Paul Theroux is well known for his travel writings - I've read some of them and feel they're of uneven quality but some are quite entertaining. A Dead Hand is a novel, set in Calcutta. It is a mystery that unfolds slowly and interestingly. The story is narrated by a travel writer, Paul T's alterego I guess. In one scene, the narrator meets "Paul Theroux" and finds him obnoxious! A little silly I thought. The story revolves around the narrator's relationship with a mysterious American expatriate woman philanthropist and the discovery of a dead child's body in the hotel room of a friend of her son. Ultimately, like most good mystery stories, the mystery is solved in an unexpected way. The growth of self-awareness in the narrator keeps the story from being a completely conventional murder mystery.
Click here to read a review of the book from The Guardian: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6508805/A-Dead-Hand-a-Crime-in-Calcutta-by-Paul-Theroux-review.html
Click here to read a review of the book from The Guardian: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6508805/A-Dead-Hand-a-Crime-in-Calcutta-by-Paul-Theroux-review.html
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