Adam Ross’ Mr Peanut spooks the reader. The hero David Pepin’s inner most secret, rather recurring image of his wife dropping dead at no apparent reason or cause comes true. And worse, he is the prime suspect in her unnatural death. As he tries to explain to the investigators Ward Hastroll and Sam Sheppard, their suspicion only gets firmer. Ward himself is a victim of conjugal enigma. His wife militantly and inexplicably becomes bedridden. Sam had been accused and then exonerated from a charge of killing his wife. Pepin writes video games. He is now writing a book. His games link him to a hit man Mobius, who demands to see the manuscript of Pepin’s book. He chokes to death while swallowing the manuscript.
The novel is an emotional web that reaches to the unexplored regions of the mind, the secret fears and desires, the unexplainable obsessions and thoughts. Why did Ward Hastroll’s wife take to bed? Who killed Sam Sheppard’s and Pepin’s wives. As the men re-live the last moments they spent with their wives, the plot unfolds. This is Adam Ross’ first novel.
(Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA)
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