The secret to elegance is simplicity.
Gardner has mastered this beautifully in The Dead I Know. His writing style is brief, to the point, matter-of-fact…but at times poetic. Lovely images – stark images. A character you care for, feel for, worry about – someone you want to help too.
He mixes in gentle humour and a hint of a mystery. Gardner’s sympathetic portrayal gradually reveals the depth and complexity of his characters. The disturbed teen, the gentle boss, his weird daughter….behind them all is the hope that love will win out – over adversity, grief and time.
A moving story of a teen forced to grow up too quickly.
The Dead I Know is for mature readers and is certainly one that I will be recommending. And I think I will be having a look at Gardner’s back catalogue too.
Aaron Rowe walks in his sleep and haunted by dreams he can’t explain and memories he can’t recover. Death doesn’t scare him—his new job with a funeral director may even be his salvation. But if he doesn’t discover the truth about his hidden past soon, he may fall asleep one night and never wake up. In this dark and witty psychological drama about survival, Aaron finds that making peace with the dead may be easier than coming to terms with the living.
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