Betrayals

At once a hypnotic murder mystery scathing literary parody soap opera and brilliant pastiche Betrayals is an astonishing virtuouso performance by a modern master of literary gamesmanship in the tradition of Vladimir Nabokov and John Barth.The novel unforlds in a series of seemingly unrelated narratives each written in a different style -- indeed in a different genre. There is an obituary for a Scottish scientist and Nobel Prize winner written by a colleague who clearly relishes his death. Early in the century a train in the Scottish Highlands heads down the wrong track during a winter snowstorm and the passengers are forced to abandon the train resulting in the death -- or is it murder? -- of one of them. An inane publisher's reader summarizes the plot of a tacky hospital romance novel which ends in a gory murder all too reminiscent of Jack the Ripper. Even a report on a contemporary academic controversy explodes into a scandal of plagiarism shattered reputations paranoia and suicide -- or is it murder made to look as such?As Palliser deftly teases out each new situation it becomes clear that they are all variations on a single outrageous theme: a distinguished figure in some intellectual pursuit -- science literature academia -- becomes obsessed with the success of a rival and schemes his demise only to botch the job out of sheer monomania. Like the scorpion that stings itself to death each plotter becomes a victim of his own plot; each betrayer changes places with the betrayed in an intricate dance of deception revenge and revelation.A challenging engrossing utterly original work of art Betrayals is also pure joy to read -- a book that will make you laugh out loud turn pages madly in pursuit of the next plot twist and above all marvel at the supreme ingenuity of a fictional puzzle in which the unlikeliest pieces fit together perfectly.