![]() ![]() Mat Osman’s own musical career has clearly informed the plot, depicting an entire world behind the stage, making the reader feel the joys to be found in creating music, but also the shadows cast over the business, the industry’s darker sides, the sociology of fame and failure – if music is about drama, The Ruins certainly has drama, as well as spirit its characters brimming with desperate energy, even not chemically induced at times. As a brother gets propelled into action, while moving along a claustrophobic, apocalyptic timeline, I was drawn in right from the start, and for the next 400 pages I kept wanting to see around the next corner. And if fiction is like real life with the dull bits taken out, readers can brace themselves for this dazzling journey, as Osman’s characters certainly don’t shy away from taking radical steps in living their lives, even in seeking a life beyond death. The Ruins is a novel exploring the possible fluidity of identity, with a twin brother quickly learning how to navigate life’s unpredictability in order to survive. With echoes of Performance, The Talented Mr Ripley and Mulholland Drive, The Ruins delves into the dark heart of magic, music and murder. This intelligent, intriguing and emotionally-searing tale of fractured identities, narcissism and ambition questions how being loved for what others think we are differs from who we are to ourselves. As Adam begins to fall for his brother's shattered family he finds that to win them for himself he'll have to lose everything that he holds dear. His death draws his twin brother - shy, bookish Adam - into Brandon's underworld of deceit and desire.Ī miniature kingdom sprouts in a Notting Hill tower-block, LA mansions burn in week-long parties, and in a Baroque hotel suite a record is being made that could redeem its maker even as it destroys him. London, 2010: Icelandic volcanoes have the city in gridlock, banks topple like dominoes and Brandon Kussgarten has been shot dead by gunmen in Donald Duck masks. An extraordinary novel about the ubiquitous mysteries of family, memory and music. ![]()
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