2008-10-04 Loses the plot badly

Four fifths of this book are excellent, if a little ponderous and slow-moving. The characters are well drawn and we feel gradually drawn in to a web of intrigue and decay. But just when I expected the narrative to pick up the pace in the final fifth of the novel, something strange happens. What was a vividly portrayed, believable tale, turns into an almost stream-of-consciousness babble of highly unlikely and dreamlike scenes. Of course, this is partly to convey the inner machinations of our leading lady's mind, but the result is almost as if we've leapt out of one novel into another, entirely different one. So, the build up we patiently pay in for, never really pays off with any kind of satisfactory conclusion.