Albie Mirrals is interminably stupid. And this was the fundamental problem I had with this otherwise half decent novel.

He is wilfully stupid. His absolute need to place all the women in his vicinity into little boxes and completely failing to notice or understand anything about any of them.

His relationship with his wife is baffling, he becomes obsessed with a woman he met once and hasn't seen for god knows how many years. He asserts his own knowledge of both of these women despite the clear evidence (to this man of science) that he knows neither of them one jot.

His scorn for the superstition of the rural population in contrast to his rational mind - which is overtaken the minute he enters the village, is laughable given his general idiocy.

I enjoyed the overall gist, the feel of the novel and pacing wasn't *too* bad. There was a lingering creepiness through the novel and his wife is depicted well as the would be changeling. I liked the treatment of the supernatural elements and I enjoyed the switcheroo technique at the end as he came back to himself. But I had seen this coming a mile off and it wasn't really surprising. I thought the actual explanation for it all was smart and well thought out.

All in all, a half decent novel but the main character made it difficult to enjoy.