Author of celebrated works of speculative fiction such as Inverted World and The Prestige, 79-year-old Christopher Priest is a master of compelling, surprising plots. The latter of those, in particular, is a brilliantly-constructed novel, one that outdoes even its twisty film adaptation in terms of shock reveals.
His latest, Airside, is considerably more restrained. Though it initially sets up an intriguing mystery about the vanishing of (fictional) golden age film star Jeanette Marchand, the plot quickly shifts its focus to the life story of (also fictional) film critic Justin Farmer, which occasionally intersects with the Marchand mystery. The opening chapter, detailing Marchand’s final flight before her disappearance, is immensely gripping – which makes Airside’s subsequent shift more than a little deflating, though you get the sense this is a deliberate bait-and-switch by Priest.
The relaxed novel is more interested in film history, which Priest gleefully fills with fun inventions as well as the strange liminality of air travel. Airside ruminates on these themes and though the central mystery eventually gets solved (or does it?) the novel’s unfocused narrative never fully satisfies.
Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
Price: £22/£24.99 audiobook. Info: here
words TOM MORGAN