Kem Nunn píše romány s temnými tématy, politickými podtóny a prostředím surfování, které jsou často označovány jako „surf noir“. Jeho díla se vyznačují jedinečným stylem a pronikavým pohledem na život. Nunn se zaměřuje na zkoumání hloubek lidské psychiky a společenských problémů. Jeho psaní je ovlivněno jeho vášní pro surfování a Kalifornií.
Drew Harmon, ein verschollen geglaubter Surf-Champion, sucht noch immer nach der Welle seines Lebens. In einer legendären Bucht am westlichsten Zipfel Kaliforniens glaubt er sie endlich gefunden zu haben. Der abgehalfterte Fotograf Jack Fletcher soll das Ereignis zusammen mit zwei jungen Profisurfern dokumentieren. Jeder der Männer verfolgt sein eigenes Ziel, doch am Ende geht es nur noch ums nackte Überleben. Elmore Leonard „Schade, dass es nicht mehr so gut geschriebene Abenteuergeschichten gibt.“ Neue Zürcher Zeitung „Hammett, Chandler, James Cain und Ross MacDonald - Kem Nunn hat sie alle hinter sich gelassen.“ Los Angeles Times
Von den Mythen der Ureinwohner Hawaiis bis zur ersten Beschreibung des Wellenreitens durch den Seefahrer Captain Cook. Von den Briefen des Draufgängers Mark Twain, in denen er seine ersten Surfversuche beschreibt, bis zu der Hymne, die Jack London auf diesen »königlichen Sport« anstimmt. Von den Aussteigererfahrungen eines Daniel Duane bis zu dem besonderen Blick Tom Wolfes auf die Surfkultur und -sprache amerikanischer Teenager. Der Mythos Surfen lebt in diesem Buch fort für die Ewigkeit.
Heart Attacks is California's last secret spot - the premier mysto surf haunt, the stuff of rumour and legend. The rumours say you must cross Indian land to get there. They tell of hostile locals and shark-infested waters where waves in excess of thirty feet break a mile from shore. For down-and-out photographer Jack Fletcher, the chance to shoot these waves in the company of surfing legend Drew Harmon offers the promise of new beginnings. But Drew is not alone in the northern reaches of the state.
People came to Huntington Beach in search of the endless party, the ultimate high and the perfect wave. Ike Tucker came to look for his sister and for the three men who may have murdered her. In that place of gilded surfers and sun-bleached blondes, Ike looked into the shadows and found parties that drifted towards pointless violence, joyless violations and highs you might never come down from and a sea of old hatreds and dreams gone bad.
Praised by Publishers Weekly as "intriguing and funny," this "desert noir" traces an evangelical's spiritual journey across the Mojave Desert and his encounters with a restless girl and an extraterrestrial relic.
From the LA Times Book Prize-winning author comes a suspenseful and mind-bending novel about Eldon Chance, a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the end of his rope - now a Hulu TV series starring Hugh Laurie and Gretchen Moi. Chance is a dark story about psychiatric mystery, sexual obsession, fractured identities, and terrifyingly realistic violence; a tale told amid the back streets of California's Bay Area, far from the cleansing breezes of the ocean. Dr. Eldon Chance, a neuropsychiatrist, is a man primed for spectacular ruin. Into his blighted life walks Jaclyn Blackstone, the abused, attractive wife of an Oakland homicide detective seemingly suffering from a dissociative identity disorder. In time, Chance will fall into bed with her; or is it her alter ego, the voracious and volatile Jackie Black? The not-so-good doctor, despite his training, isn't quite sure and soon finds himself up against her husband, Raymond, a formidable and dangerous adversary. Meanwhile, Chance also meets a young man named D, a self-styled, streetwise philosopher skilled in the art of the blade. Around this trio of unique and dangerous individuals, long-guarded secrets begin to unravel, obsessions grow, and the doctor's carefully arranged life comes to the brink of implosion. Chance is a twisted, harrowing, and impossible-to-put-down head trip through the funhouse of fate; it's not pretty, it's not sweet, but it is disturbing and unforgettable.
