Awards

• Short-listed for Sixth Annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize - Literary Fiction Category 2020 (Canada)

Overview

Shortlisted for the Sixth Annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize - Literary Fiction Category! Niall Howell's Only Pretty Damned is a taut noir that takes you behind the big top, revealing rough and tumble characters, murderous plots, and crooked schemes designed to keep Rowland's World Class Circus afloat for another season. When Toby, former trapeze artist turned disgruntled clown, begins seeing Gloria, a young and beautiful dancer longing for a bigger role under the spotlight, his hardboiled past resurfaces. Can he live without Genevieve, his ex-trapeze partner and lover? What ruthless actions will he take to regain his position as the headlining act? And will Toby's past repeat itself as he tries to untangle the ropes that bind him and take a leap to roaring applause?

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9781988732534

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Reviews

Only Pretty Damned is a stark, powerful noir, steeped in the stifling heat of the American South and building slowly, inexorably, to a boil. -- Robert J. Wiersema, Quill & Quire

"""Only Pretty Damned is a stark, powerful noir, steeped in the stifling heat of the American South and building slowly, inexorably, to a boil."" -- Robert J. Wiersema, Quill & Quire ""Told in the Hitchcockian tradition of the Film Noir, we follow Toby on a bizarre and dark trail of his life as a circus act. This character driven spectacle lets us peek behind the literal curtain of the theatre of the strange. Deception and desire drive the action in this unique who-done-it-thriller. The suspense is visceral until the end."" -- Micheline Maylor, author of Little Wildheart. ""A captivating, engrossing, gothic noir that whisks the reader away and makes them feel as if theyre on the road with an old time travelling circus. The characters are complex, the prose rich, and riveting darkness abounds as the plot unfolds. A stellar debut from Niall Howell."" -- A J Devlin, author of Cobra Clutch"

Author Information

Niall Howell was born and raised in Calgary, where he still resides. His short fiction has been published in The Feathertale Review and FreeFall and he holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Mount Royal University, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary. He enjoys playing bass, and obsessively collects records and comics.

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