Steven Hall, author of The Raw Shark Texts, takes the hoariest of premises -- amnesia -- and through a combination of jump-off-the-page writing and a post-modern bag of tricks, delivers a smart, absorbing, mind-bending novel.
The author is consciously invoking everything from Jaws and The Matrix to the books of Haruki Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart, for one), among the many hat-tips and clues. He does so in the service of a chap (the setting is England) named Eric Sanderson, who wakes up on the floor one day, completely unable to remember who he is or anything of his past. He finds an envelope that has been left for him by "the first Eric Sanderson," who provides specific instructions on what to do:
"If you are reading this, I'm not around anymore. Take the phone and speed dial 1. Tell the woman who answers that you are Eric Sanderson. The woman is Dr. Randle. She'll understand what has happened..."
Got you, didn't he?
The Raw Shark Texts (the title is a pun -- say it quickly and think of ink blots) is the author's debut novel and there are some first-novel problems -- more ambition than control, repartee between Sanderson and his girlfriend that falls flat. And if you like your mysteries neatly bundled, you may be left cold. But we think this is an enormously promising debut, not to mention a great read.
written on Monday May 14, 2007
amnesia,
enigma,
book.
