The Man on the Endless Stair is the scintillating debut novel by Chris Barkley. It’s set on a remote Hebridean island and follows the story of Euan, a troubled young writer who visits the creaking old home of his mentor, famous author Malcolm Furnivall.
Also at the house are some of Malcolm’s family and employees of the estate, and the author is both consumed by his current work in progress and deeply worried that a terrible fate will befall him. And so it does, when he’s found murdered in his study. The story is set in the postwar 1950s, and Barkley evokes the period and atmosphere brilliantly.
On the surface, this thoughtful, intelligent novel looks like a fairly standard locked-room murder mystery. But as the story progresses, very weird things begin to happen to Euan, to do with either cutting-edge science or possibly something more fantastical or supernatural.
It slow-creeps to a truly revelatory climax, one that manages to be emotionally satisfying, thrilling in terms of plot, and mind-bending in its implications. An incredibly assured debut from a writer to watch.
The Man on the Endless Stair by Chris Barkley is out now (Polygon, £14.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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