ceegreen's review
3.0
I finished this book not being quite sure whether somebody had skullfucked a trepanned baby or not. I'm still not sure if that made this a good book or a bad one.
katheastman's review
5.0
The Company of Fellows is an intelligent, involved and involving thriller set in the claustrophobic cloisters of an Oxford University college.
Following a breakdown, Tommy West abandoned academia twelve years ago on the eve of what promised to be a brilliant career. Still based in the university town but now a widely-travelled and successful interior designer, Tommy carefully monitors and manages his ongoing recovery with exercise and other coping mechanisms. When his former college professor and mentor, Dr Charles Shaw, sensualist and outspoken professor of theology, is found dead, Tommy founds himself being drawn back into the cloying world of egos and secrets he left behind all those years earlier. The police investigation, which is headed up by his ex-girlfriend, believes the professor's death to be suicide but Charles' daughter, Becky, doesn't believe this and asks Tommy to find out what really happened. It's a task that will test him and his fragile hold on his sanity to its upper limits, as he races against time to discover the truth before suffering a further breakdown.
Dan Holloway's first Tommy West thriller is an exceptionally clever novel, intricate and complex, and rich with ideas and description, though happily none of these affects the pace. I don't know whether to advise reading this on an empty stomach or not, as some of the novel is gruesome and harrowing in its detail but then the descriptions of food and drink are so mouth-watering as to be almost physically painful, if you haven't eaten or drunk anything before reading! I'll leave it for you to decide but I can only recommend reading this thought-provoking and challenging but highly-enjoyable thriller.
Following a breakdown, Tommy West abandoned academia twelve years ago on the eve of what promised to be a brilliant career. Still based in the university town but now a widely-travelled and successful interior designer, Tommy carefully monitors and manages his ongoing recovery with exercise and other coping mechanisms. When his former college professor and mentor, Dr Charles Shaw, sensualist and outspoken professor of theology, is found dead, Tommy founds himself being drawn back into the cloying world of egos and secrets he left behind all those years earlier. The police investigation, which is headed up by his ex-girlfriend, believes the professor's death to be suicide but Charles' daughter, Becky, doesn't believe this and asks Tommy to find out what really happened. It's a task that will test him and his fragile hold on his sanity to its upper limits, as he races against time to discover the truth before suffering a further breakdown.
Dan Holloway's first Tommy West thriller is an exceptionally clever novel, intricate and complex, and rich with ideas and description, though happily none of these affects the pace. I don't know whether to advise reading this on an empty stomach or not, as some of the novel is gruesome and harrowing in its detail but then the descriptions of food and drink are so mouth-watering as to be almost physically painful, if you haven't eaten or drunk anything before reading! I'll leave it for you to decide but I can only recommend reading this thought-provoking and challenging but highly-enjoyable thriller.
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