RESERVOIR 13 by Jon McGregor

Reservoir 13 is ostensibly a book about the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl in a rural English village. It is told in an unexpected way, exploring what the author calls "the beauty of the non sequitur".  The book consists of 13 chapters that each cover a single year, starting at the time of the girl's disappearance and ending 13 years later. The chapters start in January and end in December and trace the entire year, "listing" natural and human/social actions in no apparent order. The narration is omniscient and there is a total absence of explanatory information. The technique is reminiscent of the "cut-ups" of William S. Boroughs, but as he experimented with truly random reconstruction to make the narrative, McGregor uses a carefully-crafted technique that only has the appearance of randomness. It's a strangely moving novel of great beauty, a reflection on loss and the passage of time without any philosophizing at all.

For a review of the book by the Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/15/reservoir-13-by-jon-mcgregor-review