Nondescript Rambunctious is a genre-busting thriller with a beating, human heart. More than a simple story of a killer and his victims, the novel takes the reader into the life of a family, the days of a community, and the very real possibility that evil is everywhere—maybe even inside us. Woven through this dark tapestry are the glittering threads of humanity, humour, and in the form of one young woman, the promise of redemption. Like a sinister dream, Nondescript Rambunctious pulls you in and doesn’t let go. There is no easy way out.

“Jackie Bateman’s debut novel is very impressive. The writing is taut, controlled, and relentless. Nondescript Rambunctious is a dark, murderous thriller, a winner with a variety of narrators, surprising turns and shifts, and some hard, hard corners.” – Mark Anthony Jarman, author of My White Planet and 19 Knives

"Crime novels, whether thrillers, police procedurals, or hard-boiled detective stories, are about order. A catastrophic event, usually an act of violence, shatters the peace of a community, and the rest of the story is about turning that community inside out to restore a state of normality. Nondescript Rambunctious, for which Jackie Bateman won the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University’s First Book Competition in the fiction category, is a thriller that succeeds by nodding politely to the formula, then turning it on its head... Bateman hasn’t imagined a world of dogged cops, rumpled detectives, or amateur sleuths.Nondescript Rambunctious is about the heartbreaking consequences of human depravity, not tying up loose ends or piecing together clues. It wouldn’t be wrong to label this novel a thriller, but it also confounds the expectations of that label, to great effect." - August C. Bourre, reviewing in Quill & Quire July 2011

Currently available in all good bookstores in North America, plus Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com, chapters.indigo.ca, McNallyRobinson.com

With thanks to Litopia for being such an excellent environment for emerging writers.