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The Murderer
The Murderer
Aug 13, 2025 12:31 PM

Author:Roy Heath

The Murderer

'For me life hasn't got dreams, success and all that damn nonsense. Life is full of shadows: some of them soft and others conceal a hammer.'

Galton Flood is a lonely man, restless and ill at ease with his family. He leaves his home in Guyana's capital, Georgetown, for a remote township, and the first of a string of precarious jobs. Meeting Gemma, his landlord's daughter, appears to offer a first chance of meaningful connection - maybe even happiness. But there is a darkness inside Galton, and soon jealousy and paranoia lead him to fatally, violently unravel.

With this haunting portrait of a mind undone, celebrated Guyanese writer Roy Heath evocatively recreates the country of his youth: its rivers, townships and tenement yards, and the tensions shimmering below the surface of a community.

Reviews

A beautiful writer and an unforgettable book.

—— Salman Rushdie

The Murderer, Roy Heath's masterpiece, is written with immediacy and precision. In a few sentences, Heath creates a psychological tension that is totally convincing and gripping. Slowly, as the main character grows more obsessed and distant from others, he also becomes more complex and fascinating and memorable.

—— Colm Tóibín

A literary thriller ... The Murderer is a strange, luminous, and beguiling work by a writer with a mysterious and captivating Caribbean voice, who shied away from publicity and is now resurrected.

—— Colin Grant , New York Review of Books

A character who might have been created by Dostoevsky.

—— Spectator

A picture of a lost soul emerges that is mysteriously authentic and unique as a work of art.

—— Observer

A hauntingly powerful story.

—— New York Times

A notable study of paranoia, remarkable for its psychological insight and the restraint of its climax.

—— The Guardian

Guyanese authors are a radiant constellation, and Roy Heath stands rightfully among them. His unique style stands out from others of his time, and ours.

—— Lemn Sissay

The prose style is graceful, old-fashioned, almost Latinate. The dialogue on the other hand, is pure Guyanese vernacular, and the gap between the two, between the sense of distance in the prose and intimacy in the dialogue, makes the novel chilling and tense and deeply original.

—— Colm Tóibín and Carmen Callil, ‘200 Best Novels in English since 1950’, The Modern Library

This enthralling novel plunges the reader into a painting by Van Gogh, a swirl of emotion unhinged from a verifiable reality. Or is it a portrait of a mind seen through a glass darkly? Heath takes his time to distinguish fantasy from delusion, play from mental decay... The Murderer is numbered among the Caribbean's leading psychological novels, a nuanced portrait of the disintegrating individual psyche.

—— Fred D’Aguiar

Ravishing ... Formally inventive, psychologically acute ... Tran's debut demonstrates the capacity of poetry to tell the truths which will set you free

—— Dana Levin , author of BANANA PALACE

All the Flowers Kneeling is a gorgeous debut ... Out of violences intimate and imperial, out of survival and self-fashioning, Paul Tran sculpts new forms to contain all. This book is a richness. What a stellar poet for our day

—— Solmaz Sharif , author of LOOK

This utterly joyful novel takes you on an unforgettable journey with characters you wish you could meet in real life... I loved The People on Platform 5 even more than The Authenticity Project - it's glorious

—— Eva Carter

This book is bursting with the kindness of strangers, and I was bursting with hope by the end of it

—— Jenny Bayliss

Clare Pooley is the queen of feel-good fiction. She takes relatable situations and characters and somehow makes them magical. The People of Platform 5 is funny, tender and true-to-life while also being thought-provoking. It was magnificent and a joy to read

—— Phaedra Patrick

The People on Platform 5 is nothing short of sheer and utter delight. It presents the best of humanity - the sweet and bashful kindness and generosity that lives in all of us. I can't think of a more joyful book!

—— Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A For Aunties

Heartwarming, funny, a delicious dive into the profound and ridiculous modern world in which we live. Clare Pooley reminds us why we need each other

—— Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author

Pooley delivers not only acerbic, enchanting Iona but a compelling, tangled cast of quirky, complicated characters so engaging, it's enough to make you miss crowded commuter trains

—— Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author

This feel-good ensemble story will bring joy to readers who loved Anxious People and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine-not to mention fans of quirky London-set fare such as Ted Lasso...a warm, fun pick-me-up of a book

—— Mary Laura Philpott

Clare Pooley has found a delightful way to bring home the point that we need each other

—— Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author

Leaving you with that fuzzy feeling you want from a feel-good book

—— Woman & Home

Entertaining and uplifting

—— Good Housekeeping

Filled with delightful characters... this heart-warming book explores relationships and the dilemmas of everyday life

—— Candis

Tackling many relevant issues, it's a heart-warming read

—— Heat

Poignant, totally joyful, this is a great read

—— Fabulous

A feel-good read, with great characters to care about, it takes current issues seriously but adds plenty of humour

—— Choice

[It leaves] the reader with that fuzzy feeling you want from a feel-good book. Fans of her previous hit, The Authenticity Project, will not be disappointed

—— Woman's Weekly

A feel-good tale about the power of real-life connections

—— Sun

You can always rely on Pooley to deliver not just wonderful, lively characters but a story that leaves you feeling uplifted and hopeful

—— CultureFly

Batuman has taken what made The Idiot so brilliant, distilled it, and created an equally brilliant new work. Either/Or is unbridled joy.

—— Big Issue

Funny... Unforgettable... Batuman is particularly good on sex and sexual politics... The star feature is the narration... garrulous, rambunctious... full of baroque riffs and digressions.

—— Claire Lowdown , Spectator

A fresh voice is a rare thing, and Elif Batuman is one such.

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

Either/Or is extremely funny and delightfully ludic, as it probes the very act of reading from the point of view of confused university student Selin.

—— Anakana Schofield, Irish Times, Books of the Year 2022

I was desperately looking forward to Elif Batuman's Either/Or, and it more than lived up to it.

—— Samir Chadha , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Re-encountering Selin...felt like being reunited with an old friend.

—— Helen Charman , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Hilarious.

—— Alice Hattrick , White Review, *Books of the Year*

I greatly enjoyed the comic zing of Elif Batuman's delightful Either/Or

—— Megan Hunter , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Witty, intelligent and funny... [Selin's] inner monologue is addictive enough to read a thousand more pages of, and I can only cross my fingers that this isn't the last instalment of the series.

—— Crack

Just as funny and self-aware and clever as The Idiot.

—— Jessica Zhan Mei Yu , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Funny, wry and insightful

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Laugh out loud…hilarious and thoughtful

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
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