The Thanatos Syndrome [Hardcover]

It is one of Percy's great gifts to use absurdity and humour to introduce the gravest of concerns. Not surprisingly, therefore, Percy uses the comic genre of a detective novel. Thanatos breezes through a series of interviews with aberrant and suspicious characters, sleuthing, romance and false leads, en route to the creation of a casefile of premeditated wrongdoing. But like Dostoevsky (who also made use of the detective novel), Percy's intent is not primarily on spinning a good whodunnit, but on motivation and human character. The picture is shocking and even funny (particularly in the denouement), but it is certainly not pretty.

Readers looking for a joyous romp through the bayous or else the pacified work of a Catholic apologist need not bother with this book. Not only is this novel disturbingly explicit at times, it contains a Grand Inquisitorial holocaust memoir. While connections to late 20th century America and the Weimar elite run the risk of exaggeration, Percy's AWOL anchorite priest, Father Smith, certainly gives much to think about. Does tenderness really lead to the gas chambers?

Thanatos is actually a sequel to another dystopian drama, Love in the Ruins (1971). Connections to the earlier book, however, are broad and thematic. The protagonist is still Dr. Tom More, the randy bad catholic, fence-sitting introvert, and disturbed, marginalized expert on cortical functions and heavy sodium. Little mention is made, however, of More's lapsometer, of futuristic technology, the Ecuadorian conflict, or the racial and partisan conflict characteristic of Percy's earlier book. It is less a novel about 'the end of the world' than it is about the decay of civilization.

A disarming, smart book.

The asterisk? I give this story only a luke-warm review, a B minus. Yes, the plot does have a thought-provoking dystopian element to it, and it does include the kind of important and bold examination of good and evil that I have heard Mr. Percy is known for. But it can be blunt at times, and also I wonder if some of the sex-related discourse and the protagonist's navel gazing were necessary parts of the story.

What saved the day here was the talented Mr. Percy's crisp and compelling writing style. By the time I was finished with The Thanatos Syndrome, I had the impression that Mr. Percy could make a computer instruction manual seem gripping. His turns of phrase, characterizations, efficient dialogue, and ability to move the narrative forward with apparent effortlessness are rare qualities indeed.

What makes the writing work so well is its subtlety -- it all seems to mesh so naturally. And that is something that in some ways works against a story line that is at least on some level obvious and predictable.

But that doesn't dissuade me from wanting to seek out another of Mr. Percy's books. I think that his enjoyable writing style combined with a more balanced story could yield stunning results. I can hardly wait.