At 308 pages and nice clear print this was a quick read which I did enjoy, although not quite as much as The Brooklyn Follies which is the only other Paul Auster book which I have read.

The book is in four parts and the story begins in 1967 in New York city where Adam Walker, a young undergraduate and would be poet, meets Rudolph Born and his girlfriend Margot at a party.

Adam becomes entangled in their lives and witnesses a horrible crime which haunts him and changes his future completely.

There are three different narrators moving the story on to Paris and an island in the Caribbean with the story ending in 2007, and along the way there is the ultimate taboo subject of incest involved: well maybe.

It isn’t what you would call comfort reading, but it wasn’t supposed to be I’m sure.

When my mother-in-law was alive, I used to read books before giving them to her because she was easily shocked. This one would have had her screaming for valium!

On a personal note I was pleased to see Hedy Lamarr getting a passing mention in the book. I’ve always been a fan of vintage films and she was my favourite actress when I was a wee girl. She was also very different from other actresses as she had a career as a scientist too.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Paul Auster’s books.