Some novelists really do get better with age, particularly those
whose literary careers are dedicated to pursuing obsessive themes.
The word that comes to mind with Ballard is 'catastrophe'. For
Ballard, catastrophe is not something produced by planetary
convulsion, meteor strike, or global warming so much as social
engineering. Catastrophe (as in Crash, his masterpiece) is
something that human beings do to themselves, with their beloved
technology. Super-Cannes opens with the newly married aviator (of
advanced years), Paul Sinclair, bombing down the routes nationales
of France in his Jaguar with his 27-year-old physician wife Jane.
She is taking up a position at Eden-Olympia, an 'intelligent
community' (ie business park and residential compound) on the Cote
d'Azur. A sinister pall hangs over the gleaming new utopia. Jane's
predecessor, David Greenwood, an old acquaintance, went on a
shooting spree. Why did he crack? And will Eden-Olympia's gleaming
edifice fissure and disintegrate? Ballard has recently shown a
fondness for mystery plots. The narrative of this novel follow
three tracks: the sexually complex relationship of the Sinclairs,
the investigation of what really happened when Greenwood went on
his Rambo-rampage, and the inexorable decay of Eden-Olympia - just
another in humankind's doomed attempts to make sense out of social
organization. Ballard is, currently, one of our greatest living
novelists. He has the gift of repeating himself in his fiction, but
so creatively that - like loving or eating - one wants it over and
over again. This is one of his best. Review by JOHN SUTHERLAND
Editor's note: John Sutherland is the author of Henry V, War
Criminal? (Kirkus UK)
A disturbing mystery awaits Paul and Jane Sinclair when they arrive in Eden-Olympia, a high-tech business park in the hills above Cannes. Jane is to work as a doctor for the executives who live in this ultra-modern workers' paradise. But what caused her apparently sane predecessor to set out one morning and murder ten people in a shooting spree that made headlines around the world? As Paul investigates his new surroundings, he begins to uncover a thriving subculture of crime that is spiralling out of control.
"Thank God for J.G. Ballard's Super-Cannes, by far the most entertaining novel of the year."
PHIL KERR, INDEPENDENT
"Possibly his greatest book. 'Super-cannes' is both a novel of ideas and a compelling thriller that will keep you turning the pages to the shocking denouement. Only Ballard could have produced it."
SIMON HIDE, SUNDAY EXPRESS
"In this tautly paced thriller he brilliantly details how man's darker side derails a vast experiment in living, and shows the dangers of a near-future in which going mad is the only way of staying sane."
CHARLOTTE MOSLEY, DAILY MAIL
"A companion piece to 'Cocaine Nights'… vintage Ballard, a gripping blend of stylised thriller and fantastic imaginings."
ALEX CLARK, GUARDIAN
"Like watching a slow-motion action replay of a spectacular collision, you can't take your eyes away from 'Super-cannes.'"
MIKE PATTENDEN THE TIMES.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
