The Smiling Man
Page 34
Her friend was looking between us, trying to work out what was happening. We stayed like that for a moment until I nodded, minimally, and she nodded back. Started to smile. I raised a hand. Saw the criss-crossing scars embedded into my knuckles and took an unconscious step back. Then a conscious one. In a perfect universe perhaps we’re still on that street corner, staring into each other. Perhaps there we get no closer, perhaps we get no further apart.
About the Author
Joseph Knox was born and raised in and around Stoke and Manchester, where he worked in bars and bookshops before moving to London. He runs, writes and reads compulsively. His debut novel Sirens was a bestseller.
The Smiling Man is the second in the Detective Aidan Waits series.
Also by Joseph Knox
Sirens
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First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Doubleday
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Joseph Knox 2018
Cover Design by Richard Ogle/TW
Cover Photography © Andrew Brooks and Getty Images
Joseph Knox has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
Quote here taken from the short-story collection Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti, originally published by Silver Scarab Press in 1986.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473542099
ISBN 9780857524409
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