Accidents Happen - by F H Batacan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A short story collection as relentlessly intense and darkly compelling as Batacan's debut, the Filipino crime landmark Smaller and Smaller Circles

F.H. Batacan's first novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles, was an instant classic when it was published in 1999, a masterpiece of Filipino crime that won the Philippine Book Award. In this, her second work of fiction, she gives us a far-ranging collection that explores the darkest corners of human experience, depicting with pitch black humor the systems of class and politics that her characters are trapped in, and the moments violence--accidental or otherwise--that can, at any moment, shatter their lives.

The driver for a wealthy family witnesses the aftermath of the disappearance of the family's twelve-year-old son. A field investigator for the World Health Organization travels the world giving presentations about a biomedical enzyme that will lead to the extinction of the human race. And Father Augusto Saenz, the Jesuit priest and forensic anthropologist from Smaller and Smaller Circles, returns to investigate the murder of a woman whose secretive life holds the key to her death.

Sure to cement Batacan's status as a crime writer of global status, Accidents Happen is a probing and relentless series of dark excursions into worlds where the smallest moments are infused with life and vibrating with menace, and death is always close at hand.

Review Quotes

Praise for F.H. Batacan

Winner of the Philippine National Book Award
Winner of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award
Winner of the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award

"A perfect opportunity for whodunit fans around the world to discover Manila as a setting, but also one for Filipino readers to see the city in a different half-light . . . Smaller and Smaller Circles is now not only the first Filipino crime novel, but also the terrific, treacherous touchstone for all such novels to follow."
--Inquirer

"Reminds us that truth not only exists at the end of a story, but continuously through the present moment, woven as traces, hints and clues to be grasped at even as they pass."
--The Spectator (UK)

"A fascinating snapshot of a country still struggling to come to terms with the poverty, corruption and brutality of the Ferdinand Marcos era."
--The Irish Times

About the Author

F.H. Batacan is a Filipino journalist, musician, and crime fiction writer currently based in Singapore. After ten years of working in the Philippine intelligence community, she turned to broadcast journalism. Smaller and Smaller Circles, her first novel, won the Philippine National Book Award.