Simultaneously, Costa discovers that his father wasn't who Costa thought he was. What distinguishes this novel is its fine, if occasionally showy, style. Pye masterfully evokes the Portuguese countryside, the look of a submerged corpse, the stifling oppressiveness of a crowded streetcar. Most of all, Pye reflects on identity and how it resides not in ourselves but in our documents. Power wants us numbered and not named, carded and not just remembering our name, address, telephone number, purpose, social security number, PIN, and so forth.
Power has good reasons.
We're available to be managed. Part mystery, part evocation of place, Taking Lives ultimately asks us to confront ourselves in the mirror with the realization of the slipperiness of personal identity and the seductiveness of the impulse to assume a new self, one we can get right this time. Steven E. Alford teaches literature and film at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.