Philip Notman is going through what looks like a midlife crisis. Travelling home from an academic conference, he feels sick and disoriented to the point where he is barely able to function. Back in London, he can’t quite explain to his wife Anya, or indeed to himself, what’s ailing him. Is it just me, he wonders, or is everything unbearably toxic? Instead of working on his next book during a sabbatical, he sets off on a journey in search of a remedy.
Rupert Thomson’s new novel has no full stops. In their place are paragraph breaks, with sentences abandoned on the page, increasing the sense of dislocation:
Everything sick, he thought
Everything in pain
Starting from the title, the atmosphere grows increasingly ominous. Thomson skilfully balances things on the brink of explosion, creating suspense worthy of a thriller in a work grounded in literary tradition.
Set over several months in 2019, the book leads us through the ‘poisoned labyrinth’ of contemporary western ills that Philip is desperate to escape.
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