Forensic Songs

In his second collection of short stories, Mike McCormack joins head and heart in a series of tales which weave a fluid vision of a world morphing between the real and the hyperreal. Amid much hollow laughter a prisoner is drawn from his cell in the middle of the night to play a video game; two rural guards ponder the security threat posed by the only man in Ireland not to have written his memoirs; a child tries to offset his destiny as a serial killer by petitioning his father for a beating; a late night American cop show becomes a savage analysis of a faltering marriage in the west of Ireland; two men turn up at the door of a slacker to give him news of his death and recruit him to some mysterious surveillance mission; an older brother worries about the health of his younger sibling; the prodigal son returns to reveal the fear and hypocrisy which lies at the heart of his brothers life. In twelve stories McCormack's characters find themselves trying to hold onto their identities in a world where love is too often and too easily obscured.

In a doua sa colectie de nuvele, Mike McCormack se alatura capului si inimii intr-o serie de povesti care tes o viziune fluida a unei lumi care se transforma intre real si hiperreal. In mijlocul unui ras gol, un prizonier este scos din celula sa in mijlocul noptii pentru a juca un joc video; doi gardieni rurali mediteaza asupra amenintarii la adresa securitatii reprezentata de singurul om din Irlanda care nu si-a scris memoriile; un copil incearca sa-si compenseze destinul de ucigas in serie petitionand tatal sau pentru o bataie; un spectacol de politisti americani devine o analiza salbatica a unei casatorii sovaitoare in vestul Irlandei; doi barbati se prezinta la usa unui slacker pentru a-i da vestea mortii sale si pentru a-l recruta intr-o misiune misterioasa de supraveghere; un frate mai mare isi face griji cu privire la sanatatea fratelui sau mai mic; fiul risipitor se intoarce pentru a dezvalui frica si ipocrizia care sta la baza vietii fratilor sai.