Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think....
When the novel opens in the 1970s, he is a university student, having survived a 'traditional' school. A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, Engleby provides a disarmingly frank account of English education. Yet beneath the disturbing surface of his observations lies an unfolding mystery of gripping power. One of his contemporaries unaccountably disappears, and as we follow Engleby's career, which brings us up to the present day, the reader has to ask: is Engleby capable of telling the whole truth?
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Evidence of Faulks's remarkable empathy and mastery of the novelist's art... Compelling, disturbing and significant... A remarkable achievement. What more can you ask for? - Allan Massie, Scotsman
Engleby contains much of brilliance; Faulks turns out to be an unnervingly good ventriloquist - where did he learn to imitate the overblown modulations of an 18-year-old girl's diary? - and a born thriller writer - Mail on Sunday
Very funny and, at the same time, deeply disturbing...Engleby the character is a tour-de-force, a person utterly without empathy who nevertheless evokes our own... A great read, a great novel - Daily Mail
Just as Birdsong is praised for its minute evocation of the horror of fighting a war, Engleby deserves praise for its close and believable depiction of a personality disorder - Spectator
Like Human Traces, Engleby is distinguished by a remarkable intellectual energy: a narrative verve, technical mastery of the possibilities of the novel form and vivid sense of the tragic contingency of human life... The combination of serious purpose and playful execution is intensely exhilarating - Sunday Telegraph
Both repellent and magnetic, yet unforgettable. Faulks's most daring creation yet - Scotland on Sunday
Witty, poignant, Engleby is as cold as a Fenland wind, clever as a Cambridge don - The Times
Engleby himself is the most vivid personality Faulks has yet devised... engagingly lucid and disarmingly funny... This novel is a significant departure for Faulks, and the new terrain suits him well - Guardian
Electrifying... [Engleby] hangs together beautifully - Roger Lewis, Daily Express
Sebastian Faulks was born and brought up in Newbury, Berkshire. He worked in journalism before starting to write books. He is best known for the French trilogy, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray (1989-1997) and is also the author of a triple biography, The Fatal Englishman (1996); a small book of literary parodies, Pistache (2006); and the novels Human Traces (2005) and A Week in December. He lives in London with his wife and their three children.
