The Horizontal Man
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
A poet on the faculty of an Ivy League school is found murdered, setting off ripple effects of anxiety, suspicion, and panic in this Edgar Award-winning classic from 1946. The Horizontal Man was Helen Eustis's only crime novel, and she won an Edgar Award for it, combining a wildly disparate set of elements into an enduringly fascinating work. In its way it is a classical whodunit that stands comparison with old-school practitioners such as Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. This mystery transpires in the rarefied precincts of the English department of a venerable college, an English department very much of the restless postwar moment, echoing with references to Freud and Kafka. Eustis finds comedy high and low in a cavalcade of characters bursting at the seams with repressed sexual longings and simmering malice. Beyond the satire, she stirs up--with a narrative whose multiple viewpoints give the book a deliberately modernistic edge--a troubling sense of the mental chaos lurking just beneath the civilized surfaces of her academic setting.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1598536311
ISBN13:9781598536317
Release Date:July 2020
Publisher:Library of America
Length:318 Pages
Weight:0.71 lbs.
Dimensions:0.9" x 4.8" x 7.9"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
Engrossing for 99% of the way
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
PLOT: When a young teacher at a college for women is brutally slain, a student becomes the focus of the investigation. Her confession seems to clinch the deal. But another student teams up with a reporter when she feels the accused student (who seems to be having a nervous breakdown) didn't kill anyone. Suspects aren't too many in a small group of academics, each with an attache case full of idiosyncrasies and secrets. REVIEW: Certainly an easy book to read, with some well-thought out characters, the story zips along from the murder on page 2. Back when this was written the twist was probably more of a surprise, so I felt a little let down at the very end. Plus I thought a few threads begun in the last chapters were left hanging. Not a masterpiece, but still enjoyable.
Why didn't she write more
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
Apart from who killed Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, this whodunnit has the best trick on a reader I have ever read. Strangely out of print, the book shows the enormous potential that Helen Eustis had as a writer. I wish she had written more of these enjoyable novels.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
