The Pale Blue Eye

By (author) Bayard Louis
Short description/annotation
An atmospheric historical mystery that is full of drama and unexpected twists. From the events of one seemingly ordinary afternoon, Louis Bayard conjures a tale as haunting as it is entertaining.
Description

**Now a major Netflix film starring Christian Bale and Gillian Anderson**

April 19th, 1831. In two or three hours I''ll be dead.

So begins the chilling last testament of Gus Landor, a retired New York City police constable, whose numerous talents include code-breaking, riot control and the ''gloveless interrogation''. A young cadet has been found hanged at a military academy on the shores of the Hudson River. Before his body could be buried, however, it was stolen and his heart brutally carved out.

Fearing a scandal, the top brass at West Point have summoned Landor to help catch the culprit, and keep his discoveries away from prying eyes. As Landor embarks on a thrilling adventure to solve the case, he uncovers a series of dark secrets and finds unlikely assistance in the form of a mischievous young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe.

Full of drama and unexpected twists, The Pale Blue Eye is a brilliantly haunting and atmospheric historical mystery.

''Brilliantly plotted and completely absorbing, ending with the kind of shock that few novelists are able to deliver'' Sunday Times

''Bayard''s shockingly clever and devoutly unsentimental new mystery reads like a lost classic . . . Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the 19th century as if he''d witnessed it firsthand'' New York Times

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Really outstanding crime fiction is rare . . . so it''s a joy to see Louis Bayard pull off this coup . . . As gory and melodramatic as Poe''s own writing . . . brilliantly plotted and completely absorbing, ending with the kind of shock that few novelists are able to deliver
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Hardback fiction worth looking out for
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A most satisfying murder mystery
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Bayard''s shockingly clever and devoutly unsentimental new mystery reads like a lost classic . . . Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the 19th century as if he''d witnessed it firsthand
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An immensely satisfying whodunit, richly imaginative . . . Good, clean homicidal fun
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The Pale Blue Eye kept me transfixed . . . a moody, cunning mystery . . . In the course of the narrative, Bayard ingeniously weaves in motifs from Poe''s work to thrilling effect
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A Dickensian thriller strong on atmosphere
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Louis Bayard is a writer of remarkable gifts: for language, for imagination, for that mysterious admixture of audacity and craftsmanship that signals a major talent in the making
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A tour de force, an intense and gripping novel . . . This beautifully crafted thriller stands head and shoulders above other recent attempts to fictionalise Poe
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In THE PALE BLUE EYE, Louis Bayard pays a stunning and fitting tribute to Edgar Allan Poe - not only in his crafting of a twisty, Gothic mystery that would have delighted the master himself, but in his use of a young Poe as a character. A gorgeous, melancholic tale from a fearless writer. I can''t wait to see what Bayard does next
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Dazzling
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A fictional mystery in a real historical background
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PRAISE FOR THE FILM
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A Netflix historical thriller stuffed with Gothic flourishes
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An appealingly icy, moody, twisty, Gothic fiction work rooted in the same themes that Poe explored
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The Pale Blue Eye is all