Review: Too deep for a thriller, too driven for a novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2014
Edit - Since posting this review, my opinion of the book has risen. Parts of it have stayed with me, and are more satisfying in memory than in the days after I read the book. My current verdict is that it is more of a thriller than a novel, but an unconventional and dreamy thriller. If you read it expectingEric AmblerorGraham Greeneyou will find it slow going, but if you take it on its own terms without expectations, you will find it quietly thrilling. I raised my rating from three to four stars.There is a immense amount of talent on display in this book, but a basic misconception will make it less than satisfactory for most readers. If it were a movie, I'd be tempted to blame unresolved disputes between the director and the screenwriter, but as it is a book with a single author, the problem must be internal.The opening scenes that set the plot in motion are composed of classic thriller elements: the guerrilla lover sneaking through a sleeping village, his beautiful mistress writing fateful words, the evil Nazi closing in. However, instead of taut action, crisp dialog and precise description, the prose is almost dreamy. Everything is overlapped. Long paragraphs dissect emotional realities, but the reader has to guess the physical set-up. Worst of all, the scenes move too slowly, they are brooding where a thriller demands exciting.The rest of the story unfolds in beautifully written segments that explore the country and culture of Crete and the archetypes of the characters, without linking together in any way that makes sense of events. Thrillers are complex in the sense of having many links in the chain of events, but each link is simple and strong. This book is complex in each of its overlapping concepts, but there are no real links, no chain.This makes for a slow and unsatisfying thriller. Unfortunately the attempt to fit the story into thriller format undercuts it as a novel. The plot, not the characters, drives the action. It's like a play with great sets and actors, but the puppet strings are too visible.I'm not sure if this is an interesting failed experiment, or an attempt by a novelist to imitate thriller writers of lesser talent but clearer conception of the genre. It's not a bad book, but it's inadequate as either thriller or novel. You can read it for enjoyment, but as a series of sketches, not as a unified work.