Superb detective yarn has layered dynamic

About half way through So He Takes the Dog, one of the characters makes an observation: ‘‘The truth is a web, see?” he says. ‘‘Nothing stands on its own.” His comment is part of a monologue on lies - lies are fragile, he suggests because they lack genuine interconnection - but it is also a two-sentence precis of the novel.

Jonathan Buckley’s new book is a detective story, an expansive whodunnit revolving around ...