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THE HOLLOW MAN
by Oliver Harris
Vintage , May 2012
384 pages
7.99 GBP
ISBN: 0099552744


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Detective Nick Belsey is broke and about to lose his job. On the morning of the disciplinary hearing that will almost certainly lead to him being fired, especially given that he was with his boss's wife the previous night, a call comes through to the station regarding a missing person. When Belsey goes to investigate, he finds himself in a house in The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, one of London's richest streets. He finds a life on pause, ready to be restarted, the life of Alexi Devereux, a private life with only the rented cleaning maid to report something wrong. Devereux is a Russian businessman, famous in the right circles for building casinos and race tracks, for making rich investors a lot richer.

Laid out in front of Belsey is an unexpected escape from bankruptcy, from London, from his own disastrous identity, and he doesn't hesitate; he moves in. He wears Devereux's clothes, drives Devereux's Porsche and sleeps in Devereux's bed. He starts to work on getting access to Devereux's bank accounts, seeing a way to leave the country and start over, somewhere without extradition back to the UK. But he soon discovers that there are downsides to being Alexi Devereux; people don't like him and people are trying to kill him. In fact, someone already has. Belsey finds Devereux's body in a hidden safe room in the house and he's suddenly entangled in a web of lies, some of which are his own. He's being chased by a number of hit men and his new alter-ego is being investigated by officers from a hundred different police squads. The net is closing in and Belsey needs to get out from under it all before his own deception gets him killed.

THE HOLLOW MAN has a furious, unrelenting pace that races start to finish through London's shadowy underworld. Characters are drawn in every shade of grey; brutal assassins, corrupt cops, and an anti-hero who is as bankrupt morally as he is financially. He drinks, he gambles, he steals without a moment of regret and he plays the part of the lawman as if it's nothing more than a game for thrills. The plot itself twists and turns around the large cast, often becoming so convoluted it's hard to keep up with who's who, but it turns out that's the point. No one is who they seem to be, no one can be trusted.

Well written if confused at times, this novel is one of those books that are difficult to put down. Somewhere in the middle it does get bogged down in detail. But in the end though it's worth untangling the web of plot lines and keeping track of the cops, the businessmen and the innocent bystanders, because when the narrative reveals its final twist and all is revealed, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place in what is a rewarding and satisfying end. Just remember to suspend that disbelief and let the author take you for a wild ride.

§Madeleine Marsh is an aspiring writer who lives in South West England. She helps run sci-fi conventions and loves modern cinema.

Reviewed by Madeleine Marsh, May 2012

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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