Review 225: Double Blind

Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



Not a light read here. Although short, there are large passages with dense rabbit-hole wanderings into neuroscience, biology and other wild ideas mainly put forth by a drug induced mania.

We have several characters: Hunter being a venture capitalist with a penchant for drugs; a couple of friends Olivia and Lucy being reunited in England after Lucy starts working for Hunter. Olivia and Francis just started a love affair. Lucy soon discovers there’s a tumor lodged in her brain. Olivia’s dad works with schizophrenics and the two start working on a project based on the illness and genetics and nurture. We also get one of the patient's story with his neurodivergent thought patterns.

There are many themes in the book and none well developed or resolved, just many huge ideas thrown in and on occasion info dumped into the text of the book. Yet it is held together by the relationships of these people that become more intertwined as the book continues.

Odd enough, I do wish the book had more pages to it, as then the author may have helped some of these themes become more developed or to some conclusions. Although I do get the sense that was the point, to end early and leave it all in the air. This may not satisfy many readers, but some may revel in the complexity.



Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.