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"I have never been faced with a moral crisis, let alone a matter of life or death."
Peter Simons doesn't spend much time at home in his bachelor apartment. Thanks to his job at a multinational company, he is often flying around the world, enjoying a life of luxurious solitude in five star hotels. So when he returns after being away for nine months and notices a strange smell coming from his neighbour's apartment, he initially tries not to get involved, but when a body is discovered Peter's carefully cultivated detachment begins to crumble. And when new neighbours move into the vacant apartment he gets caught up in a petty dispute that will bring him to the brink of moral ruin.
Bystander is a pitiless, bold work of intense psychological realism narrated by a professionally successful but socially bankrupt anti-hero who expects global connection and local anonymity. It excoriates the contingency of contemporary morality, and, at a time of growing isolation, forces the reader to examine what it means to be a good neighbour.
About the author
Mike Steeves was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and lives in Montreal, Quebec. His first novel,
Giving Up, was published by Book*hug Press in 2015 and was a finalist for the Concordia University First Book Award. His work has appeared in
The Globe & Mail,
Matrix Magazine,
The Shore and others.
