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Initially this book reads as a classic British manor house mystery: a body is found in the library. Then it morphs into a police procedural. And finally it establishes its true nature: an examination of the religious and political issues fomenting in Ireland in the 1950's.

The plot is pretty easily deciphered fairly early on, and Banville gives us little to connect with in the main character, St. John (SinJin) Strafford. Strafford is a member of the Protestant class, an artifact of the colonial history of the British in Ireland. The house where the body - that of a Catholic priest - is found is a crumbling pile similar to the one in which Strafford was raised. And Strafford himself somehow echoes this fading class, standing in marked contrast to the more vivid, and vividly rendered, Catholic Irish population of the village of Ballyglass.

The power and cynicism of The Church, which permeates every fiber of the Irish culture and politics in 1957, are the real targets in this story. It would be difficult to describe more of the story line without spoilers, but at least we are spared the horrors of the Magdalene laundries in this book.

Banville's writing is at its best when, near the end of the book, he shifts from the third person to a first person confessional that is unsettling but compelling.

Strafford's introspective musings are our only insight into his character. One which was particularly concise and will stay with me is this: Was everyone haunted by a self that had never been?

I think the answer to that is probably yes, at least for most of the people I have known. Whatever the cause, whether our own poor choices or circumstances we are unable to escape, that road not traveled becomes part of us. As it does with the characters in this book.