The Nightmare File / Jack Livingston

The third novel about deaf private detective Joe Binney describes events after he agrees to help Evie Listing investigate the sudden death of her husband Gene. The victim looks as if he has died of fright, with a facial expression that bears a striking resemblance to the astonished faces of some Asian tribesmen now living as refugees in the US who appear to have died amid nightmares. As he retraces Gene Listing’s last days, Binney learns that his company has been taken over by a corporation that wants to force strict rules on its employees, even in their personal lives. The assignment involves Binney in an affair with Listings beautiful sister, who is later found dead in his flat, dead from a heroin injection. The detective feels trapped in a labyrinth and fights invisible and inaudible enemies – until the climax of this terrifying, ironically humorous and altogether flawless novel.