The Book of Revelation: A Novel - Softcover

The narrator of Thomson's book is a dancer living in Amsterdam. One day he goes out to buy some cigarettes for his girlfriend--also a dancer--and is kidnapped and held for a period of time before being released. It would be unfair to give away too much more. But suffice it to say that each development adds an additional coordinate to what we might call the novel's emotional geography. Indeed, the Dutch metropolis seems to be a full participant in this intricate fiction:

There was a sense in which the city had been trying to tell me something all along. You'll never solve this case. You might as well forget it. But I had not been listening, of course. Look at the map. It's all there, in a way. The whole story.

Thomson's strange, disturbing tale asks profound questions about the burden of the past, especially of past events that set one apart from others. In this sense, The Book of Revelation chips away at the very notion of objectivity. How do we relate to others when we have experienced events that defy explanation or resolution? Perhaps such truths can be delivered only by (as it were) revelation. --Burhan Tufail

"Outdoes himself with this absorbing tale of captivity and obsession. . . . One of the most eerily original novels of recent years. Thomson's masterpiece."
-- Kirkus Reviews

"A beautifully crafted journey into and out of sexual servitude...produces a state of emotional wonder in the reader long after the last page is turned."
-- Newsday

"An unorthodox taut thriller...by turns poignant and disturbing."
-- Wall Street Journal

"Spellbinding...a gender-bending version of The Story of O."
-- Time