Nobody, not even his former wife Margaret, has ever treated Ian Laidlaw in a natural way. Presented with his hideous facial scars, everyone he meets reliably falls back on cast-iron, distant courtesy to hide pity or disgust or shock. But then Alicia Davie, a careless young student, breaks the rules totally by laughing in his face. Alicia goes on to infiltrate the hidden man, exposing the obsessive, destructive passions that lurk beneath his primly cordial manner, never realizing that she is playing with fire...
The Killjoy won the Scottish Arts Council Book Award for 1986, and was recommended for the David Higham Prize for Fiction.
"More discriminating and convincing than John Fowles' first novel, The Collector... Haunting"
Andrew Sinclair, The Times
"Definitely not one for the faint-hearted. It's compellingly written, sinister... and very, very fine"
Woman's World
"Powerfully done... reveals an accomplished and ambitious writer"
Scotsman
"A novel with an adder in the prose... observant and impressive"
Sunday Times
"A wonderful and original piece of work - impeccable from beginning to end ... a horror story which rings absolutely true"
Alan Sillitoe
First published: 1986
ISBN 0552998281 £6.99 paperback
The Killjoy is a novel for adults.
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