William Leith6 February 2014
A few years ago James Lasdun, a very sharp writer of fiction, wrote The Horned Man, a novel about an academic in America who thinks he’s being stalked. The book was exciting, perceptive, and also horrifying. Now Lasdun has written another book about an academic in America being stalked.
But this time it’s a true story about himself. Again, he writes with clarity; again, his work is compelling. Lasdun, a teacher of creative writing, tries to help a pupil get a manuscript published. She begins to send him emails. At first, the emails are flirtatious. Then things get nasty and, quite quickly, Lasdun’s life gets really scary.
