The Incident

Kenneth Macleod

This is a complicated novel. The action takes place in a single afternoon in a single location.There are significant chapters whose connection with the main action is not always immediately clear but which become so later.
The anticipation of the 'Incident' is well conveyed. The story suggests to the reader a philosophical proposition that our experience of the past leads us to misinterpret the present. A debut novel and an author to watch.

Extract

I still remember waking up that morning. In fact, I've often wondered, looking back on it all, if the first few minutes of that day aren't somehow to blame for everything that happened afterwards. I think perhaps I was more affected by that early episode than I realised, so that hours later on the beach ... when the fatal scene presented itself to me, in the dying moments of the afternoon, I was unable to draw the necessary connections, to see clearly enough into the future to recognise tragedy.

Parallels