Erstwhile fantasy novelist Joyce (Requiem; Dark Sister) switches genres with this enticing, if finally underwhelming, work of literary intrigue. Jack Chambers, a London process server, is summoned to Chicago after the death of his mysterious father, whose will mandates that Jack arrange to publish a manuscript called "Invisibility: A Manual of Light." In Chicago, Jack also meets his attractive half-sister Louise and her young son, Billy. Soon Jack, Louise and Billy are in Rome, where the secrets of Jack's father's life emerge: the elder Chambers led a secret cult of artists, who sought the power of invisibility through psychological and surgical practices related to the elusive color indigo. The cult's efforts, Jack discovers, have resulted in "one psychotic, one suicide, and one dead junky." As Jack investigates its sinister workings, his illicit passion for Louise grows. Joyce's asides on perception and science can fascinate; sections of the manual's delightfully convincing arcane text appear as little chapters of their own. His writing is fine though sometimes precious in its symbolisms. Lupine themes from Roman myth and history jostle uneasily with the color codings; the two sets of metaphorical connections are too much for this short novel to sustain. Nor does the plot keep its initial vigor. Joyce offers (though he doesn't quite insist on) plausible explanations for all his supernatural events, but by the end, magic has become mere allegory, suspicious schemes acquire quotidian explanations, and the fantasy is aborted, contained by a disappointingly thin psychology. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Erstwhile fantasy novelist Joyce (Requiem; Dark Sister) switches genres with this enticing, if finally underwhelming, work of literary intrigue. Jack Chambers, a London process server, is summoned to Chicago after the death of his mysterious father, whose will mandates that Jack arrange to publish a manuscript called "Invisibility: A Manual of Light." In Chicago, Jack also meets his attractive half-sister Louise and her young son, Billy. Soon Jack, Louise and Billy are in Rome, where the secrets of Jack's father's life emerge: the elder Chambers led a secret cult of artists, who sought the power of invisibility through psychological and surgical practices related to the elusive color indigo. The cult's efforts, Jack discovers, have resulted in "one psychotic, one suicide, and one dead junky." As Jack investigates its sinister workings, his illicit passion for Louise grows. Joyce's asides on perception and science can fascinate; sections of the manual's delightfully convincing arcane text appear as little chapters of their own. His writing is fine though sometimes precious in its symbolisms. Lupine themes from Roman myth and history jostle uneasily with the color codings; the two sets of metaphorical connections are too much for this short novel to sustain. Nor does the plot keep its initial vigor. Joyce offers (though he doesn't quite insist on) plausible explanations for all his supernatural events, but by the end, magic has become mere allegory, suspicious schemes acquire quotidian explanations, and the fantasy is aborted, contained by a disappointingly thin psychology. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
British fantasist Joyces fourth novel to be published here (Dark Sister, p. 764, etc.) turns from fantasy to straight suspense, with a glowing tablespoon of the uncanny added to the generally realistic mix. Jack Chambers, 40, a twice-divorced ex-bobby running his own business as a London process server, is called to Chicago to hear his odd, wealthy, despised fathers will. At the reading of the will, Jack discovers he has a half sister, Louise, 30, a single mother who has never married. Louise will inherit the bulk of coldhearted Tim Chamberss estate, although Jack will receive a handsome fee as executor if he sells off Tims Chicago apartment and furnishings plus a house he owned in Rome, and if he sees to the publication of a manuscript his father wrote. This manuscript, written in invisible ink that comes to light when exposed to oxygen, is called Indigo and is a Manual of Light concerned with the art of invisibilityof going unseen or of assuming an aura that more or less deflects being seen. The aura comes from the color indigo, a richly deep twilight blue that cant be seen itself without the self-training set forth by the guidebookwhose every word is included here. This highly original ploy will have readers straining to see a color thats the gateway to invisibility, a hue so elusive that the mind cant quite capture it. At first, half siblings Louise and Jack dont hit it off, but then Jacks feelings for Louise teeter on incest. Will she, wont she, will she, wont she? The two go off to Rome, where hints of sex and fantasy are joined by hints of murder. Though the second half is less gripping than the first, Joyce sustains his imaginative opening device until the very end. Readers lucky enough to get in at the ground floor will hail the birth of a strongly inventive suspense novelist. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.