Search - The Comfort of Strangers (Vintage International)

Incredibly shocking ending! Too bad, though, for such a short novel (120 pages or so) you have to get through about 90 pages of boredom to reach it. You literally have to put up with pages and pages of two really boring people, Mary and Colin, wandering aimlessly around a European city (never identified) saying "I'm bored" and "I'm thirsty". Then a stranger, Robert, befriends them, and since Mary and Colin are such boring people, they never really stop to question this stranger's actions until it is too late.

Color me underwhelmed. I read the book in just under a few hours but I was left questioning the purpose. The story is neat, tight, and not going anywhere, that is until they meet a stranger who sort of gets the couple to reassess themselves but still they come up short of something. The climax of the story is in the last few pages but still not enough to make this one a success, at least for me.

This book held me only intermittently.My opinion is that McEwan is getting steadily inaccesible over time, too dry and detail obsessed, I am sorry to say it but he has lost his appeal for me.

Great read. McEwans knows how to subtly make you feel fear and dread as you turn the pages.