Fascinating novel that keeps you guessing. The plot details the relationships between a bunch of holidaying kayakers and their instructors Clive (an environmental activist) and Michaela (his emotionally fragile girlfriend). You sense immediately that the danger of the rapids they ride will mirror the danger of the relationships that are developing within the “community experience”.
Tim Parks carefully weaves together several narratives and successfully increases the tension by using character to drive drama. Menace and threat are always imminent. It is to the author’s credit, however, that the book does not end the way you think it will. Instead, it continues in an almost surreal manner.
One gripe: there are a few typos. Twice within two pages there were misplaced apostrophes (“you’re hand’s bleeding” and “you’re head filling with blood”). Was it not proof-read?
That aside, it’s his best novel since Europa. It stays with you.
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