One of the most dazzling and adventurous writers now working in English takeson the enigma of the Cambridge spies in a novel of exquisite menace bitingsocial co... » 

One of the most dazzling and adventurous writers now working in English takeson the enigma of the Cambridge spies in a novel of exquisite menace bitingsocial comedy and vertiginous moral complexity. The narrator is the elderlyVictor Maskell formerly of British intelligence for many years art expert tothe Queen. Now he has been unmasked as a Russian agent and subjected to adisgrace that is almost a kind of death. But at whose instigation?As Maskell retraces his tortuous path from his recruitment at Cambridge to theairless upper regions of the establishment we discover a figure of manifolddoubleness Irishman and Englishman husband father and lover of menbetrayer and dupe. Beautifully written filled with convincing fictionalportraits of Maskells coconspirators and vibrant with the mysteries ofloyalty and identity The Untouchable places John Banville in the selectcompany of both Conrad and le Carre.Winner of the Lannan Literary Award for FictionContemporary fiction gets no better than this... Banvilles books teem withlife and humor. Patrick McGrath The New York Times Book ReviewVictor Maskell is one of the great characters in recent fiction... TheUntouchable is the best work of art in any medium on its subject. Washington Post Book WorldAs remarkable a literary voice as any to come out of Ireland Joyce andBeckett notwithstanding. San Francisco Chronicle «