Does the manuscript reveal unpleasant truths long hidden, or is it merely a hoax aimed at disrupting financial markets? Furthermore, is it likely to be the making of any publisher who prints it? All good questions, except that as soon as the manuscript appears (paper, by the way, not digital), it causes anyone who handles it to find themselves on what seems to be a hit list: death comes knocking rapidly.
Pavone writes well, and there are a number of scenes in this somewhat overheated thriller set in the world of big-time publishing that are gripping.
But the story and its slightly improbable plot are interrupted on too many occasions by two things: descriptions of a creative non-fiction kind that explain in detail the types of people and the various cities involved in the book, and the intrusion of chunks of back story, some occurring very late in the proceedings when you just want to get on with what happens next.
Pavone doesn't seem to like his characters very much, and readers may find them hard to empathise with. That aside, there are more than enough surprises to keep you on your toes.
- Mike Crowl is a Dunedin writer, musician and composer.
