Enjoy!
ISBN-13:
978-1-59051-936-3
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 11-26-2019
Length:
352pp
Buy It: Amazon/B&N/IndieBound
ADD TO: GOODREADS
Overview:
HER SECRET MUST BE KEPT FOR ALL ETERNITY. Set in the otherworldly megalopolis that is today’s Shanghai, Temple Drake’s suspenseful first novel blends the gothic, the erotic, and the supernatural as it charts an intense and dangerous affair.
One night in 2012, executive Zhang Guo Xing takes a group of European clients to a fashionable nightclub in Shanghai. While there, he meets a strikingly beautiful young Western woman called Naemi Vieno Kuusela. The physical attraction between them proves irresistible, and they embark on an intoxicating affair. But Naemi is not what she appears to be…
To Zhang’s surprise, she veers between passion and wariness, conducting the relationship entirely on her own terms. He feels driven to find out more about her, and is swiftly drawn into a web of intrigue, mystery, and horror. Is she a ghost? A demon? Do the living dead walk the streets of twenty-first century Shanghai?
Read an excerpt:
She was standing so close that he could feel her breath against his face. There was a single faint line at the edge of her left eye. Otherwise, her skin was unblemished, clear. He moved his hand to the back of her neck, beneath her hair. Then they were kissing. Once again, he noticed the heat of her mouth. Once again, the wild racing of his heart.
As they took the lift to the lower ground floor, they stood against opposing walls, looking at each other, the space between them charged and tingling, just as it had been earlier, in the car.
Everything they hadn’t done as yet.
Everything they might still do.
When the door opened and the car-park lay before them, vast and warm and windowless, he asked if she wanted a lift back to where she lived.
“I’ll take a taxi,” she said. “It’s not so far.”
His car was waiting, engine running, but he turned his back on it and walked her up onto the street.
“I’d like to see you again.” He reached into his jacket pocket. “Can I give you my card?”
“No need,” she said.
“How will you find me? You know nothing about me—” He bit his lip. He hadn’t meant to say so much.
“I found you tonight,” she said. “I’ll find you again.”
In a city of more than twenty million, he thought. How was that possible?
As they took the lift to the lower ground floor, they stood against opposing walls, looking at each other, the space between them charged and tingling, just as it had been earlier, in the car.
Everything they hadn’t done as yet.
Everything they might still do.
When the door opened and the car-park lay before them, vast and warm and windowless, he asked if she wanted a lift back to where she lived.
“I’ll take a taxi,” she said. “It’s not so far.”
His car was waiting, engine running, but he turned his back on it and walked her up onto the street.
“I’d like to see you again.” He reached into his jacket pocket. “Can I give you my card?”
“No need,” she said.
“How will you find me? You know nothing about me—” He bit his lip. He hadn’t meant to say so much.
“I found you tonight,” she said. “I’ll find you again.”
In a city of more than twenty million, he thought. How was that possible?
Praise:
“[A] supercharged, genre-mixing first novel.” —BBC, Ten Books to Read in November“An atmospheric and evocative tale buoyed by a sensual affair, Drake’s debut is a compelling read.” —Booklist
“A steamy affair turns supernatural…the ending subverts expectations and provides a perfect springboard for NVK’s next adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Drake combines cinematic and atmospheric writing with a sensual, supernatural story…This sleek, feminist take on the typical vampire story is a welcome respite from the usual supernatural fare…a must read.” —Amazon Book Review
“Seamlessly blending sophisticated gothic fantasy with a stylish, neon-lit allure, NVK is our sexy new obsession…Drake writes this thriller in a deliberately minimalist style that’s as spare and elegant as Scandinavian furniture…mysterious and bewitching.” —Apple Books, Top 10 Best Debut Novels of the Season
“Sexy, gritty, dark and everything you want in a noir-ish novel.” —Books Are Magic, Medium, Our Most Anticipated Fall Releases
“NVK is a propulsive supernatural thriller. Flitting between the point of view of its enigmatic title character and that of Zhang Guo Xing, her perfect foil, a man whose wealth can buy him everything but total certainty about the woman he desires (and loves?), Temple Drake’s novel teaches you how to read it without being didactic. Drake’s style is breezy and spare but serious, and always a pleasure to read. NVK masterfully combines the techniques of gothic, erotic, and realist fiction, and should appeal to fans of each and all. A marvelous bit player named Mad Dog counsels Zhang at one point, ‘There’s a kind of immortality that originates in trauma. It’s known as an “awakening.”’ NVK awakens and announces a startling new writer well worth watching.” —John Francisconi, Bank Square Books (Mystic, CT)
About the author:
NVK is Temple Drake's first novel. Blending the gothic and the supernatural, and taking place in modern-day Shanghai, the novel charts an intoxicating and ultimately lethal affair between a privileged Chinese businessman and a young Western woman.Temple Drake is based in London.
I most find it interesting since hers is a FInnish last name
ReplyDeleteOther Press translates a lot of their offerings but I think this one was published in English
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