![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Allan deftly manages to hold open all possible readings of events as plausible – until, perhaps, the very end The Goldberg Variations, the Violin Partita No 2 and other pieces form the imagined soundtrack to the novel, which is at length woven in a surprising and satisfying way into its thematic concerns. Compared with the unruly genius of Johann Sebastian, one says, “The whole of Haydn is a kind of politeness, like watered-down beer”. Frank and Robin both listen to a lot of Bach and explain – sometimes in slightly unbelievable dialogue with third parties – why they prefer one recording over another and Bach to other composers. While all this is going on, everyone also practises music criticism. This involves travelling to a dreary hotel in Scarborough, site of the recent suspicious expiration of a journalist, and to a small town in Scotland where something strange may have landed in the woods. His girlfriend, Rachel, hires Robin to track him down. A man named Frank, a mathematical and coding genius prone to mental illness, was invited by mysterious others on the conspiracy forum to meet in person in Paris, and he never came back. Robin, an ex-police officer and now private detective, is drawn into this febrile atmosphere for a missing persons case. ![]()
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