Richard Laymon Same Vein

RATING:

Date of Release: April 2002

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Review Source:

The Cave by Tim Krabbe

Can a single encounter with evil poison an entire life? Dutch writer Krabbe (whose earlier suspense novel, The Golden Egg, was made into the film The Vanishing ) provides us with a hero, a promising student turned successful geologist turned alienated drug smuggler, who puzzles out this question for most of his life.

After showing us what narrator Egon Wagter has become, waiting for an appointment he knows can end his life, Krabbe revisits a student exploration of Belgian caves, when the young Egon met another young student, Axel, an obvious sociopath. This meeting, other accidental meetings, and scraps of news about the casually evil Axel forms the central fascination of Egon's life.

While crime plays a role in this novel, the chief suspense comes from watching how Egon's obsession deforms his actions. The Cave is Kafkaesque in its exquisite examination of a man doomed by his own thoughts.

Not for everyone, but a good read nonetheless.

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