April in Spain

Banville published the first six Quirke novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, but has put his real name to this and its predecessor, Snow. I enjoyed this a lot, largely because it makes no effort to be a typical crime or suspense novel. The vaunted stylist, who won a Booker prize for The Sea, seems unwilling or incapable of organising his story to generate tension, but he does make a slyly compelling narrative out of three threads that finally come together at the end. I will read Snow and maybe even an earlier Banville.