Matt Ruff

Jane Charlotte: a woman with a serious attitude problem, a drug habit and a licence to kill. She has been arrested for murder, and during questioning tells police that she is a member of a secret organisation devoted to fighting evil. Her division, ''The Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons'' - or ''Bad Monkeys'' for short - is an execution squad that rids the world of especially evil people. However, the man Jane has been arrested for killing was not on the official target list. This strange confession earns Jane a trip to the jail''s psychiatric wing, where a doctor interviews her at length about her supposed career as an assassin. Her tale grows increasingly bizarre, with references to hidden messages in crosswords, dollar bills that can see, and axe-wielding Scary Clowns. The doctor does his best to sort truth from lies, but whenever it seems he''s getting to the bottom of things, there''s another twist to unravel. Not until the full story is told will we learn whether Jane is lying, crazy or playing a different game altogether.

"Bad Monkeys".

Como Victor Hugo en Los miserables y Graham Greene en El tercer hombre, el norteamericano Matt Ruff ha situado esta delirante novela en las alcantarillas de una gran ciudad, en este caso Nueva York en el año 2023. En medio de un panorama desolador, plagado de guerras apocalipticas, una contaminacion voraz y extrañas pandemias que asolan el planeta, el multimillonario Harry Gant esta enfrascado en la construccion del edificio mas alto del mundo: una torre en forma de zigurat a la que ha bautizado Babel. Y mientras Gant considera que Babel es un monumento a la capacidad del hombre para soñar, otras fuerzas menos conspicuas de la gran urbe no comparten su opinion. Desde algunas especies mutantes que surgen en las fetidas entrañas de la ciudad hasta un cerebro artificial encargado por Walt Disney antes de morir, pasando por los aguerridos herederos de Greenpeace a bordo de un submarino diseñado por Howard Hughes, todos conspiran para destruir el gran sueño del visionario Gant. Ritmo vertiginoso, humor inteligente y una imaginacion pasmosa son los ingredientes de Matt Ruff para guiar al lector en un viaje hacia un futuro imaginario que dificilmente olvidara. Alcantarillado, gas y electricidad se ha convertido en una novela de culto entre el publico joven norteamericano.

New York, 2023. Une nouvelle tour de Babel sera bientôt achevée. Son promoteur, le milliardaire Harry Gant - pourtant sujet au vertige - a déjà fait bâtir à Atlanta les plus hautes construcions jamai

A hugely inventive, hugely readable novel about two young people with Multiple Personality Disorder. ''A gripping novel of suspense that could have come from the pen of Stephen King at his best.'' Daily Telegraph ''Mouse is lying in a strange bed, in a strange house, with her hand pressed between the thighs of a man she has never seen before...She doesn''t scream. She wants to, but a lifetime of losing time -- and covering up the fact -- has left her skilled at controlling her reactions. She screams inside.'' Penny Driver -- ''Mouse'' -- suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, blacking out whenever one of her other personalities takes control of her mind and body. So when Penny discovers that her new colleague Andrew Gage also suffers from MPD, she asks for his help. Through therapy, Andrew''s personalities have long since learnt to co-exist in harmony in an imaginary house inside his head, but Andrew''s ''house'' is not quite so ordered as he would like to believe. In helping Penny, he discovers a locked door under the stairs, deep in his unconscious -- a door that hides the dark secret as to why Andrew''s childhood mind shattered in the first place...

Chicago, 1954. Siguiendo la pista de su padre desaparecido de forma misteriosa, el joven de 22 años Atticus Turner se embarca en un road trip hasta la mágica y peligrosa Nueva Inglaterra, acompañadopor su tio George y por Letitia, una amiga de la infancia. En su viaje a la mansion de Mr. Braithwhite se enfrentan tanto a los terrores mundanos de la America blanca de la epoca, como a losespiritus malignos salidos de las lecturas de H.P. Lovecraft y novelas pulp que Atticus devora.En la mansion, Atticus descubre a su padre encerrado, prisionero de una sociedad llamada la Orden del Alba Antigua, dirigida por Samuel Braithwhite y su hijo Caleb, que se han reunido para orquestar un ritual cuyo centro es el propio Atticus. Y la unica posibilidad de salvarse a si mismo y a sus acompañantes pasa por su propia destruccion.