Headhunter (novel)

Headhunter is a novel by Timothy Findley. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1993.

For other novels, see Headhunter (disambiguation) § Literature.
First edition

Plot summary

The novel is set in a dystopic Toronto, Ontario buffeted by a mysterious plague called sturnusemia, which is believed to be carried by starlings. Against this backdrop Lilah Kemp, a schizophrenic spiritualist "of intense but undisciplined powers", accidentally sets Kurtz free from page 92 of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and is forced to find a Marlow to defeat him.

Kurtz becomes head of the Parkin Psychiatric Institute (based on the real Clarke Institute of Psychiatry) and travels among the city's elites, including a "Club of Men" which is in fact a child pornography ring. Marlow, meanwhile, is a staff psychiatrist at the Parkin.

Although the reader is clearly meant to see the parallels between Findley's Kurtz and Marlow and Conrad's original characters, the book is deliberately ambiguous about whether Lilah Kemp has really performed this act of literary magic, or is merely crazy enough to think she has.

Reception

Ellen Datlow praised Headhunter as "suspenseful, dark, twisted, and complex."[1]

The novel was the winner of the Toronto Book Award in 1994.[2]

References
  1. "Summation 1994: Horror", The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighth Annual Collection, p.xxxix
  2. "Findley's Headhunter wins book award". The Globe and Mail, September 27, 1994.
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