The Investigation

I feel G.K. Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday" would be the appropriate companion piece to read with "The Investigation". Both books are filled with the ominious, the unaswerable, both are philosophical and haunting. The mystery here is the mystery of existence. This book is the great sonata of life "living the questions". Besides, the atmosphere is rich, dark and foggy - it is the England we all stereotypically imagine in our minds. Read this book because you want great literature. It's not just "another mystery". It's beyond that.

This is a wonderful thriller; at times surreal, at times resolvable and at times resolved. But there is a great sense of the unknowable in the face of the 'randomness' of events around us. 'What if life is like a soup with all kinds of things floating in it, and from time to time some of them get stuck together by chance to make some kind of whole?' Yes, this is my experience of life and it comforts me that there are unexplainable things - things that I cannot explain and in a real sense can never be explained. The principal character in this novel carries my own name - Gregory - and that bonded me a bit. But it is the statistician, Sciss, who says 'I don't have any illusions. That's pretty awful you know ....' I identify most of all with that statement, if not Sciss himself. Recommended other reading:'Limiting Factor' by Clifford D Simak (this is a short story)'Under Western Eyes' by Joseph Conrad (he comments on illusions too)

Lem also has a book called _The Invincible_ that is sci-fi. This book, _The Investigation_ is not sci-fi at all, it's a mystery. But true to Lem's style it is like no other mystery. You're never sure if the missing corpses are actually getting up and walking away or if the whole thing is just some epic scheme. I loved it but I have to admit it's not for everyone and not an easy read.

Sci-fi thriller. Very nicely written, good plot, surprising twists. Could have easily been one of the Asimov's "I Robot"-cycle stories. However, not really ourstanding or especially original.