The Dark House - by John Sedgwick (Paperback)

About the Book

Edward Rollins is an account executive with a peculiar pastime: he is a voyeur who tails randomly selected cars into the night, recording the details of the sojourn on a hand-held tape player. And so it goes until a seemingly random encounter places him at the heart of a decades-old murder mystery.

Book Synopsis

Meet Edward Rollins, scion of one of Boston's more notable families. A diligent but uninspired employee at one of the city's finest investment houses, he is a man of means -- and of secrets. Each night, armed with a hand-held tape recorder, he randomly picks a car and follows it to a destination, cataloging the habits and peculiarities of its driver. A harmless obsession.

But one night changes everything. Trailing a car to a remote suburb, Rollins follows it to a house that, he eerily realizes, was once frequented by his murdered cousin. Drawn into a mystery to which he unwittingly holds the key, he must unlock the secrets of his past to find the truth -- a search that could free him from his own dark house of despair.

A harrowing, tension-riddled literary thriller that echoes the storytelling power of Frederick Busch and Ian McEwan, The Dark House heralds the arrival of a major talent.

Review Quotes

"An inventive and original first novel." -- New York Times Book Review

"THE DARK HOUSE is a compelling story, wonderfully told. John Sedgwick is the real thing." -- Robert B. Parker, author of FAMILY HONOR and HUSH MONEY

"Unique and absorbing ... A spellbinding story of obsession, greed and redemption." -- Barnes and Noble, Discover Great New Writers, Summer 2000

"Fredrick Busch meets Blow-up in a nerve-shredding debut." -- Kirkus Reviews

"An ambitious thriller [that] methodically peels back New England's upper crust." -- Publisher's Weekly

"New and unexpected...marks Sedgwick as a writer to watch." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Don't read this book alone at night." -- GQ

"A wild ride through the dark side of Yankee families and their sexual secrets.... The quintessential Bostonian suspense novel." -- Boston magazine