Engleby – Sebastian Faulks

I'm not too sure where to start writing about Engleby except to say wow! By far this has to be one of the best books I've read in recent years and so, so different to No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series that I've been recently enjoying.

The book is all written in the first person by the character Mike Engleby – a slightly awkward man who is always aware of his struggle to fit in with his surroundings. He takes the reader through his time at public school, after arriving there from his small terraced home in Reading. We then follow him to Cambridge and the style of Faulks' writing really brings the place and Mike's role in it to life. I lived and studied in Cambridge for a couple of years and was amazed at how well the places and typical student activities were captured. I really felt propelled back there and was amazed at how many feelings this stirred up in me.

Whilst at Cambridge Mike becomes infatuated with fellow student Jennifer. Things take a slightly more sinister twist though when Jennifer vanishes. The police investigate Mike's role in this, but come to no firm conclusions. Mike however has Jennifer's diary and the reader is treated to passages from it. Despite the police efforts Jennifer is not found and life starts to move on. 

We follow Mike to London where he falls into a career in journalism. For a while his life appears to be relatively normal, but a few episodes make you realise that things are not as they seem on the surface. His price winning investigative journalism into the work of the Yorkshire Ripper makes the reader wonder if there is a relevance between this and Jennifer's disappearance. Years pass and then Mike catches a television news report – a young woman's body has been found in a Fens village and they thing it may have lain there undiscovered for a while…