Review
In a tale that is more Dashiell Hammett than
Franz Kafka, Tyler Knox (a pseudonym of William Lashner) turns Kafka's short story on its head to
create the ultimate American immigrant story set against the
noir background of 1950s New York. Kockroach is happy with his
life, not that he's ever really considered the concept of
happiness when one comes down to it, until one day he wakes up
and discovers that his normal proud dimensions have been
replaced by a new body "ridiculously narrow and soft, its skin
beneath a pelt of hair as pale and shriveled as a molting
nymph's".
Kafka's Gregor Samsa might have wallowed in despair, but not
Kockroach. Cockroaches are the ultimate adapters and after a few
days getting to grips with his new body in the privacy of a
seedy Times Square hotel, Kockroach, aka...
Beyond the Book
Tyler Knox is the pseudonym of former Philadelphia lawyer
William
Lashner, known for his Victor Carl
legal thriller series. Lashner decided
to write under a new name not for the
purposes of "rebranding or putting one
over my readers ..... but purely for the
freedom of doing something completely
new." On
Sarah Weinman's website he explains
that he loves writing crime fiction and,
within the requirements of the genre,
can write about pretty much what he
wants but that he has to admit to a
secret vice - he's always wanted to
write "small existential novels!" He
adores both Kafka and...
