A review by rosseroo
I Am No One by Patrick Flanery

3.0

My initial reaction to picking up a novel about an American academic living in England, written by an American academic living in England, was that it definitely wasn't for me. I generally don't like fiction involving academia, not do I generally care for fiction where the protagonist and author's biographies overlap too much. But once I cracked the spine and read a few pages, the writing swept me up. It's hard to put a finger on the particulars, but this is writing that manages the odd trick of feeling both highly considered and effortless. A degree or two in either direction would have pushed it into being either too showy, or too restrained.

As for the plot? Well... that was less engaging. The academic returns to Manhattan and soon feels like he's under some kind of surveillance. But, by whom, or why, are unknown. And since his academic focus is on essentially that topic in East German history, it could all just be in his head. Then there are strange deliveries, strange encounters with a man who claims to be a former student, and so forth. It's sort of just interesting enough to keep one reading, but also quite repetitive at times -- and it just barely sustains narrative momentum. By the end, when things have become a good deal clearer for both hero and reader, I'm not sure any great truth has been revealed about our modern security state. Kind of felt like a modern riff on a '70s paranoia thriller.