etc.

Before I begin…: I’m pretty sure I read Last Orders some years ago but I can’t recall for certain. Which is part of the reason why I started reviewing stuff here, my memory today is better than it ever was, but that’s besides. The reason why my brain nudged recollection is because Swift’s style seemed so familiar, so edge of the brain, like a song you hear for the second time and frown to recall where and when you heard it first. So anyway, either I’ve read Last Orders or Swift’s style is ubiquitous, which I seriously doubt.

This book is a-day-in-the-life-of George Webb, former cop turned private investigator, only most of the events in question actually happened two years prior, so it’s really a day-in-the-past-of, juxtaposed seamlessly and artfully with the present day, the two-year anniversary of said events (got all that?). I really enjoy narrative that is compressed into a very short span of time, it’s one of my favourite literary techniques and almost always sucks me right in. And not to give anything away, but the events themselves are tragic and there isn’t a single character in the novel that is not singularly touched by that tragedy, but in Swift’s hands it’s pure poetry.