Synopses & Reviews
His name was Rob Castor. Quite possibly, you've heard of him. He became a minor cult celebrity in his early twenties for writing a book of darkly pitch-perfect stories set in a stupid upstate New York town. About a dozen years later, he murdered his writer-girlfriend and committed suicide...
The deaths of Rob Castor and his girlfriend begin a wrenching and enthrallingly suspenseful story that mines the explosive terrains of love and paternity, marriage and its delicate intricacies, family secrets and how they fester over time, and ultimately the true nature of loyalty and trust, friendship and envy, deception and manipulation.
As the media takes hold of this sensational crime, a series of unexpected revelations unleashes hidden truths in the lives of those closest to Rob. At the center of this driving narrative is Rob's childhood best friend, Nick Framingham, whose ten-year marriage to his college sweetheart is faltering. Shocked by Rob's death, Nick begins to reevaluate his own life and his past, and as he does so, a fault line opens up beneath him, leading him all the way to the novel's startling conclusion.
In this ambitious and thrilling novel, award-winning author Eli Gottlieb with extraordinarily luxuriant and evocative prose takes us deep into the human psyche, where the most profound of secrets are kept.
Review
"The premise...is irresistible to anyone even slightly acquainted with the frustrations of writer's block....[A] heartfelt picture of enduring friendship and inconsolable, debilitating grief, even if that grief is complicated by jaw-dropping revelations as the novel draws to a close." Danielle Trussoni, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Suspenseful novels usually carry secrets, but few do so with the literary grace and intensity of Now You See Him....[G]oes down with page-gulping ease, the stark simplicity of the prose standing in sharp contrast to the complexity of the story." The Denver Post
Review
"With characters so uniquely drawn and a story so perfectly paced, Now You See Him is more than engrossing it is totally consuming....Everything about his sophomore effort is brilliant; there is simply nothing wrong with this book." BookReporter.com
Review
"Those 'volatile contents' provide the novel's thrills, but Gottlieb goes further, muddling the lines between family and friend, right and wrong, and love and obsession, proving that even the most droll character may covet a secret life." Booklist
Review
"Sensational revelations arrive too late to enliven a smoothly written but sluggish and morose tale." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
The murder/suicide of celebrated writer Rob Castor and his girlfriend begins a wrenching and enthrallingly suspenseful story that mines the explosive terrains of love and paternity, marriage and family secrets, in this ambitious and thrilling novel that takes readers deep into the human psyche.
About the Author
Eli Gottlieb's The Boy Who Went Away won the prestigious Rome Prize and the 1998 McKitterick Prize from the British Society of Authors. It also received extraordinary notices and was a New York Times Notable book. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.