Box Nine

By Jack O'Connell

A stunningly original nightmare novel about the impact of a new synthetic drug - Lingo - on the depressed New England factory town of Quinsigamond, where it was secretly developed. Besides offering a potent high, Lingo also delivers a shot to the brain cells governing linguistic comprehension and verbal skill. Until murderous rages and babbling insanity take over, this mind-expanding feature makes the drug dangerously seductive to the unusually literate cops, scientists and dope dealers competing to find its distribution source.
Written in the cranked up style of Lingo, Box Nine shows a noir vision of a city that has become a virtual war zone between warring multi-ethnic drug cartels. The narrative shifts from one head case to another but never loses sight of Det. Lenore Thomas, an undercover officer addicted to speed, rough sex, heavy metal and the feel of her .357 Magnum. A dark, disturbing book that speaks with a fine fury about the yearning for forbidden knowledge and the language to articulate the mysteries it unlocks...

• Language: English
• Publisher: No Exit Press
• Release date: Dec 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781842439777

Jack O'Connell

Jack O’Connell (b. 1959) is the author of five critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling crime novels. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, O’Connell’s earliest reading was the dime novel paperbacks and pulp fiction sold in his corner drug store, whose hard-boiled attitude he carried over to his own writing. He has cited his hometown’s bleak, crumbling infrastructure as an influence on Quinsigamond, the fictional city where his first four novels were set, and whose decaying industrial landscape served as a backdrop for strange thrillers which earned O’Connell the nickname of a “cyberpunk Dashiell Hammett.” O’Connell’s most recent novel was The Resurrectionist (2008). A former student at Worcester’s College of the Holy Cross, he now teaches there, not far from where he and his family live just outside of his hometown.

Reviews for Box Nine

[majkia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hard-boiled noir mystery with elements of futuristic frighteningly possible creation of designer drugs. Stream-of-consciousness makes for a very different sort of atmosphere.Lots of action, grim and grimmer, but it is noir and to be expected.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With Box Nine, author Jack O’Connell presents his colourful and highly original version of a noir thriller. Set in the fictional north-eastern American city of Quinsigamond. Once a thriving metropolis, now a dark, gritty place of hard times and even harder people. Violence and corruption seems to be the rule of the day.The main character, Detective Lenore Thomas, is one of the most remarkable and interesting characters I’ve met in a book in a long time. To quote the back cover, “she’s addicted to speed, rough sex, heavy metal and her gun’. Lenore knows the streets and back alleys of Quinsigamond and works as a undercover narcotic officer. The city is on the verge of an all out drug war, and to make things even more volatile a new manufactured drug has appeared on the scene. This drug with the street name of Lingo offers an unusually potent high, along with heightened linguistic abilities, but with a downside of extreme violence and babbling insanity.What sets this book apart from a straight forward noir thriller, are the many cultural references and the psychological and philosophical diatribes that many of the characters get involved in. Box Nine is not a book for everyone, with it’s crudeness and violence, but will be a book that stays with me and gives me much to ponder upon. I think Jack O’Connell is an amazing author, and I look forward to exploring more of his work in the future.

[joybee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great hardboiled crime book. The story of twins Lenore and Ike. Lenore is an undercover narcotics officer, who has a speed habit and a love of danger. Ike is a USPS worker who is mild mannered and likes to read mysteries...the opposite of his sister. The two have grown apart and find it difficult to communicate even though they live next door. A new dangerous drug hits the streets, and while Lenore works the case her relationship with her brother becomes even more strained as she questions her own way of life. Some good twists keep things interesting. The characters are deep and troubled, very likeable.

[ahs7wolfy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in the fictional New England factory town of Quinsigamond this book tells the tale of twins, Lenore and Ike Thomas. Lenore is an undercover cop working in the narcotics division while Ike earns a living as a mailman. When a new drug is developed that enhances language capabilities tenfold but has the side effect of turning its users into homicidal psychopaths the authorities aren't too pleased and want to stop it from hitting the streets. The plot is fast paced and helped along by alternating chapters between Lenore, Ike and occasional subsidiary characters. The dialogue is often exquisite, especially between Lenore and Fred Woo. Hopefully crime readers will not be put off by the SF tag that sometimes gets applied to this work and take any opportunity that comes along to give this book a read.