“Lonely’s like any other organism; competitive and resourceful in the struggle to perpetuate itself.”

Everyone knows Sebastian Faulks; Birdsong is an immensely popular novel (with good reason, it was impeccably researched and written with precision). I’m not sure if Engleby is as well known. I have no idea if people like it. I’ve never heard anyone talking about it.

But, to me, Engleby is one of Faulks’ best novels. There is less of a cinematic quality to it, and I prefer that – it is instead a story of a killer, written from his point of view.

We are taken on a journey into the mind of Engleby, a strange character. At first, he seems perhaps shy and anti-social; as the story moves on, his way of thinking becomes more and more disturbing and we start to realise that all is not as it seems.

Whether or not Engleby actually committed these crimes, I’ll let you decide. And as to the question of whether Engleby is ill or – more chillingly – evil and taking the reader for a ride too, well, I have drawn my own conclusions and you’ll have to draw yours.

An entertaining and readable book from beginning to end.

8/10

Engleby