Cradle Song
  • Published: 2 August 2004
  • ISBN: 9780552771429
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 528
  • RRP: $40.00

Cradle Song

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2010
Paperback
2 Aug 2004
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Stunning literary crime novel, from the acclaimed author of Booker-longlisted PEACETIME, and THE BOOK OF THE HEATHEN.

An imprisoned paedophile and child murderer unexpectedly appeals his conviction. In return for a reduced sentence, he offers to implicate those involved in the crimes who were never caught; to provide evidence of Police corruption at the time of the original investigation; and, most importantly, to reveal where the corpses of several long-sought, but never found teenage girls are buried.

Unhappy at what may be about to happen, but at the same time desperate to locate the body of his own missing daughter, the father of one of these girls approaches Private Investigator Leo Rivers with a plea for help.

Rivers' enquiries stir cold and bitter memories. Long-dead enmities flare suddenly into violence and a succession of new killings. Everyone involved, then and now, and on both sides of the law, is unprepared for the suddenness and ferocity with which these old embers are fanned back into life. As the investigation progresses, it gathers momentum, and now must speed inexorably to the even greater violence and sadness of its conclusion.

The first of a trilogy of contemporary crime novels set in the city of Hull, Robert Edric's new novel is reminiscent of Chandler and Mosley, and yet remains uniquely British. Against the backdrop of Internet pornography, Police corruption and child murder, this dark and intense novel reads like a game of chess where each piece is invested with a deceptive significance.
  • Published: 2 August 2004
  • ISBN: 9780552771429
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 528
  • RRP: $40.00
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About the author

Robert Edric

Robert Edric was born in 1956. His novels include Winter Garden (James Tait Black Prize winner 1986), A New Ice Age (runner-up for the Guardian Fiction Prize 1986), The Book of the Heathen (winner of the WH Smith LIterary Award 2000), Peacetime (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2002), Gathering the Water (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2006) and In Zodiac Light (shortlisted for the Dublin Impac Prize 2010). His most recent novel is Sanctuary. He lives in Yorkshire.

Also by Robert Edric

Mercury Falling
Field Service
Sanctuary
The Monster's Lament
The Devil's Beat
The London Satyr
Salvage
See all

Praise for Cradle Song

'Highly accomplished... Fans can look forward to his usual sharply realised characters operating in a tense, pressured environment'

Independent

'A rewarding experience...This is murder at its most foul, crime at the deep end'

Spectator

'His novel is something substantial and distinctive...Edric has a clear, almost rain-washed style, eminently suitable for his Hull setting...Cradle Song is a strong and serious novel, soberly entertaining and well worth your while'

Literary Review

'Cradle Song is a superbly paced book... This is classic crime noir... Edric can also produce beautiful prose and arresting images as well as incisive social satire... Magnificently achieved'

Giles Foden

'Deeply intelligent...Vertiginously devious...Twists like a fist around the throat of the reader'

The Times

'A veritable Stanley Kubrik of the world of fiction...Edric makes it impossible for the crime novel to be considered the country cousin of serious literature any longer'

The Times