The Uninvited

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he’s not involved in. He sees it as achallenge to make me laugh, and when hesucceeds, he punches the air with his fistand shouts, ‘I win!’ and demands that Imake him an ozuru as a ‘humour tax’. I’veworked with Phipps & Wexman for fiveyears and he now has thirteen of them on ashelf next to his family portrait: a set ofparents and a big-eyed sister with herhusband and four kids. He likes to amusevisitors by pretending to feed the origamibirds confetti collected from holepunchers.‘We’ll have to do some rethinking,’says Ashok. ‘I’m sorry to lay this on you,but Sunny Chen’s dead.’ I mentally selecta sheet of origami paper. I make a frogbase. This I double-sink fold, then blintz.‘You still there bud? You hear what I
said? Sunny Chen. Your factory-managerguy. He’s eaten it. I didn’t know how totell you, so I just thought hey, what can Ido. I’ll just come right out with it.’I can hear my boss chewing rapidly. Sohe is eating it too. But Ashok and SunnyChen aren’t eating the same thing. <strong>The</strong>thing Sunny is eating is dust, as in ‘bitingthe dust’. Whereas Ashok has beenpsychologically dependent on chewinggum since he gave up smoking: ‘eating’ inhis case involves spearmint and agelatine-based product derived from pigs’trotters. But Sunny Chen is dead. I can beslow to absorb things. Something like thiscould take a long time to sink in.I ask, ‘When?’‘Today. Our morning, his afternoon. Atthe timber plant. I’m sending his folks
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For Clare Blatchford ReesAn inspira
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CONTENTSPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2C
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PROLOGUEMass hysterical outbreaks r
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she’d put it to her father’s fa
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pewter glint of the Atlantic. I’d
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Taiwan working flat out on the sabo
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The TV showed a semi-detached house
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existence. Ever since the High Ener
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stepson aiming his catapult at anot
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attracted you to Hesketh when you f
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the package called Hesketh Lock and
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some of the ‘normal social graces
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of the country, or even abroad, to
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evidence of dark forces: demons, sh
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selling tofu, lychees, starfruit, s
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cross-culture specialist, who has a
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aid triggered further investigation
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several hours, kept awake by coffee
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The next morning I was at the timbe
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though my Chinese was unfortunately
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computer. It all added up, and he a
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Martin Yeh sighed. ‘If I had been
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police asked me the same thing. And
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The loading of the trunks and the s
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His face mask hid his features. I
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drying up from the wood dust.‘The
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He shook his head. ‘It’s bad. L
Page 57 and 58: the concrete prairie. I like to be
Page 59 and 60: and paint-colour charts (here I use
Page 61 and 62: do what they want.’ As he spoke,
Page 63 and 64: He took a deep breath. ‘The spiri
Page 65 and 66: they are all dead. But they are ali
Page 67 and 68: Chen seemed absorbed in his ownthou
Page 69 and 70: the city. Up here, we were right on
Page 71 and 72: shaking the black-stemmed bamboos a
Page 73 and 74: with gold. Hell notes. Each leaf of
Page 75 and 76: leg. I would have bent it to form a
Page 77 and 78: The laugh came again. ‘Sure, I wi
Page 79 and 80: settled it on the marble slab betwe
Page 81 and 82: ‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That
Page 83 and 84: ‘Do you fear that there will be a
Page 85 and 86: sandalwood. I recognised it instant
Page 87 and 88: it from me. I need to know why.’
Page 89 and 90: should not ask.’‘Later she regr
Page 91 and 92: too.’ I meant it.‘We will say g
Page 93 and 94: As the taxi drove off, I looked bac
Page 95 and 96: oof had lost a few tiles, and a dea
Page 97 and 98: starting these miniature contained
Page 99 and 100: the surface in tiny bubbles likecha
Page 101 and 102: ‘I know your mum has already talk
Page 103 and 104: to do. So I cleaned it up. A few mi
Page 105 and 106: toothpaste.Sometimes we pretended w
Page 107: Taiwan whistle-blower?’Sunny Chen
Page 111 and 112: don’t feel anything.But I do feel
Page 113 and 114: feelings: they are a component of t
Page 115 and 116: ‘Ashok. Just tell me.’‘Er, Je
Page 117 and 118: She is generally considered to beex
Page 119 and 120: here and there, white blobs in a mu
Page 121 and 122: publicity generated by a disgruntle
Page 123 and 124: The French term un acte manquédesc
Page 125 and 126: CHAPTER 3Sometime at the end of the
Page 127 and 128: Taiwan report. Chen’s suicide mea
Page 129 and 130: visible behind his left ear. I don
Page 131 and 132: the matter in hand, so I say, ‘I
Page 133 and 134: applied it. Last Christmas he sent
Page 135 and 136: doodling a bunch of amoeba fucking,
Page 137 and 138: over.’I was doing a tricky blintz
Page 139 and 140: stuck through their combs where the
Page 141 and 142: Station in Copenhagen, where I chan
Page 143 and 144: The morning after my arrival in Sto
Page 145 and 146: confused.’‘Is there no explanat
Page 147 and 148: not Japanese and nor is Lars Axel,
Page 149 and 150: If I am on to something, my blood f
Page 151 and 152: invent, and get messy. He is a fan
Page 153 and 154: choose it a name.’ He is very kee
Page 155 and 156: woodlouses.’ His voice has change
Page 157 and 158: field of study and secondly because
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dog. But she would like one. I ask
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established a definitive momentum m
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‘No, but I’d like to,’ I tell
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interrupted sex with the demographe
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her smile, and led to her questioni
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applying for. She told me she wante
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By now I have studied Sverige Banke
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CHAPTER 4When Ashok skypes me in th
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‘Swiss-German. Attending a UNconf
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a state of enlightenment. Was thiss
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Svensson is probably in her mid-fif
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violent. Never. He’s become anoth
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happened at the bank.’‘So sit d
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‘The fucking . . . creature. It
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doctor buzzes an alarm. ‘You fuck
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follow. Outside, others are chasing
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on his mobile phone. Within seconds
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Svensson and what followed. When I
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combination with other things, have
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get it over with.’ They look at e
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else the image freezes. So I say,
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Then I text Ashok asking for thedim
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Men attacking institutions that the
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fingers across the bicep, and a thu
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gum in his mouth. Numerous studies
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neurophysiology of self-deception.
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fears which dominated the lives of
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they had done.The Venn diagram in m
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significance, on some level. ‘Som
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would be catastrophic for farming -
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‘Well, enjoy the rest of your lif
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‘And what kind of fucked-up weird
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He’ll shout, ‘Jesus Christ, Hes
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she once claimed to find endearing.
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the car and we put the dead body in
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grow and then we eat the plants,’
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is Afghan, so I try out a few words
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day here, so at 8am local time I co
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only travel in one direction. But n
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shown that there are dimensions tha
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At 10.30 I am heading upwards in a
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the rest are erecting and dismantli
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ig muscled arm to show me ‘the wo
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lady, Halla. Very traditional. Can
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they feature as recent additions to
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overloaded now. I rock harder and h
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child he stops licking his arm, he
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Later, when I am being interrogated
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him. I didn’t push him.’ I say
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matter as you’ll be dead. But som
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e shouting.I don’t usually shout.
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construction elevator. Its slow sha
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against my faith. And it’s not in
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and he crumbled something into it.
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with three daughters. One said she
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de Vries then Mazoor could solve th
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it seemed. And I heard her too. She
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observes them, then looks up at me.
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To the mother-root, when they haveb
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epresentations are highly accurate.
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speculations it has led to.‘I bel
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honeybee. Serviced by a million dro
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one. Quite rare, though it’s on t
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This day has not been a good one so
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comes to escort me back to my hotel
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CHAPTER 6There is an explanation fo
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At the time though, there was nocon
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version. Lot and his wife and daugh
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many tribes of Africa. He’d have
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Is she beautiful? Most of my maleco
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‘Whatever it is, now is not the t
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speculation, I have to tell you. As
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glass as I speak.‘With Chen it’
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uprising. And there are other thing
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together?’I grab a napkin and dra
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Care Units for them. Drafted an arm
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A classic distancing technique. You
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‘A small figure,’ I say. ‘Chi
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esults I’m waiting on. It may mea
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entirely new way.’ In addition to
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Victor?’ That familiar cracked an
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Professor Whybray and Naomi Benjami
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‘Superstition was part of Hesketh
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Whybray.‘The girl,’ I say. ‘I
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goodbye and Stephanie presses End C
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their sudden, intense camaraderie a
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I’m overloaded. I stand and pick
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intense pummelling of my muscles.I
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that happen. Kaitlin’s wrong to s
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strain to hear it. ‘Don’t think
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seems slightly drunk. Did she have
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No. I am not OK.I clear my throat.
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it. The hand-print’s too small to
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hold of this and copied it?’ asks
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CHAPTER 8Kaitlin’s house, built i
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carry him through the narrow entran
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when I moved in has disappeared fro
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secretly a pirate ship, he insists.
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‘I say, ond som jooz. Ploz.’A m
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half-chewed crisps, and drops the l
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tissue, but he wriggles out of her
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‘What do you mean, Freddy?’ ask
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Three ways to die. ‘Except there
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He shrugs. ‘You saw the girl with
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Freddy K?’He wipes his nose on hi
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ago. But she is still beautiful and
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another?’‘No,’ says Kaitlin.
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Freddy and Hesketh both want to see
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ottle of Australian Shiraz from the
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huge. It’ll expand and peak. In w
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has flown up around her neck, distu
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I go to the window I see only one p
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make you spaghetti. Out in the kitc
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Stephanie says, ‘My sister says i
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him into another mood. He pulls awa
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desert. Is that what he wants? Is h
Page 391 and 392:
Care Unit. In the meantime there’
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on all children under twelve in the
Page 395 and 396:
At five, Stephanie calls from the h
Page 397 and 398:
plasticine and cracked clay and a f
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‘Yep?’‘It was an accident. No
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Freddy is a collector, and tins are
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world? Somewhere out there, Freddy
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come in and hold the fort? Ashok’
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youngest two killed him.’So Amit
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pouring and stirring are soothing -
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air can be bad for you!’‘No. Ai
Page 413 and 414:
engaged. The net connection hasdisa
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lind!’ he calls after me as I lea
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Professor Whybray - but the line’
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nuts. I don’t know where he got h
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‘Hesketh.’ That reedy, throaty
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swayed by the culture.’‘You onc
Page 425 and 426:
‘Secondary hysteria?’ Is that w
Page 427 and 428:
‘Well the human extinction lobby
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anomalies. ‘Any eye infections am
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living in the cottage on the island
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‘What do you mean, bones?’I rec
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options to choose from on the BBC
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anomalies, this information is unli
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calls again. She sounds exhausted,
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Freddy down,’ I say. ‘You need
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changes often occur in patients who
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information it contains.I’d antic
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of denial, anger, bargaining, depre
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did. In a manner of speaking.’ I
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crap they wanted. There’s no way
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intrigued me.If Freddy and I were g
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the vast orange ziggurat of Sainsbu
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taller, but not much older. Ten per
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signal again. The sign of the eye.
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camera angled at us from the corner
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left with a glass door, through whi
Page 465 and 466:
you can join the others. OK?’‘Y
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telling if it’s peaked. And there
Page 469 and 470:
where he waves at the three supervi
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‘Glossolalia?’‘Except that I
Page 473 and 474:
eaching in his pocket. ‘Phone cal
Page 475 and 476:
I ask, ‘Do you have children?’S
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ecame intimate, we would have to ha
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emarkable,’ says Professor Whybra
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I pull up a seat and glance through
Page 483 and 484:
eyes.’I jump up. ‘That fits!’
Page 485 and 486:
world with no adults, no toilets, n
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answer. ‘He’s still Freddy. His
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from life itself. If I am ‘waterp
Page 491 and 492:
CHAPTER 11The practical side of loo
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on his head. ‘Freddy K. Mum’s i
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next to the basin. ‘We were talki
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eyes and it is as if the clock has
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means?’I watch him in the rear-vi
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for a place to settle. Her hair is
Page 503 and 504:
Stephanie together, the images I co
Page 505 and 506:
Stephanie. ‘Thank you, Hesketh.
Page 507 and 508:
she calls after me: ‘I heard toda
Page 509 and 510:
CHAPTER 12‘It was a disgrace,’
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‘believed to be the work of anarc
Page 513 and 514:
a distaste for it. Contempt, even.
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call it the White Death.’ The pro
Page 517 and 518:
e born and then you made us live li
Page 519 and 520:
hand on my shoulder. ‘Good work,
Page 521 and 522:
the unexpected. And then adapt. It
Page 523 and 524:
few, Hesketh. Hold on to that.’We
Page 525 and 526:
‘Hey!’ calls a male voice. I gl
Page 527 and 528:
lessing.’As we approach, a couple
Page 529 and 530:
two worlds can occupy the same spac
Page 531 and 532:
Vries jumped. I say urgently, ‘Pr
Page 533 and 534:
gently tries to prise her off. But
Page 535 and 536:
donning face masks. I call out a br
Page 537 and 538:
‘The reason for that is that supe
Page 539 and 540:
I slide some origami paper from the
Page 541 and 542:
global economy, bang goes capitalis
Page 543 and 544:
its knees. You heard about the arre
Page 545 and 546:
heading back to the Stone Age. At l
Page 547 and 548:
Ashok waves him into a seat and ask
Page 549 and 550:
what Svensson’s autopsy showed. I
Page 551 and 552:
They’re children for ever, like P
Page 553 and 554:
‘Hesketh,’ she says evenly, ‘
Page 555 and 556:
I give the short version.‘So I an
Page 557 and 558:
out what impact this has on our oth
Page 559 and 560:
‘Stop,’ I say. ‘This is now.
Page 561 and 562:
and started writing very fast. So I
Page 563 and 564:
Professor Whybray drops his noteboo
Page 565 and 566:
CHAPTER 14Kaitlin Kalifakidis is de
Page 567 and 568:
Kawasaki rose in an envelope marked
Page 569 and 570:
forced into a wide detour: a burst
Page 571 and 572:
since she organised this event, she
Page 573 and 574:
While the others head for the group
Page 575 and 576:
Mazoor. Mrs Helena Whybray’s. She
Page 577 and 578:
My belief is that when you die, tha
Page 579 and 580:
Freddy starts clicking his tongue.G
Page 581 and 582:
‘No,’ he whispers. Then he stan
Page 583 and 584:
nodding at the door. ‘Go now.’A
Page 585 and 586:
has no power in it. My groin is thu
Page 587 and 588:
‘Where are you?’ I keep my voic
Page 589 and 590:
wearing a necklace like the one Fre
Page 591 and 592:
with no sign of human life. I can i
Page 593 and 594:
shouts, violent elbowing, shoving a
Page 595 and 596:
comprising ten or so kids. Then the
Page 597 and 598:
Then the world shrinks to a pinpric
Page 599 and 600:
which forms a little tent. I don’
Page 601 and 602:
the pillows behind my head.My mouth
Page 603 and 604:
unexplained anomaly of the kidneys.
Page 605 and 606:
CHAPTER 15The next morning I wake i
Page 607 and 608:
pointing upward. ‘That’s lasagn
Page 609 and 610:
another soldier on guard. I show hi
Page 611 and 612:
een cordoned off. Some soldiers are
Page 613 and 614:
notebook and then find Naomi.‘How
Page 615 and 616:
hand-prints in human blood.Freddy i
Page 617 and 618:
The door has a small reinforcedwind
Page 619 and 620:
‘Because there’s one in here.
Page 621 and 622:
She puts a hand on my shoulder.‘Y
Page 623 and 624:
Freddy in the car again. They haves
Page 625 and 626:
of human history has begun.
Page 627 and 628:
after a storm. We’d walk beyond t
Page 629 and 630:
Svensson. Here’s where I’ll exp
Page 631 and 632:
attention - or seemed to, until I s
Page 633 and 634:
pressed him further. Why I kept dig
Page 635 and 636:
the island, he told me. All native
Page 637 and 638:
to me daily, sometimes hourly. And
Page 639 and 640:
There is a lot more in this vein. M
Page 641 and 642:
We are a species in crisis: a speci
Page 643 and 644:
the one I made for Sunny Chen. Irem
Page 645 and 646:
what happens next, Freddy?’ He do
Page 647 and 648:
eality.Once upon a time the Earth w
Page 649 and 650:
‘Stop. It means we want you to st
Page 651 and 652:
think. They’ve come back to stop
Page 653 and 654:
swivelling in my chair and watching
Page 655 and 656:
new course is set. You know that,He
Page 657 and 658:
metaphysics of being. I am not a gr
Page 659 and 660:
you open them out, their intended s
Page 661 and 662:
encouragement.My thanks also go to
Page 663 and 664:
for the Orange Prize for Fiction an
Page 665 and 666:
Also Available by Liz JensenThe Rap
Page 667 and 668:
The Ninth Life of LouisDraxNine-yea
Page 669 and 670:
My Dirty Little Book ofStolen TimeI
Page 671 and 672:
War Crimes for theHomeLonglisted fo
Page 673 and 674:
Click for more information
Page 675 and 676:
a world of compulsive consumption,
Page 677 and 678:
Since the year all British women be
Page 679 and 680:
sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, fo
Page 681:
SydneyA CIP catalogue record for th
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The Uninvited

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