Death Of The Author

Poetry, plagiarism, shocking violence and raw kidneys . . .

'Everything you have is mine: your house, your woman, your words. You forced me to write your life, made me your author. I even wrote your fame for you. Your fame, Harding. So now the author is back to reclaim his character. You cannot divorce me, thief. I am the sentence that describes you. I am the image of you. I am the verb that propels you . . .'

Australian poet and academic Rick Harding leads a quiet life - until he discovers someone is stealing his poems and publishing them under another name. Who is Jason Schultze and why has he selected Rick as his victim? Unable to get the police to take his distress seriously Rick determines to track down the plagiarist poet himself.

Then someone starts stalking his wife, Mandy. Suddenly the world is spiralling out of control. What was a happy marriage is plunged into suspicion and paranoia. What was a comfortable, banal life descends into violence and mayhem. Who can you trust if not the person you love most?