Prelude to a Scream

by Jim Nisbet

It's been years since Stanley Ahearn lost interest in staying alive. Every Friday night, Stanley pays a visit to San Francisco's Tenderloin District, where pleasures are simple and cheap. One such night, he finds himself sharing an otherwise deserted bar with a green-eyed woman. Three days later, Stanley wakes to find himself zipped into a sleeping bag, left for dead. He's missing a kidney, and a doctor kindly informs him that there's something wrong--fatally wrong--with his remaining kidney. So Stanley Ahearn finds himself on the street with a new perspective. If he wants revenge, he has to find the woman with the green eyes. If he wants to live, he has to find himself a new kidney. Gritty, dark, and utterly addictive, Prelude to a Scream is Jim Nisbet at his absolute best.

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

San Francisco writer Jim Nisbet has published eleven novels, including the acclaimed Lethal Injection. He has also published five volumes of poetry. His novel, Dark Companion, was shorted-listed for the 2006 Hammett Prize. Various of his works have been translated into French, German, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, Russian and Romanian.

Aside from reading and performing his own work for some forty-five years, Nisbet has written and seen produced a modest handful of one-act plays and monologues, including Valentine, Note from Earth, WonderEndz™ SmackVision™ and Alas, Poor Yorick, and himself directed the original productions of most of these works.

Reviews

[Julie Achterhoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book much. The characters were unlikeable and the theme was strange. A man gets heisted by rogue organ donor thieves and sets out to get his kidney back. The main character is pretty despicable and I didn't have any attachment to him. His goal is to get a new kidney from the thieves, which seems pretty far-fetched. He has many chances to call in the cops for help, but continues on his quest alone. I didn't like this book all the way to the end. It was a waste of my time!

[Mauro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Nisbet è uno scrittore con la S maiuscola. L'ho scoperto con questo libro, il suo primo che legga.
Certo il libro è molto forte, molto disturbante e freddo come una sala chirurgica... ci si sveglia cercando una cicatrice.

[Elaine Maslowski]

One of the worse books I have ever read. Main character, Stanley, is an unlikable loser. Gory, unbelieveable, and awful.