This rather handsome and very slim edition was sent to me in a mystery bundle from PS publishing (very good value way of getting lots of books cheap). I'd kind of heard the author's name before but only peripherally. I've never knowingly read anything he's written before.
After reading this, I need to rectify that situation.
This is a brilliant piece of writing. The basic set up - a town called Corpsenburg where the unseen government send dead bodies to be stored on a regukar basis. This has always happened and no one in the town will question it. After every shipment, the people of the town are assigned bodies which they give space to in their houses, on the chairs, round the walls, a baby in the breadbin. The bodies don't seem to decay so most people are feeling rather crowded out but they don't object. This is their duty and the way things always were.
Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, starting with a local rep for the unseen government, the son of the last rep who was the son of the last rep etc. This is the way things have always been.
When he spots the most beautiful dead woman in the world in the most recent shipment... it sets in place a sequence of events which start change in the town.
This is one of the strangest and creepiest books I think I've read in a long long time. It genuinely did send shivers down my spine as well as prompting several WTF's. The prose is smooth and understated, full of symbolism and hidden meanings. I will certainly be rereading this book to extract more from it.
Another early contender for best book of the year.
It might still be available through PS Publishing. Otherwise if you want a copy, try amazon or abebooks or whatever your favourite second hand book dealer might be.
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