This is a literary mystery. I found it very atmosopheric and involving.
Subject matter is a little grim as is a most of the Graham Swift I've examined, but well worth the read (or listen in this case). Ending a little inconclusive, but by then I had developed a rapport with the narrator.
Masterfully read by Graeme Malcolm; his voice and accent reminded me of Michael Caine, one of my favorites, which added to my enjoyment.
"The story takes place over the course of a day in the head of middle-aged George Webb...ex-cop turned private investigator. His interior monologue takes quite a while to get used to, lurching around in fits and starts, back and forth in time, with little glimpses here and there. This is a canny writing job of capturing the fractured nature of thought, which is rarely so kind as to adhere to complete direct syntax_but it also makes for jarring reading.
... Swift is careful to release only micrograms of information at a time, so that the complete portrait of Webb's life accumulates in fragments, like a pointillist painting gradually coming alive as the dots mount up. But for all this coyness, there's no real suspense in the narrative, events proceed along an inevitable track dictated by fate.
... Webb's obsession with his murderess client is based on... well... nothing really, it just inexplicably exists (as in a film noir). Ditto with any explanation for the client's crime_it's just what fate had in store, and that's all there is to it. Ultimately, all of this is rather unsatisfying, if stylistically well-written. I've long wanted to read one of Swift's books, but this doesn't seem to be a good one to start with." amazon review
