Description

LAMPLIGHTER, THE - FIRST HARD COVER - BARGAIN SALE. NY: Scribner, 2003. First Edition. 6 X 9. Hard Cover. Remainder. Very Good / Very Good. ISBN: 0743243498. Overview: Elegantly written and ingeniously executed, The Lamplighter inhabits the pre-Freudian era and explores the dangers of the suppressed imagination. Anthony O'Neill's novel is darkly masterful, full of psychologically provocative suspense and first-rate horror. Evelyn has been cast out of the Fountainbridge Institute for Destitute Girls and is to be sacrificed to a shadowy figure who claims to be her father. Twenty years later, a professor's mutilated body turns up on one of Edinburgh's finest streets; a colonel's grave is ravaged; a shady entrepreneur is slaughtered; and a retired lighthouse keeper is ripped to shreds. Meanwhile, Evelyn has reappeared in the city, suffering terrible nightmares. Who is the murderer? Leading the official investigation is Inspector Carus Groves, who hopes to finally solve a big case before his retirement. Heading up the unofficial investigation is a disillusioned professor of metaphysics, Thomas McKnight, and his attractive young helper, a gravedigger named Joseph. Employing logic, intuition, and luck, these men race to unveil the reason for Evelyn's torment - and quite literally penetrate the Gates of Hell.