The Testament of Gideon Mack
by James Robertson
Penguin/Hamish Hamilton
reviewed by Ben Oswest
An edited version of this review originally appeared in the 12 November 2006 Sunday Independent. Here’s the link for subscribers:
Strangely, I can’t find the original text of the review, before it was whittled down for newsprint - but what follows is the piece post the initial bout of whittling, which makes is slightly different from what appeared in the Independent (though still much truncated):
And on the third day he rose again. Gideon Mack, that is: the Scottish minister who set the North Sea hamlet of Monimaskit briefly aflame with scandal when, having fallen into the Keldo Water and been presumed irretrievably drowned for half a week, he miraculously reappeared, claiming it was the Devil himself that had saved him. Further, Auld Nick was now his friend. This is what passes for the premise of James Robertson’s new but rather worn novel, at least, and what’s interesting about it is that it’s laid out in full in the prologue – a sure clue that something’s up.
