Engelby is a lonely man toughened from his working-class upbringing by a bullying father and residential public school. He'd won a scholarship for the latter, a pyrrhic victory considering the harsh treatment he received there. His life-long dependency on drugs, thieving to afford them, using his high intelligence to blag his way through Cambridge university into a journalist career creating an unenviable yet intriguing character.
Engelby was obsessed by an undergraduate girl-next-door woman, who went missing. Upset by this event, Engelby iteratively picked up hints through self-revelations about the girl's fate. I don't recall having read a crime story where the first-person narrator was so guilty even though he didn't initially know it. Very cleverly done.
Faulks is a literary writer of merit and, like Engelby was brought up near Reading, was a Cambridge undergraduate and became a journalist. Differences are that Faulks was born into a wealthy legal family and seems to be a happier and `better' person. Interesting that there are similarities in the journalism backgrounds (The Independent newspaper for example).
The writing style is very satisfying, handing us wish-I-wrote-that phrases such as - in discussing a meal - `I ate myself to a standstill'. However, I felt the denouement arrived three-quarters through the book. Some of the trial and post-trial analysis laboured with repetition, maybe with subtle purpose, but with the effect I skimmed some pages. Nevertheless, I'd heartily recommend this book to any writer exploring literary styles, and to any lover of a mystery told in a unique way.
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