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Synopsis
Mark Trace shows a remarkable talent for literary forgery. A gap year in Paris sees his skill exploited by a manuscript dealer. Mark fetches up in London, working at one of the UK's oldest literary magazines. That's when the trouble really starts. Hemingway and Graham Greene are only the beginning. What starts as a prank soon becomes deadly serious. In this literary thriller David Belbin writes about originality, desire and literary ambition, in the voice of a character with the capacity to deceive everyone, including himself. David Belbin is the author of more than thirty novels for young adults, including Denial and Festival. His short stories for adults have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. He runs the MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. He currently edits the Crime Express series for Five Leaves.
'...a rollicking literary ride which pits Trace's plagiaristic talents against the authentic voices of Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, Graham Greene, and Dahl. Hardly a morality tale (we're too busy rooting for this young forger to wish for his comeuppance) this is a wonderfully-crafted book to be enjoyed again and again, even if only for the sheer pleasure of watching the aptly-named Trace indulge himself in the sincerest form of flattery.'
Betty Webb
Oh, I loved this book! I have read several of David Belbin's young adult novels. Each of them has been readable and engrossing, but I don't remember any one of them having quite the touch of class that the author manages to maintain throughout the length of this very literary mystery memoir, published by Five Leaves on their adult list.Set at the turn of the 1990s, it is written in the voice of a nineteen-year-old with a talent for literary pastiche... Highly Recommended to readers who enjoy literary mysteries and don't require dead bodies in their thrillers.
A gripping writerly thriller that pulls you in from the first page, andkeeps you turning the pages, The Pretender is pacy and smart.
Jackie Kay
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