A GAME FOR THE LIVING

.... at which nobody can win, begins with the mutilation and murder of Lelia, an artist, and her lovers- Theodore Schiebelhut and Ramon- also friends- share the suspicion of the Mexican policia. While Theodore extricates himself, Ramon, the victim of a Catholic conscience and an unnatural guilt, confesses to the crime he did not commit, flagellates himself further in the robbery which follows and leads on to a young boy's death.... Atmospheric to eccentric touches produce a heavy chiaroscuro of crime and recrimination but do not substitute for the genuine originality of the earlier books.