Pandora's Box

Profoundly spooky, elliptical and dreamlike, this brief second novel from Scottish writer Thompson (Justine) may give readers long-term shivers. Plastic surgeon Noah Close awakens during a thunderstorm and hears somebody pounding on his front door. Rushing downstairs, he finds a figure in flames, which he extinguishes with his own body, and takes the victim to the private hospital where he specializes in the reconstruction of human bodies. After weeks of skin grafts and surgery, the still-unidentified woman emerges from her bandages perfectly healed, beautiful--and perfectly mute. Uncomfortable with her silence, Noah is relieved when she can be discharged, but one day, he finds her in his spare bedroom at home. He falls in love with her, names her Pandora, and considers her his wife. Though she won't speak, has no known past and possesses only a small glass box, Pandora still fills Noah's life with bliss, until she receives mysterious letters that render her reclusive. When the letters stop, Pandora blossoms again; then Noah wakes up beside his wife to find her dead, mutilated and covered in blood. The body vanishes. Noah becomes a suspect, escapes from police custody and eventually makes his way to Las Vegas, where he joins forces with Venus Dodge, a psychic detective. Many questions go unanswered in this supernatural thriller, but the eerie spell cast by the sculpted, if mannered prose, the panoply of weird events, and the fantastical characters may let readers forget about practicalities as they slide with disturbing ease into Thompson's shadowy vision. (June) FYI: During the 1980s, Thompson played in the British pop group the Woodentops.