The Seymour Tapes - Hardcover

Lott, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670912700 ISBN 13: 9780670912704

Publisher: Viking, 2005

Synopsis

Dr Alex Seymour seems to have it all - with a solid marriage of twenty years, two teenage children, a new baby and an unblemished career as a London GP, his life seems perfect - but then a simple trip to the local supermarket changes things irrevocably. As he witnesses a shoplifter foiled by a combination of the owner's beady eye and the surveillance camera under the counter, Alex Seymour starts thinking about the reality and the fragility of his own seemingly perfect domestic situation, and what he does not see. With a son he suspects is stealing, a daughter whose first boyfriend may be going too far, and a wife he thinks is being unfaithful, Alex needs something to help him find out the truth and put him back in control.

Enter Sherry Thomas, the mysterious Managing Director of Cyclops, and the catalyst for Alex Seymour's descent into a world ruled by cameras, tapes, lies and deceit, with devastating consequences. A gripping novel of suspense that mirrors modern preoccupations with surveillance, tabloid voyeurism and morality and gives us Sex, Lies and Video Tape in fiction form for the 21st century.

About this title

Review

The Seymour Tapes confirms what readers of Tim Lott have long known: he is one of the most subtle and sensitive writers at work today. In such books as White City Blue and Rumours of a Hurricane, the author has demonstrated a masterly command of subtle and allusive prose, along with a refusal to repeat himself in terms of subject matter.

The conceit of the new novel is that Lott is examining a real-life case: at the request of the widow of the late Dr Alex Seymour, he has decided to put certain facts in the public view. Seymour had experienced a life change after seeing a shoplifter caught on a surveillance camera: what was he missing in his own life that surveillance could reveal? He decides to enlist the Cyclops organisation and undertake a revealing overview of his own life--all at the behest of the charismatic American Sherry Thomas. An embarrassing scandal follows, know as the Skin Tapes. And it's this which is (we are told) the basis of Lott’s investigation, as the author interrogates Seymour's widow Samantha. As with the novels of John Fowles, Lott becomes drawn into his own narrative, as Samantha Seymour puts the author himself in the limelight, obliging him to be equally as frank about things he'd rather conceal about his own life.

Sex and dark psychology are always a good recipe for a compelling novel, and Lott is as adroit as ever at marshalling the combustible elements of his narrative into a fascinating whole. His self-involvement is a dangerous gambit--and if Lott doesn’t entirely pull it off, the final effect is exhilarating. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author

Tim Lott's previous books are The Scent of Dried Roses, which won the JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography, White City Blue, which won the Whitbread First Novel Award, Rumours of a Hurricane, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread novel of the year, and The Love Secrets of Don Juan. He lives in London NW10.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0670912700
• ISBN 13: 9780670912704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256