This starts as a tense and austere description of an ambiguous relationship, as a young man comes into the life of a successful older actress. He’s a bit odd – his story doesn’t quite seem to add up. Just as I am wondering how things are going to progress, suddenly everything changes and the whole story is recast and effectively begins again. Like a rude awakening! From that point the story continues its highly strung narrative. The characters are in a pressure cooker and the pressure is unrelenting and things begin to unravel to some extent. The prose is claustrophobic and oppressive and fascinating and the whole book is like a tiny tense self-contained world. When I finished it was like emerging into the daylight from a darkened cinema.
