The Unknown Terrorist - by Richard Flanagan (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Unknown Terrorist" is a relentless tour de force that paints a devastating picture of a contemporary society gone haywire, where the ceaseless drumbeat of terror alert levels, news reports, and fear of the unknown pushes a nation ever closer to the breaking point.

Book Synopsis

From the internationally acclaimed author of Gould's Book of Fish comes an astonishing new novel, a riveting portrayal of a society driven by fear. What would you do if you turned on the television and saw you were the most wanted terrorist in the country? Gina Davies is about to find out when, after a night spent with an attractive stranger, she becomes a prime suspect in the investigation of an attempted terrorist attack. In The Unknown Terrorist, one of the most brilliant writers working in the English language today turns his attention to the most timely of subjects -- what our leaders tell us about the threats against us, and how we cope with living in fear. Chilling, impossible to put down, and all too familiar, The Unknown Terrorist is a relentless tour de force that paints a devastating picture of a contemporary society gone haywire, where the ceaseless drumbeat of terror alert levels, newsbreaks, and fear of the unknown pushes a nation ever closer to the breaking point.

Review Quotes

"A great book . . . visionary and squalid, apocalyptic and confessional." -- Chris Lehmann

"A paean to the imagination . . . Brilliantly conceived . . . Ýa¨ meditation on fantasy and reality and the holy powers of the written word." -- Gail Caldwell

"A work of significant genius." -- E. William Smethurst, Jr.

"An astonishing masterpiece." -- Brad Zellar

"Darkly funny and brilliantly sad . . . In prose that dances and sizzles and bleeds." -- Karen Sandstrom

"Flanagan's Inventiveness . . . is prodigious." -- John Banville

"Gould's Book of Fish is a novel about fish the way Moby-Dick is a novel about whales, or Ulysses is a novel about the events of a single day." -- Michiko Kakutani