The Light of Day

By: Graham Swift

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

George Webb is a divorced ex-policeman turned private investigator, a man whose prospects seemed ruined not so long ago. Kicked off the force for trying in all the wrong ways to put away the right man, he has recently crossed a line with a client - and upended his own life.

In this masterful novel, Graham Swift takes us inside Webb's mind. For one dazzling day, we see what Webb sees and know only what his thinking reveals. We learn about his childhood and the secret it forced him to carry; his changing relationship with his once-renegade daughter; the last moments with his ex-wife; his fall from grace as a cop; the unexpected ease with which he has turned his police-learned skills to the more delicate demands of his new profession. And we learn how those demands have put him in silent league with the fateful client, a woman he has come to love.

Fascinating in its slow and revelatory accumulation of physical and emotional detail, tender and humorous, intense and suspenseful, The Light of Day is a tour-de-force journey into human emotions.

©2003 Graham Swift (P)2003 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"He is a writer of immense gifts." (The Washington Post)

Sorry to say it, but: Boring

You should know that the story is told in a 'stream-of-consciousness' style, there isn't a plot to speak of, and no real mystery. The reader's voice is excellent, however, so if you're into literary experiments, go right ahead. I felt like I was caught in an endless loop, mainly because the narrator's observations are constantly repeated. About half-way through, I conducted my own experiment: 'Would fast-forwarding about an hour change anything to the story? Would I feel like I had missed anything?' No.

Dribble

Dribble. I am typing words on a keyboard. Funny, it's a QWERTY keyboard that has lots of letters on it that when one presses while thinking random thoughts might describe a trip to the grocery store or the restroom or what ever dribble may be in someone's head at any given moment. This is what this "masterfully crafted" book was to me. If reading this book was getting into someone's mind, I could not get it out of sight and out of mind fast enough. End of Dribble.

Interesting story - EXCELLENT narrator

This is an interesting book and I will try other Graham Swift novels at some point, but the real attraction of the book for me was the narrator who read two other books I read recently, motivating me to listen to this one which had been in my library for a very long time. The story is about a detective who is an ex-cop and deals primarily with women whose husbands are having affairs. He spends a good deal of the story contemplating how we choose to fall in love and how love ends or doesn't. I found it very pleasant and easy to listen to and very well written. But again, it was the narration that held me - the narrator is fantastic.

Not so great

I found the story to be too slow for an audiobook.

Meandering

The publisher's summary is most accurate in "For one dazzling day, we see what Webb sees..." Imagine a stranger listening to your thoughts as they wonder over one day in your life. If it sounds appealing, this title may be for you. Personally, the poetic descriptions are a plus. Otherwise, it fatigues me to listen.