I read this book over about two months in fits and starts. It's funny how that changes the way a book feels. I think the action in the book takes place primarily over a couple of weeks, but because I read it so slowly, the suspense was built up much better than I think it would have been had I read it quickly. Anyway. The beginning of the story is a ballooning accident. Joe, the main character, and several other men try to rescue a small boy floating in a balloon. The balloon falls off the crest of a hill and everyone lets go...except one man who eventually falls to his death when he can't hang on any longer.
One of the other men develops a fixation on Joe and begins to follow him around, standing outside his flat, chatting with him...and, oddly, disappearing whenever Joe's girlfriend is around. She never sees him, never talks to him, and begins to disbelieve Joe. Until, of course, it's too late and Joe turns out to be right.
This is a sad book full of "what if..." stories. What if I followed my career dreams? What if I'm the crazy one, not him? What if I hadn't let go of the rope? What if...
[Incidentally, the cover of the copy I read is entirely different from the photo; mine has smaller balloon, the fabric of which has a giant eye on it and the basket is someone's head sinking into the ground. It's done pseudo-Daguerrotype fashion. Creepy.]
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