Scott O'Connor – författare

“Scott O''Connor speaks softly and somehow manages to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters... a voice so insistently stirring, you want to lean in close to catch every word.” —The New York Times Book Review “Astonishing... Introducing an amazing new talent to the world of fiction.” —Library Journal (Starred Review) “O''Connor''s prose is as beautifully terse as his plot... like the inevitable waking from a halcyon dream.” —Booklist “When it is over you wish you could read it all for the first time, again. That is how good this book is.” —Crimespree Magazine A heartfelt, gripping novel from the critically acclaimed author of A Perfect Universe, Half World, and Among Wolves.A year has passed since Lucy Darby''s unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. With the looming uncertainty of Y2K, David is haunted by questions pertaining to the events of Lucy''s death and Whitley—an 11-year-old social pariah who still believes his mother is alive—enlists the help of his small group of misfit friends to bring her back. As David continues to lose his grip on reality and Whitley''s sense of urgency grows, the two begin to uncover truths that will force them to confront their deepest fears about each other and the wounded family they are trying desperately to save.

A “beautiful literary thriller” (Los Angeles Review of Books) inspired by the shocking history of a secret CIA mind-control program, Half World is “the perfect book for our present moment” (The Daily Beast).In the 1950s the CIA began a decades-long clandestine operation, known as Project MKULTRA, in which unwitting American citizens were subjected to insidious drug and mind-control experiments. Haunted by these real-life events, acclaimed novelist Scott O’Connor has crafted a riveting novel that vividly imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program through the eyes of one of its more unexpected victims. CIA analyst Henry March, an unassuming “company man” forced to spearhead MKULTRA’s San Francisco branch, finds himself bridging an untenable divide between his devotion to his wife and children and the brutality of his daily task. Torn between duty and conscience, Henry March chooses neither, instead disappearing without a trace. He takes with him the evidence of his sins and thus becomes the deepest MKULTRA mystery of all. Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent will risk everything to find Henry, protect his family, and piece together the staggering aftermath of the crimes before it’s too late. Hailed as “one to watch” (Los Angeles Times) for his ability “to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters” (The New York Times), O’Connor has crafted a stunning, sensitive, and psychologically astute look at the depths to which a government will sink in service of its own power and the strength required of the human spirit to set itself free. Gorgeous and unflinching, Half World is both a page-turning drama and a transcendent celebration of our enduring capacity for hope.