Intricate plot blurs fiction and reality

Fieldwork. By Mischa Berlinski, Atlantic Books, €16.20

More than most novelists, Mischa Berlinski is a trickster. His literary debut is a heady mixture of craziness and credibility, leaving the reader always wondering how much of it is grounded in fact. This might be a point of irritation if it wasn’t so damn good.

From the beginning, Berlinski subverts his readers’ expectations, hoodwinking them into thinking Fieldwork is a south-east Asian Raymond Chandler-esque murder ...