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Books

Owen Sheers disregards the first commandment of novel-writing: to show, not tell

Repetitive and highfalutin, I Saw a Man, involving a distant drone strike and close-ups of a failing marriage, feels rushed and undeveloped

6 June 2015

9:00 AM

6 June 2015

9:00 AM

I Saw a Man Owen Sheers

Faber, pp.312, £14.99, ISBN: 9780571317721

This is a thriller, a novel of betrayal and separation, and a reverie on death and grieving. The only key fact I can provide without giving away the plot is that Caroline, the film-making wife of Michael, the novel’s main protagonist, is killed in the badlands of Pakistan by a drone controlled from a facility near Las Vegas.

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Justin Cartwright’s books include Other People’s Money, The Promise of Happiness and Lion Heart.

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