This was titled as Caveman's Valentine in the US.

In addition to a having a pretty good murder mystery, you get to see the plot and characters through the eyes and mind of Romulus, a paranoid schizophrenic who must struggle to suppress the voices in his head and the conspiracies all around him.

While overall this is a great read, its treatment of homelessness as a matter of choice is perhaps a bit glib.

This book won the Edgar award and I believe that it was made into a movie with Samuel L. Jackson.
Its hard to imagine how a film could do the workings of Romulus's bizarre mind justice.

Sending today to yowlyy in the UK.

The book arrived today, thanks so much jawin :-) Once I've read it I will offer it to biber in Germany, who saw the film but has not read the book yet, and if it's as good as it promises to be I may even start a bookray ;-)

For being a first book, I found it great! The author describes in a very gripping way the story of Romulus, a musician who suffers of schizophrenia and lives in a cave, as he cannot bear to live with his family anymore. The murder mystery is brilliant, and it kept me guessing all the way until the end, so I highly recommend it. Especially for those who saw the film... now, a few words about it. I saw it as well, but only after having finished reading the book, as it was on a DVD borrowed by biber, who heard first of the Caveman's story. The film is very well done and although the story got a bit scrambled (I guess it was a way too long story to fit in a normal length movie...), I thought that the mental conflicts of Romulus were very well represented...flashing lights, fuzzy images (especially when he is "watching TV"), colour filters applied to the shots...and Samuel L. Jackson was great in the role of the genius musician gone crazy!!! (see picture) Yes, I enjoyed the film too, but as usual, the book is the best. Thanks a lot jawin!

I've seen that CAVEMAN is on the wishlist of a fellow bookcrosser, and I will send it to her...since biber would like to read it too, maybe she could then send it to him, and he could pass it on to another German bookcrosser...or maybe I could start a bookray for it? Ah....decisions...decisions...

I am so incredibly chuffed to have received this book off my wishlist. THANK YOU. I will read it after I have gotten through my current back log of Mt TBR rings and rays.

:)

Oh dear and oh goodie then. I had forgotten that I am to pass this along to another BCer after reading it. I will treat this book as a ray. That means I get to read it sooner. It also means that Mt TBR has one more book in it. LOL!

I've finished the book and enjoyed it although I'm finding myself enjoying the movie for it's frenetic pacing slightly more. While the book certainly ties up more of the plot's loose ends and shows a glimmer of hope for Rom's future, the pacing of the story suffers near the middle as the motivations and histories of all the different characters (many who are left out of the film) are introduced and explored.

I've sent a PM to biber to see if he is still interested in the book.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing to biber.

the book has finally arrived after 3 months!
thank you so much caligula03!!!
can't wait to read it because I liked the film very much ;O)