A great writer grappling with an ambitious subject, masterfully treated.
First of all, a perfect construction, upside down thriller which gives the identity of the dead man and goes back to his story told by his best friend who leads the investigation among the key characters, especially women who were important to them both, doubles too. The narrator recounts with thoroughness and depth a few years of life in turmoil in this little world of the American intelligentsia of the Reagan years and their lost dreams. It is also the explanation of the genesis of a story with the strokes of chance, the vain research, the intersecting stories, everything that will ultimately deliver a book to a publisher or the FBI. Magnificent!