaadverslaggeefster raakt er steeds meer van overtuigd dat een seriemoordenaar de moord waarvoor hij ter dood is veroordeeld, niet heeft gepleegd.

      Parel Pocket: Ongerijmde dood