McGregor's Reservoir 13 remains an enduringly haunting novel. It begins with the disappearance of a girl in a small Lake District community. She is never found, but the novel is more about the collective consciousness, how life goes on as the seasons change. If Becky Shaw (the vanished girl) is to Reservoir 13 what Laura Palmer was to "Twin Peaks", then The Reservoir Tapes serves as a mechanism for squaring the circle. The similarity across both works — and maybe an emblematic phenomenon for all humanity — is that people carry secrets. Becky's disappearance is not explained in The Reservoir Tapes, but the collection of character portraits demonstrates the complex web of relationships in the community. It cleverly plunges the reader back to the original story and forces them to reassess everything they previously believed. Few authors have quite the ability to maintain tension and mystery with such lyrical prose as McGregor. The mystery is not resolved, yet the story endures: 9.5 out of 10.
By Jon McGregor