The Miniature Man

Muir's psychological thriller quickly draws you into the worlds of two very damaged people and the claustrophobic environment in which they are supposed to be recovering.

A young woman is admitted to the St Francis Sanitarium following a horrific assault that has erased her memory of the event and her self. Temporarily given the name Marcy by the nuns looking after, she is subjected to hypnosis in an attempt to find out her true identity. As the treatment proceeds, Marcy is drawn further into herself, where she encounters the Miniature Man, gatekeeper to her past.

One of the other patients, Julian, is a brilliant chess player, but the onset of epileptic seizures has destroyed his chances of  competing at the highest level. Brought low by depression, the embittered Julian lashes out at all those around him. When he decides to find out what happened to Marcy, the consequences for all are traumatic and ultimately redemptive.

Muir is little known in the UK, but on the evidence of this novel he deserves a wider readership here. His writing is taut and his dialogue jumpy; Julian is a particularly vile character, but, in the context of his despair, his relentless goading of all those around him is realistic.

Muir also uses the device of a chess game to good effect, pitting Julian against the old nun Sister Zoë in a mental battle of wills over his treatment and access to Marcy. As each 'move' is made, so the tension increases; but nothing can prepare the reader for the truth behind Marcy's amnesia.