Mistaken

Neil Jordan

There is a slightly unsettling edge to this addictive thriller; the plot of which is shot through with gothic undertones. The story of apparent strangers Dubliners Gerald and Kevin is told retrospectively by Kevin, charting their relationship from childhood to adulthood. Although the storyline is not an original one, the shock ending certainly was, leaving me hooked right to the finish.

Extract

Were we the same person, the light and shade of the same person? Was I a dream that he dreamt, a darker form of himself, from a subtly different background, was I the part of him he kept at bay, suppressed, that he needed but could never admit to? Or was he a dream I dreamt, was he the dream of the life I wanted, had conjured him out of the shards of my pathetic background, was his the life I should have had, but hadn't the courage to grasp?

Parallels