The Antidote
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Summary
These are five stories set in the near future.
"Rat Island" is set in a city after a plague. Here, the elite wait on the rooftops of skyscrapers to be evacuated, while ordinary people fight for survival in the streets.
In "The Crusher," a scientist researching immortality finally finds a memory-crushing machine that can help him forget everything in time to avoid a great disaster.
"The Cicada" tells the story of two close friends who fall in love with the same girl on their way to the bull-running festival in Pamplona.
In "The Antidote," a son estranged from his father travels to a snake farm in Africa to visit his father for a certain purpose.
Finally, in the epic and brutal novella "The Black Knight," we meet a psychiatrist skilled in hypnosis who is also a hired killer.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Suspense readers who like Nesbø's work and want to see him try science fiction
- Readers who prefer short-story collections, with each piece standing alone yet leaving an aftertaste
- Fiction lovers interested in themes such as free will, memory, and choice
- Readers who want tightly paced, suspenseful stories for commuting or travel
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting traditional detective deduction and long Harry Hole-style cases
- Science fiction fans who want only hard SF and have high demands for rigorous worldbuilding
- Readers sensitive to violence and killing who prefer warm-hearted subjects
Reading tips
- You can read in table-of-contents order, or start with the story whose title appeals most; the five are relatively independent.
- Pause after each story and think about the point at which the characters could have made a different choice.
- In stories such as "The Antidote" and "The Black Knight," pay attention to the father-son relationship and the hypnosis element; comparing them back and forth adds flavor.
- If your time is fragmented, read one story at a time to avoid losing tension when a long suspense thread is interrupted.
About the publisher
Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 鼠岛
- I
- II
- Ⅲ
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- VIII
- IX
- X
- XI
- XII
- XIII
- XIV
- XV
- XVI
- XVII
- 粉碎机
- 想法
- 假说
- 炸弹
- 小鼠
- 背叛
- 拜访
- 决定
- 旅途
- 蝉
- 解药
- 黑骑士
- 第一部分：开局
- 第二部分：中局
- 第三部分：终局
FAQ
Are these five stories connected?
Can I read this if I haven't read other Nesbø works?
Is the science fiction element heavy? Does it count as hard SF?
Which story is good to start with?
Comments
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About the author
Jo Nesbø, born in Oslo, Norway, in 1960, is both a crime novelist and a musician, and is hailed as a leading figure in Nordic crime fiction. His writing is known for suspense and detective fiction, most notably the series featuring detective Harry Hole. His debut novel, The Bat, appeared in 1997, and he has continued to publish new works since, building a body of crime narratives marked by a cool tone and tightly woven plots. His works are categorized under classic works, foreign literature, and suspense and mystery, and have been published on a substantial scale in the Chinese book market in collected editions, with 22 titles held in the library, including such representative works as The Leopard, Police, Phantom, and The Night House. His books have sold more than fifty million copies worldwide and have had a broad influence.
Xu Hailing is an author about whom little public information is available. Two works can currently be confirmed: The Antidote and The Jealous Man. Judging from how these two books are commonly categorized on book sites, the writing mainly falls at the intersection of foreign literature and suspenseful mystery, relying on plot momentum and psychological portrayal of characters to build reading tension. Because no reliable records exist regarding the author's nationality, life, educational background, or writing career, it is not possible here to say more about their personal trajectory or development as a writer. Based on the existing works, Xu Hailing's choice of subject matter leans toward narratives involving mystery and emotional conflict, and the titles themselves suggest an interest in the darker sides of human nature and entangled relationships. Readers who wish to learn more about this author can only start from the published works and sense the narrative rhythm and stylistic direction in the texts; a fuller picture of the author remains to be filled in by public information.
