Scott Bakker - Disciple of the Dog

[Albertosaurus Rex]

[Image: Disciple+of+the+Dog.jpg]

Disciple of the Dog is Scott Bakker's second stand-alone, semi-mainstream novel following on from 2008's Neuropath. It will also apparently be his last non-Earwa book until both The Aspect-Emperor and the as-yet unnamed third series are completed. The novel is about a private investigator with perfect recall who is called in to infiltrate a sinister cult in search of a missing girl. The novel will be published on 16 September 2010.

Well, this is exciting for sure. Is anyone else familiar with Bakker? I tried his Prince of Nothing trilogy a few years ago and put it down because it was really hard to get into. Then later I read his thriller Neuropath and I loved it from start to finish. It was highly disturbing, but awesome all the same. (Now that I know he can write, I will have to try PoN again.)

"Following on from 2008's Neuropath"... I wonder if this just means that it's his second thriller or that it takes place in the same world as Neuropath.

UPDATE: Orion Books has this description on its website:

Imagine being able to remember everything you've ever experienced.
This is the lonely world inhabited by Disciple Manning. He is able to recall every conversation, meeting and feeling he has ever had, making him an extremely dangerous private investigator.
When a young woman disappears, not from her home, but from a religious cult, her parents turn to Manning for help. Manning accepts, but with a chilling sense of foreboding.
Heading into the heart of the cult, he encounters the beguiling intelligence of its leader, obsessed with the idea that the world is a fantastical theatre, in which we merely act out our roles, ignorant of our true existence beyond; a belief he is intent on protecting, at any cost.
Manning's investigation causes him to clash with the cult's eerie air of detachment and leaves him fighting for survival and elusive answers, before they are swallowed into the town's shadowy pool of secrets. Meanwhile, it's only a matter of time before the missing girl risks being abandoned forever to the depths of our collective forgotten memories...

Disciple Manning can remember everything he has ever said and everything that he's ever done. Great trick for a detective, not so much for living your life...

[chriSchaeffer]

...I tried his Prince of Nothing trilogy a few years ago and put it down because it was really hard to get into...

I've avoided Mr. Bakker because of his Prince of Nothing triology. I tried to read it twice and I quit each time in frustration. MAYBE i'll give him another chance, but he's pretty far down on my list.

[Nuytsia]

Gah I have so many good recommendations for things to read now!
*adds to the list*

But no I've never read this author before.....

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I've avoided Mr. Bakker because of his Prince of Nothing triology. I tried to read it twice and I quit each time in frustration. MAYBE i'll give him another chance, but he's pretty far down on my list.

I do want to emphasize that Neuropath reads very differently than PoN. After a slightly confusing first chapter involving a dream and flashback, the book sucked me right in. I found it to be a very easy read, no mean feat considering the neuroscience on one hand and gruesome experiments on the other. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

This is why I'm so excited about this new book. I'm not sure about his fantasy, but he sure can write a good thriller!

(Although some of his names are bit strange. A name like Thomas Bible, the protagonist of Neuropath sounds at least vaguely plausible, but Disciple Manning? This is not counting his fantasy of course, where you can get away with stuff like Anasurimbor Kellhus.)

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Found a new blurb, shedding some more light on the story.

DISCIPLE has the audacity of Neuropath, and the same unflinching social commentary, but it’s on very different ground. It’s a detective story, and the main character is Disciple Manning, a hardboiled private investigator with Hyperthymestic Syndrome, a rare mental condition that does not allow him to forget. Disciple is hired to find a teenage girl who he is sure is already dead, and the trail leads him through backward small-town America and right into the midst of two rival religious cults, either — or neither — of which could have cut off the girl’s fingers and toes and strewn them around town. It’s an open question whether Disciple’s anarchic tendencies, scabrous behavior and subversive observations will derail the investigation, or whether in the end he’ll discover some species of the truth.

(Source)

I am very eagerly anticipating this novel.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yeah, I know this will amount to a triple post, but a new blurb has surfaced with new details:

Disciple Manning has total recall. Whatever he hears, he can remember with 100% accuracy. He can play it back in his head infinite times. It's a blessing and a curse. He's been prodded and studied by scientists. He's been heralded as a genius and cursed as a mutant.

Now, Disciple uses his skills as a private investigator. When Jonathan and Amanda Bonjour come into his office, he knows immediately it's a missing girl. He's had many cases like this before, and they never end well. His journey takes him to Western Pennsylvania and to the compound of a charismatic cult known as The Framers, who believe that Earth is about to be engulfed by the sun.

On the rural outskirts of the very same town, a neo-Nazi organization has overtaken most of the churches and is spreading hate through twisted interpretations of the Bible.

Disciple knows crazy--hell, most people consider him crazy--but he's never known crazy quite like this.

(source)

I'm struggling with the question of whether I should buy this in hardcover or wait for the paperback. I very rarely do buy hardcovers, but I just might make an exception for this one...