Was an 'extra' book and was very well received by all. Faulks has amazing versatility and may have found his comfort zone with abnormal psychology (we read Human Traces a while ago). His portrayal of Engleby's detachment and general lack of social judgement and empathy, coupled with partial insight and intelligence was for me alarmingly accurate. In general the whodunit plot was well received with most people thinking he did it, and some arguing it was one more fantasy, perhaps his biggest fantasy. Perhaps, someone suggested, the whole story was his fantasy.
His description, and the humour, from 80's London was enjoyable and accurate, and sparked a discussion about how difficult it is to capture events in recent memory and the relative merit of introducing real characters in fiction (eg., Archer, Mandelson).
The highlights for Rob, who hadn't finished it at the time of the meeting, were his brilliant description of Engleby's (first?) breakdown and the references to both the music and the culture of that period when I was a late teenager/student. Very evocative. The tirade about ELP was wonderful.
7.61
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