EnglebyMike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. When the novel opens in the 1970s, he is a university student, having survived a 'traditional' school. A man devoid of scruple or self pity, Engleby provides a disarmingly frank account of English education. Yet beneath the disturbing surface of his observations lies an unfolding mystery of gripping power. One of his contemporaries unaccountably disappears, and as we follow Engleby's career,

and the spinning wheels of chance

violence and political enmities

especially when The Infamous Two come to his aid

But one does not need to have read a single word of The Pickwick Papers to be enthralled by the story of how this extraordinary novel came to be

And beyond

He is thrust into the centre of the search for a serial killer

facing overwhelming forces and the very real prospect of defeat

and richness of plot and character

the psychotherapist

' The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail

Time has moved on

aware that his life will soon come to an end