A Lonely Man

By: Chris Power

Narrated by: Alan Turton

Robert is a struggling writer living in Berlin with his wife and two young daughters. One night he meets Patrick, an enigmatic stranger with a sensational story to tell: a ghostwriter for a Russian oligarch - recently found hanged - who is now being followed. But is he really in danger? Patrick's life strikes Robert as a fabrication, but one that comes to obsess him. He decides to use the other man, and his story.... As his association with Patrick hurtles towards tragedy, Robert must decide: are actual events the only things that give a story life, and are some stories too dangerous to tell?

An elegant and atmospheric twist on the cat-and-mouse narrative, A Lonely Man is a novel of shadows, of the search for identity and the elastic nature of truth.

©2021 Chris Power (P)2021 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"A remarkable debut; an accomplished and intricately plotted." (Jon McGregor)

"A Lonely Man is a delicate snare of a novel." (Brandon Taylor)

"A thrilling, unnerving novel. a page-turner with exacting syntax and emotional heft." (Catherine Lacey)

Gets better

Starts slow. Seems boring but it really does get better. Some things are not answered and bits are disjointed but overall it's good.