I have to agree with the first reviewer of the novel on just about all that is said. However, I did feel that the novel suffers from being 150 pages too long. By page 300 I have come to understand both Pitt, the main narrator, and Syme, and although I enjoyed the richness of the rest of the book, I ended up feeling that neither Pitt nor Syme deserve such rich attention. The obsessional and dysfunctional behaviour patterns of both men are just too well documented. Yes, we do come into the world with our own sense of what is right, but our intelligence lies in the complex moderations of our behaviour that lead to the successes that both these men evade.