Short Shrift-bookcover

By: Neil Eccles

Short Shrift

Pages: 204 Ratings: 4.0
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Jonny Hainsworth is an autistic, penniless orphan who lives in a caravan on his auntie’s farm. He never seems to get it right. William Mortensen is an erudite, successful lawyer who lives behind electric gates and has a gardener. He never seems to get it wrong.

But not everything is as it seems.

William Mortensen is dead, slumped over a dank public bench in a rank public park.

In and around this park hover shady characters – warm and humorous yet deviant and debauched. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s life. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s death.

And now there is someone else interested in William Mortensen’s life. And he is also interested in William Mortensen’s death. No one seems to know who he is. No one seems to know what he is doing. He can’t tell them. The man with no name is mute.

This book is not about class. This book is not about money. This book is not about success. This book is not about failure.

This book is about guilt.

We all carry it. But how do we carry it? And what does it lead us to do?

Jonny keeps asking. But Jonny keeps getting Short Shrift.

Neil Eccles is a father and a linguist with a flawed personality and an obtuse view on people, literature and music. He particularly enjoys running on the fells, listening to music, reading 19th and 20th century French literature and watching people in pubs.

He is 47 years old and this is his first book. He has no idea what he is doing–in writing this book or in life, generally.

Customer Reviews
4.0
1 reviews
1 reviews
  • anxiously_bookwormish

    Full of darkly rich characters all with a motive and a history, the author draws you in and keeps you invested in every single person’s life. Each character is distinctive, which is important in a novel so rich in characters, that no one is mistaken for someone else.

    The writing is intelligent and descriptive. The pace is moderate, but the novel is so alluring it is difficult to put down.

    The only thing I really didn’t love about this book is that one character in particular’s “drawl” was very hard to decipher at times so it just irked me a bit.

    Regardless, this was a beautifully written, page-turning, suspenseful novel. Perfect rainy day read.

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