The Half Dead Garry Disher Illustrated by Shaun Tan 1997

Dustjacket synopsis:
"The shadow of the Black Hall broods over the City of the Half Dead - a place where almost all the men and boys have lost a hand, an arm, a leg in mysterious accidents - or are they accidents? Reny, a teenage loner living rough, stumbles upon the Hall's grisly secrets...

"A tale of grim horror by award-winning author Garry Disher, starkly illustrated by Shaun Tan."

First Paragraph

In a grassy plain in a difficult country far to the north there is a settlement known to the locals as the City of the Half Dead. The wind never ceases to blow there, rattling windows, driving grit along the hard streets, moaning across the rooftops. That is the first thing you notice.

The second is the Black Hall, sitting square and ugly behind the little city, its glassy face catching the wintry sun like splinters of ice.

And finally this: almost every man in the City of the Half Dead has lost a limb: a leg severed here, an arm torn off there. In fact, not even the High School boys are immune. It's as if a catastrophe has struck the city, leaving only the women intact.

From the Lothian Books paperback edition, 1997.

Note:
This book is number 12 is the After Dark series of horror stories for teenagers, edited by Gary Crew.

This page and its contents are copyright © 2001 by Perry Middlemiss, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Last modified: November 26, 2001.