This Sweet Sickness starts so well that it's a shame it evolves into a slightly dull and plodding affair.
The first thirty pages or so are intriguing: David is living in a boarding house with an interesting range of characters, including a young woman who is smitten by him and a middle-aged drinker whose marriage is teetering on the brink.
To add to the shadowy world of David's existence, we soon discover that he is living a double life of sorts, taking every weekend off to visit his mother and changing his name to William. He also occupies the space reserved for him and the love of his life, Annabelle, with whom he's in regular contact.
David and Annabelle used to be an item, but when David was called away to work, she married another man, a move that David can neither understand or accept; surely it can only be a matter of time before Annabelle comes to her senses and joins him in the house that he has waiting for her.
A great setup, then, only the path through the story isn't as slick or as engaging as it might be. The cast of characters and their understanding of the situation becomes implausible, David's mental illness and obsession faintly ridiculous. The prose becomes dense, the elongation of the narrative irksome.
There are lines that stand out and punch you in the face and descriptions that have real power, yet the overall effect was numbing for me and I couldn't wait for the inevitable ending to arrive.
Harsh.
But fair.
Most interesting for me, in the end, was the idea of the boarding house as a setting. It had me thinking of some great noir novels and movies that include them to great effect and I'm off to remind myself of stories where they have impressed. If you have any recommendations, drop a comment.
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