Patrick McGrath's novel about a man haunted by ghosts of the Spanish Civil War is compelling
Patrick McGrath Review by Malcolm Forbes Patrick McGrath’s 1989 debut novel The Grotesque heralded the arrival of a true master of the macabre. Set in a mouldering English manor and revolving around the misfortunes of a family and the machinations of their butler, the book was a slim yet immensely satisfying slice of modern gothic fiction. It delivered shocks through murder, blackmail and a mysterious disappearance, but also elicited laughter in the dark. Since then, McGrath has continued to produce novels which plunge his reader into chilly hells. His protagonists include psychiatr...