Out of Nowhere

Subtitled 'an entertainment', Whelan's new novel might initially seem merely a Greene-like foray into less serious domains than we find in his earlier work. But the Greene comparison brings with it darker resonances also. Whelan teasingly provides here, via an extremely arresting narrative, an examination (sometimes playful, sometimes philosophical, sometimes both) of evil, responsibility, guilt and compassion. From its highly atmospheric opening, set in an Irish monastery where two young disorientated people inexplicably find themselves, the story takes an apparently endless series of unexpected turns and plays en route with numerous styles, genres and allusions: truly, as we are occasionally reminded, it's a funny old world. Clever, challenging and engrossing, this is a book not to be read too quickly or carelessly.