THE HOUSE OF GAIR

by Eric Linklater ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 1954

A high luster that dims before the finale gives the glint to the unfolding of a suave -- and prosperous -- personality as it is revealed to Stephen Coryat in his first person story. A writer himself, chance brings him to the secluded home of a Name of the '90's, Hazeldon Crome, and he starts his education in the art of writing for blackmail, of spurious masterpieces, of a kind of personality racket, based on fear and computed by pounds, shillings and pence. Crome's rascality and delight in the human comedy attracts and Corvat condones until its tentacles reach his wealthy aunt. Murder enters and even his vengeance is thwarted by Crome's concern for his unrecognized daughter and his doubt of his vicious nephew. It is Coryat's bed-wandering wife who pulls the strings tight and takes them both to the Crome finish. A sinister setting and household, the flash of intellectual caprice and the mesh of newer and better preying on fellow men does not sustain its possibilities for a really demanding audience.

Pub Date: March 5, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1954

Categories: FICTION