This story appears to be a mystery, with the main character, Quinn, who is really an author, playing the private detective on a case. But it turns out to be much more of a psychological analysis of him and his obsessive behaviour.
It is well written, but I found myself dissatisfied. As much as anything, there is no clear ending or resolution to the story. I also did not find Quinn's behaviour altogether believable.
I am always disturbed by factual inaccuracies in novels, as I feel that it compromises the author's integrity. In this case, there is a translation error [American to English] that nagged me. It's the word "check" or "cheque". Early in the book, there is a reference to a bank "check" [I can't find it now]; later it is always spelt "cheque". Elsewhere in the book, a character a character asks for the "cheque" in a restaurant; this should be the "bill".
The appearance of Stillman's "double" seemed like an interesting twist to the story. But, as far as I could tell, it was a total red herring.
The oddest thing, I felt, was the use of Paul Auster himself as a character. The book is almost all told in the third person, mostly following the actions of Quinn. He meets another author called Paul Auster. Right at the end of the book, the narrator "speaks". He seems to have a high opinion of Quinn, but has a downer on Auster. This all seems unnecessarily complex and maybe a little egocentric.
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