Mr Byculla

The story of a mysterious Mr. Byculla, a psychiatrist and the coincidences involving a five-pound note. * Mr Linklater describes his new story as “a superior thriller,” but we are not satisfied with so easy a label. There is indeed a growing excitement in the tale, an ever-increasing tension as we approach the inevitable calamity and are still incapable, until the last few pages, of seeing how and where it will fall. But the excitement comes not only from a dexterously contrived seąuence of events: it is created by the angry and bewildered conflict of strongly conceived and vividly drawn characters, and by the remarkable personality of Mr Byculla himself. Mr Byculla, with his talent for conversation and his taste for sweetmeats, is a religious fanatic tormented by bad dreams. But his religion is less comforting than the official faiths, and his sense of compassion is drastic. Mr Linklater uses the realistic background of contemporary London to set off the horror of his tale, just as Stevenson used it in DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE. A superior thriller? Yes, but a novel of character too, and of rich, unusual invention. * First, second and third impresions 1950 Jacket design by Edward Bawden