![]() ![]() ![]() The book’s third section, titled “Development” (following “Composition” and “Exposure” and preceding “Exhibition”), is the weakest, but by that time you will be in too deep in Ian’s story to part ways with him. Ian, the narrator, develops into the classic Hitchcockian (anti-)hero: double-dealt, haunted and hunted, paranoid and pursued by demons of his own making. This is true even in a story full of women, from the narrator’s wife Faith and his ex-mistress Nicole to psychotherapist Daphne and flame-haired vulcanologist Asga. Take the woman at the focal point of this mystery: Who is Marian Esguard? Where is she? Does she – did she ever – exist? Goddard’s women are much like Hitchcock’s, and no femme is more fatale than this one none will leave you more suspended between question and answer, mystery and solution. He describes scenes from Sussex to Snaefellsnes (in Iceland) with photographic clarity and creates compelling stories out of slices of obscure history. Reading a Goddard novel, you feel suspended between fact and tantalizingly true fiction. ![]()
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