X
Bahrain
  • Dubai
  • Abu Dhabi
  • Doha
  • Restaurants
  • Nightlife & Music
  • Sport & Outdoor
  • Body & Mind
  • Film & TV
  • Art & Culture
  • Community
  • Visa Offer

  • EVENTS
  • COMPETITIONS
  • Kids
  • Home
  • Time In

The Thousand book review

A writer for both McSweeney’s and Salon, Kevin Guilfoile positions his second novel, The Thousand, as a thinking person’s Da Vinci Code

By Olivia Giovetti
22 September 2010
The Thousand book review

Kevin Guilfoile
2/5
Alfred A Knopf

A writer for both McSweeney’s and Salon, Kevin Guilfoile positions his second novel, The Thousand, as a thinking person’s Da Vinci Code. Yet after reading his fantasia on secret societies and lost relics (here a posthumous completion of Mozart’s Requiem), we’d rather watch Robert Langdon search for the missing sock in his dryer.

Boiled down, the busy plot is rather straightforward and predictable: Canada Gold, a Sin City card-counter with superhuman mental capacities (Guilfoile’s attempt to recreate Lisbeth Salander in his own image), searches for her father’s killer and is enveloped in an ancient Pythagorean society in the process. The atmospheric hybrid of Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown sounds compelling, but it doesn’t hold up in court. For starters, are we really supposed to believe that a prominent, well-educated lawyer has never heard of the term ‘requiem’?

The temptation to throw the book across the room is there, but the author also gives us page-turning chapters and a satisfying climax (if unsuccessful conclusion) that should last a few metro rides. He has consumed a hefty amount of film noir, which peppers the dialogue throughout and makes Canada’s adventures rather addictive. Sadly, the other characters’ plots fail to live up to this standard.

SIMILAR ARTICLES

  • Best of Bahrain Netflix

  • Healthy fasting tips for Ramadan 2018

  • Martin McDonagh on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

  • Best holiday destinations for your 2018 vacation

  • Books v ebooks

    Time Out asks three experts what will happen to the printed word

  • My Life as a Russian Novel book review

    Emmanuel Carrère has been known and loved for psychologically probing third-person narratives that stretch tautly and tensely through his novels

Add Your Comment

Sign in

Not Registered? Click here to register

  • Login with Google+
  • Login with Facebook
  • Login with Twitter

Related articles

  • Best video games 2015: winter

  • Best Beach Books 2015

  • 30 best TV box sets

  • 24: Live Another Day

  • Wolf in White book review

Useful Time Out Bahrain Links

  • Cinemas in Bahrain
  • Restaurants in Bahrain
  • Bahrain Spas
  • What’s on in Bahrain
  • Sports in Bahrain
  • Bahrain Bars
  • Art in Bahrain
  • Bahrain Clubs
  • Tickets and Events

Contact Us

  • Advertising

Time Out Products

  • Dubai
  • Abu Dhabi
  • Doha
  • Arabic

Connect with Us

Published by & © 2018 ITP Digital Media Inc. All rights reserved.