Bedlam Burning

By: Geoff Nicholson

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Synopsis: The acclaimed author of Bleeding London spins a yarn of academia, lunacy, and the blurry lines between them in this Whitbread Prize–finalist novel. It all starts at Cambridge University, where Dr. John Bentley throws his book burning parties—&“a little active, symbolic literary criticism&”—in which guests are invited to state their grudges against their least favorite books, and then toss them into a fire. It is at one such party that the brilliant but sheepish Gregory Collins meets Mike Smith, a handsome classmate. They become fast friends. And then their friendship takes a decidedly strange turn. When Gregory&’s first novel, The Wax Man, is published, he convinces Mike to take his place on the book jacket. Now Mike is the one invited to be a writer-in-residence at an insane asylum run by Dr. Eric Kincaid, whose obscure therapeutic philosophy centers on the soothing powers of literature. When Mike compiles a book of the inmates&’ writings, and it becomes a literary success, this comedy of errors threatens to take another, far darker turn. &“Completely addictive and very, very funny. Great.&” —Jonathan Lethem, author of A Gambler&’s Anatomy &“Donald Westlake meets Ken Kesey in this . . . compulsively good read.&” —Library Journal