Origin
Page 42
More acclaim for
ORIGIN
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
A Los Angeles Times Favorite Mystery Book of 2007
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Mystery of 2007
“A dark, noirish literary mystery with an entirely unique detective-heroine. The characters stayed with me long after I had finished the book. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything like it, which alone is reason to celebrate.”
—Anita Shreve, author of Body Surfing
and A Wedding in December
“[A] gripping mystery.”
—Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair
“Poetic in tone and profound in its inquiry into the nature of memory and the self. . . . Abu-Jaber crafts an utterly magnetic story of children abused and cherished, of toxic secrets and severely tested love, and of the struggle for identity and truth. Readers seeking gorgeously rendered fiction as well as intelligent and atmospheric mysteries will find Origin extraordinary.”
—Booklist, starred review
“Riveting. . . . Heartbreaking questions—of mothers and daughters, and of love withheld and given—lie at the heart of this thoughtful, multilayered novel.”
—Adam Woog, Seattle Times
“With prose as cool as a razor yet as wildly impressionistic as a fever dream, Diana Abu-Jaber takes us deeply into Lena Dawson and her search for a killer that must first begin in the lost forest of her own psyche. Origin is a gripping exploration of the elusive nature of identity and one’s own remembered past, the innocent and guilty alike. This is a superbly written and utterly compelling novel.”
—Andre Dubus III, author of The Garden of Last Days
and House of Sand and Fog
“A rousing, psychological thriller . . . [with] a briskly paced plot and realistic characters who tug on the readers’ emotions. . . . Abu-Jaber’s lyrical, intelligent writing makes Origin outstanding.”
—Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“From the outset, Origin makes you want to know how it all ends—and begins. . . . Abu-Jaber certainly has her finger on the pulse of what makes a memorable thriller: smart, spare writing, strong character development and nail-nibbling suspense. Setting the story during a long, dark upstate New York winter amplifies the foreboding, elegiac tone.”
—Olivia Barker, USA Today
“With the narrator, Lena Dawson, we get someone entirely new, a hybrid of forensic science and animal instinct. Here’s a brilliant protagonist who can trust her intuition when she reaches the limits of her professional training.”
—Chuck Palahniuk, author of Rant:
An Oral Biography of Buster Casey and Fight Club
“Abu-Jaber’s lovely nuanced prose conveys the chill of an upstate New York winter as well as it does Lena’s drab existence before she was drawn into the mystery of the crib deaths. This enthralling puzzle will appeal to both crime fans and readers of literary fiction.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Abu-Jaber is capable of the most delicate and poignant insight into the complexity of relationships, clear in the knowledge that we flawed human beings can’t love—or be loved—unless we know who we are.”
—Peter Handel, The Oregonian
“Abu-Jaber is a gifted and graceful writer, deft at evoking a scene and creating pace that almost turns the pages itself. . . . This novel’s characters are complex and vividly drawn.”
—Jessica Treadway, Chicago Tribune
“Origin is a haunting story, icy cold in its upstate New York setting but glowing with the unusual brightness of its heroine. . . . What propels Lena’s story is the delicate, balanced, engrossing way Abu-Jaber perfectly intertwines Lena’s personal story with that of the case she’s investigating and sets both threads in a Syracuse so vivid you envision it without even trying.”
—Molly Templeton, Eugene Weekly
“A moody thriller. . . . Abu-Jaber transcends formula, weaving the whodunit in prose as evocative as poetry. . . . Haunted, moving crime fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Origin is a mystery of cold beauty and dark isolation, written with crystalline precision . . . haunting and compelling. . . . It’s a little film noir, a bit independent-woman-detective thriller, and winningly fresh in its approach.”
—Amy Driscoll, Miami Herald
“Abu-Jaber has created a literary mystery that weaves an intriguing psychological character study with a tense and compelling plot that results in a rewarding finish. Lena is a flawed but appealing protagonist; let’s hope she surfaces in sequels.”
—Library Journal
Copyright © 2007 by Diana Abu-Jaber
“Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology).”
Words and music by Marvin Gaye. © 1971
(renewed 1999) Jobete Music Co., Inc.
All rights controlled and administered by EMI
April Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2008
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Abu-Jaber, Diana.
Origin : a novel / Diana Abu-Jaber. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-393-06455-1
1. Forensic scientists—Fiction.
2. Syracuse (N.Y.)—Fiction. 3. Infants—Fiction.
4. Serial murderers—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3551.B895O74 2007
813’.54—dc22
2007004963
ISBN 978-0-393-33155-4 pbk.
eISBN 978-0-393-06665-4 epub.
W. W. Norton & Company. Inc.
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