A shimmeringly delicate invention. Cool and spare, the third-person narrative zigzags through time, accumulating authenticity and power. It is hard to stop reading ... Cunning.
Deeply upsetting in places, particularly when we hear of the brutal exploits of camp commander Rudolf Höss and his equally sadistic henchmen. Tuck deserves credit for not softening the blows and diluting the atrocities ... The nonlinear narrative darts backward and forward, and routinely fragments into a series of vignettes comprising meditations, profiles and potted histories, many of which chronicle the tragic plights of other characters ... Could have been a crude drama, fashioned from a stolen identity. Instead, Tuck has sensitively and skillfully created a memorial to a life cut short while shining necessary light on the darkest chapter of the 20th century.
