'Tokyo, 1933. Tall, broodingly handsome, Victor Stepper is a consummate ladies' man, a brilliant journalist... and spy. As the world descends into war, Stepper collects information and sends it on to Moscow.
'Then he falls in love with Reiko, a Japanese woman. And Victor Stepper begins to fall apart...
'Stepper is a dazzling and haunting novel of espionage and erotic love.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'Brian Castro dramatises and even valorises forms of literary and artistic failure throughout his fiction, but his body of work is a raging success by mortal standards. None of his novels disappoint on close inspection. Double-Wolf and Shanghai Dancing are endlessly rewarding; The Swan Book is gorgeously written and deeply moving; After China is conceptually neat, seductive and stylish. Others, such as Drift and The Bath Fugues, appeal to select readers but are dazzlingly rich and structurally brilliant. Even Stepper—which Castro sees as a relatively conventional spy novel—is a satisfying and affecting Nabokovian game. Every novel is stamped by a talent that induces envy as much as gratitude. You want to know what it feels like to write that way.' (Publication abstract)
