Evening Post, 19 Jan 2006

The Diviners Rick Moody, Faber, £12.99

Harassed by their doughnut-guzzling boss, two outsiders at a fringe film company concoct a joke epic script about water-dowsing. Then it ceases to be a joke, and the stir it creates brings them into all manner of new patterns. The scope of this mostly-satirical novel is impressive. Its caricature cast are entertaining and sometimes convincing. But Moody’s style is hard to ignore and easy to dislike. If you can cope with the opening, in which the sun takes 11 pages to rise, you’ll probably enjoy this.