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CHRISTENA APPLEYARD

A FLAW IN THE DESIGN by Nathan Oates (Serpent’s Tail £16.99, 304 pp)

GIL is a bitter, disappointed creative writing professor living in vermont. He is forced to take in his 17-year-old nephew, Matthew, when the boy’s parents — Gil’s millionaire sister and her banker husband — die in a car crash. Gil’s world is turned upside down and maybe (we can’t be sure) his mind is turned inside out.

He has never forgotten an incident years ago when his then five-year- old daughter convinced him that Matthew was a budding psychopath, rather than the charmer the rest of his family thought he was.

Gil’s obsession with proving that Matthew is a psychopath makes for an absorbing and original plot. The writing is pitch-perfect and the observations of family dynamics are quietly excruciating. Oates has produced a very smart tale packed with jeopardy.

BOOKS FICTION

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2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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