""Stunning--a totally original, surreal mystery shot through with hints of the best of Cesar Aira, Vladimir Nabokov, Angela Carter, and Julio Cortazar. Smart, clever, and honest. I doubt you've read anything quite like it." --Jeff VanderMeer, author of The Southern Reachtrilogy During a sweltering South American summer, a family convenes for dinner at a restaurant. Midway through the meal, Carlos gets up from the table and disappears. An experienced, semi-retired detective takes the case, but what should be a routine investigation becomes something strange, intangible, even sinister. The corporation for which Carlos worked seems to serve no purpose; the staff talk of their missing colleague's alarming, shifting physical symptoms; a forensic scientist uncovers evidence of curious abnormalities in the thriving microorganisms that shared Carlos's body. As the detective re-lives and retraces the missing man's footsteps, the trail leads him away from the city sprawl and deep into the country's rainforest …
""Stunning--a totally original, surreal mystery shot through with hints of the best of Cesar Aira, Vladimir Nabokov, Angela Carter, and Julio Cortazar. Smart, clever, and honest. I doubt you've read anything quite like it." --Jeff VanderMeer, author of The Southern Reachtrilogy During a sweltering South American summer, a family convenes for dinner at a restaurant. Midway through the meal, Carlos gets up from the table and disappears. An experienced, semi-retired detective takes the case, but what should be a routine investigation becomes something strange, intangible, even sinister. The corporation for which Carlos worked seems to serve no purpose; the staff talk of their missing colleague's alarming, shifting physical symptoms; a forensic scientist uncovers evidence of curious abnormalities in the thriving microorganisms that shared Carlos's body. As the detective re-lives and retraces the missing man's footsteps, the trail leads him away from the city sprawl and deep into the country's rainforest interior. A chilling police procedural that explodes into a dislocating investigation into the nature of reality, Infinite Ground is a luminous, sinister, and wholly original debut"--
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
3 stars
I accidentally read this straight after MacInnes's more recent novel In Ascension, and I spotted a duplicate location, described as not designed for settled life - only for temporary workers. Also, the sea. This novel is more meandering, following the looping thoughts of a police inspector investigating a disappearance. There is even a chapter listing dozens of possible and implausible explanations.
