The Body By The Shore

Paperback, 280 pages

English language

Published by Interlink Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-62371-846-6

(1 review)

Harris Maloub, a killer with an erased official past, now in his fifties, is visited by someone who could not be alive and given an assignment. In Aarhus, Denmark, Jens Erik, police officer on pre-retirement leave, somehow cannot forget the body of a Black man recovered from the sea some years ago. On an abandoned oil rig in the North Sea, turned into a resort for the very rich, Michelle, a young Caribbean woman, realizes that the man she has followed to this job is not what he claims to be. And neither is the rig, where a secret laboratory bares to her a face that is neither human nor animal. Behind all this, there lurks the ghost of a seminar in 2012: most of the participants of that seminar are dead or untraceable. Why was their obscure research on plants and fungi and microbes so important? What is the …

Harris Maloub, a killer with an erased official past, now in his fifties, is visited by someone who could not be alive and given an assignment. In Aarhus, Denmark, Jens Erik, police officer on pre-retirement leave, somehow cannot forget the body of a Black man recovered from the sea some years ago. On an abandoned oil rig in the North Sea, turned into a resort for the very rich, Michelle, a young Caribbean woman, realizes that the man she has followed to this job is not what he claims to be. And neither is the rig, where a secret laboratory bares to her a face that is neither human nor animal. Behind all this, there lurks the ghost of a seminar in 2012: most of the participants of that seminar are dead or untraceable. Why was their obscure research on plants and fungi and microbes so important? What is the secret that killed them? What is the weapon that powerful syndicates are trying to obtain – or develop?

Narrated from the perspective of the post-pandemic world around 2030, but moving back in time to cover all of the 21st century, and even bits and pieces from the 20th and the 19th, The Body by the Shore is a novel of suspense and speculation about the complexity of life and intricacy of the earth. It is also a novel about reason and emotion, love and despair, greed and hope, human beings and microbes. When the narrative strands come together, a world of great terror and beauty is revealed to the reader.

1 edition

Stephanie Jane reviewed The Body By The Shore by Tabish Khair

A perfect summer thriller!

5 stars

I was completely enthralled by this science fiction thriller / crime mystery. It's difficult to force it into any single genre box! Told from the perspectives of three central characters - a retired Danish police officer, a young Caribbean housekeeper, and a former covert operations mercenary - each of whom approaches this novel's central mystery from a different angle. Switching from one narrative thread to another cleverly builds up the information available to readers but, much like the swirling North Sea waters around the decrepit oil rig, it disguises and hides things too. The Danish location and sensibilities of Jens Erik gives The Body By The Shore a Scandi-noir vibe which I appreciated, while the science fiction aspect felt like a Black Mirror storyline, albeit one told in much greater depth than an hour-long tv show can achieve. Khair has lots to say about contemporary racism, about how our behaviours …

I was completely enthralled by this science fiction thriller / crime mystery. It's difficult to force it into any single genre box! Told from the perspectives of three central characters - a retired Danish police officer, a young Caribbean housekeeper, and a former covert operations mercenary - each of whom approaches this novel's central mystery from a different angle. Switching from one narrative thread to another cleverly builds up the information available to readers but, much like the swirling North Sea waters around the decrepit oil rig, it disguises and hides things too. The Danish location and sensibilities of Jens Erik gives The Body By The Shore a Scandi-noir vibe which I appreciated, while the science fiction aspect felt like a Black Mirror storyline, albeit one told in much greater depth than an hour-long tv show can achieve. Khair has lots to say about contemporary racism, about how our behaviours are shaped without our knowledge or consent, and about how wealth inequalities are driving increased unrest across the globe. His combination of murder mystery with social criticism was reminiscent of Sjowall and Wahloo at their best. I don't have the expertise to say how plausible the actual science aspects of The Body By The Shore are, but the sociological observations felt so accurate that I never found myself dragged from the novel's atmosphere by doubts about its reality. Quite the opposite in fact - I could quite accept The Body By The Shore's premise as being valid in the real world!

Khair keeps up a good pace throughout this novel, steady enough that I could absorb the science, but swift enough to maintain a tense excitement. Even though I read The Body By The Shore on a tiny phone screen which often made my eyes water, I was still unwilling to set the book aside until I had finished. I've spent the past few days mulling it all over too and am still blown away. Great ideas and great writing. A perfect summer thriller!

Subjects

Crime fiction
Mystery
Science fiction

Lists

Vegan / Vegetarian Character Representation