The Death of an Ordinary Man - Couverture souple

Haunting the day of his own funeral, Nathan needs to learn how and why he died. He listens to his wife, son, daughter, father and best friend, getting to know them as he has never known them before.
But there are two things he can't understand: a strange couple whose presence at the wake fills him with dread; and a room in his house he never knew existed, with a door he feels compelled to open. A door that he knows will lead to a terrifying secret.
'Far from the sentimental territory of The Lovely Bones, Duncan's unflinching confrontation of the darkest emotions is lit by pity and tenderness. It is not so much a story about death, but what it means to live, be human and fight to find explanations.' Observer
'Staggeringly good. Unflinchingly honest' Uncut
'A virtuoso variation on a theme … a novel of force and eloquence' Sunday Telegraph
'There is no one around posing the questions that Glen Duncan is posing in the manner that he is posing them. You find yourself turning the pages of Death of an Ordinary Man because of the sheer force of his imagination. What he is doing is wonderful, extraordinarily dark, and yes, important. It is important because he is a major writer.' Charlie Hill, Independent on Sunday
Over four novels - Hope, Love Remains, I, Lucifer and Weathercock - Glen Duncan has proved one of Britain's most challenging and ambitious writers, chosen by both ARENA and the TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT as one of Britain's best young novelists. He lives in London.

THE DEATH OF AN ORDINARY MAN by Glen Duncan
'Nathan is a specter at his own funeral: back from the dead he embarks on a quest to discover the cause of his death. The subsequent exploration of the margins of human experience is typical of Duncan, a fearless, merciless and often ruthless writer. Sometimes, the end result is a deliberately noiresque comedy, sometimes a journey into the dark side which imprints unforgettably bleak images. Like all his books, this one takes you on a complex and often uncomfortable trajectory towards a dizzying resolution: Duncan's unsparing brilliance makes it worth the ride'
Metro 13/7
‘Duncan is an appallingly intelligent writer, adept at deploying the most inflexible material while calling it continually into question’
Guardian 16/07
'What is important to Duncan is examining the secrets and problems that families hide even in the worst of circumstances and showing that despite his title, there is no such thing as an 'ordinary' life, family or man'
Observer 31/04