If I want to explain who I am, and why I was in that diner, and how I got into the mess I'm in, I guess I've got to go back a few years. Maybe not all the way back, although I don't think that anything is ever totally irrelevant. But for now I'm going to stick to the main points, like how I got to Los Angeles, and why I didn't really know anyone there, and why I liked that ? Charlie Conti has just come into his inheritance. Young, rich and alone in the world, he decides to leave the echoing luxury of his Manhattan home and head for Los Angeles. He throws wild parties and everyone comes, but he remains on the outside, an isolated figure. Then he meets Ray Celador. Ray has the eyes of a visionary and the rough, gnarled hands of a lumberjack. He deals in drugs, women and philosophy, and before long he's indispensable to Charlie: father-figure, teacher, friend. But who, in the end, is Ray Celador? And who ? when he finds himself stripped of his home, his money and his identity ? is Charlie Conti? A thriller with a literary twist, this is the story of Charlie's betrayal, of the theft of his identity and of his attempt to recover what is his. His extraordinary meetings along the way and the magic of America's vast landscapes are captured by a voice that is innocent, wry and thoughtful. A novel of imaginative power and authenticity, Who is Charlie Conti? marks the debut of an exciting new talent. AUTHOR: Claus von Bohlen was born in London in 1977. Based in Brixton, he works as a writer, translator, documentary filmmaker and part-time police officer. His second novel, To Greet the Sun will be published by Old Street in 2009 REVIEW ?Completely gripping and engaging ? Charlie Conti's narrative contains moments of genuine strangeness and wonder' ALAN WARNER, author of Morvern Callar SALES POINTS ? A beautifully written first-person narrative by an exciting young talent ? Edgy and exciting and dealing with the uniquely modern problem of indentity theft
