Cocaine Nights

by J. G. Ballard

2.0 · 1 review

Critics' consensus

"Cocaine Nights is widely admired as a provocative and stylistically assured thriller in which Ballard's characteristically cool, forensic prose serves a bold but occasionally schematic meditation on leisure, crime, and the dangerous allure of transgression."

Five people die in an unexplained housefire in the Spanish resort of Estrella de Mar, an exclusive enclave for the rich, retired British, centred around the thriving Club Nautico. The manager of the club, Frank Prentice, pleads guilty to charges of murder - yet not even the police believe him. When his brother Charles arrives to unravel the truth, he gradually discovers that behind the resort's civilised facade lurks a secret world of crime, drugs and illicit sex...

Where to buy

Amazon World of Books AliExpress Bookshop.org Vinted Waterstones

Editions

All known editions of this book — paperback, hardback, audio, foreign-language. Tap one to swap the cover and metadata on your shelf.

8 editions

Cocaine Nights
Published · 1996
Publisher · Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 9780002324687
Cocaine Nights
Published · 2010
Publisher · Counterpoint Press
Pages · 332
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 9781582435701
Cocaine Nights
Published · 2012
Publisher · HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Pages · 336
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 9780007378814
Cocaine nights
Published · 1998
Publisher · Counterpoint
Pages · 328
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 188717866X
Cocaine Nights
Published · April 2003
Publisher · Clipper Audio
ISBN · 9781841973883
Cocaine Nights
Published · 1997
Publisher · Flamingo
Pages · 334
ISBN · 0006550649
Cocaine Nights.
Published · 1999
Publisher · Counterpoint
Pages · 336
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 1582430179
Cocaine nights
Published · 1996
Publisher · Flamingo
Pages · 328
Lang · ENG
ISBN · 0002241358

Community reviews

M
Mark Footer
7/8/2026
Unrealistic nonsense.