I have not read anything like “The Strange Book of Jacob Joyce” in years. An eloquent, propulsive novel that can seem like a thriller one moment but fantasy-horror the next, it held me in thrall. No plot spoilers from me: we travel with Jacob Boyce, a geologist obsessed with a painting, obsessed to the point of measuring each millimeter of the canvas, even as his own married life heads towards disaster. Scotland, then Spain, all beautifully observed … backed by rapier-sharp dialogue and a memorable cast of minor characters. And the descriptions of paintings – wow! If The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce were optioned for a movie, it would surely have to be by Christopher Nolan, so deviously twisty and immersive is the plot, so evocative the penmanship. Wonderful, wonderful.
Book, movie/show, and album reviews
