Martin James Russell

Technologist John Tiverton gets home one night to discover is wife doesn't recognize him, and neither does the neighbour she calls to help eject this intruding stranger. The tale follows him on his quest over the next few days to find someone who'll recognize him, with all his old friends and colleagues -- and even mistress -- saying that the real John Tiverton looked quite different and anyway died in a car crash six months ago. Brian Garfield, a thriller writer for whom I have enormous respect, gave the book a rare cover quote . . . but that was in 1977. I suppose the floweriness of the prose might be a deliberate part of the characterization of a technologist writing narrative, but it was fairly irritating in places; the two explanations offered for the bizarre setup seem both equally unsatisfying. A highly intriguing premise squandered, I'd say. Even so, the book was consistently interesting enough for me to keep wanting to read more.

A Thoggish moment:

You think you can pull the wool over everyone's eyes . . . but mine, you'll find, are in the back of my head. (p177)… (mehr)