While I loved The Prestige, The Glamour didn’t have me, nor did it keep me, and it ended with a thud. It’s ostensibly about a man who is struck by a bomb outside of a police building and his recovery, mostly to do with memory loss. It’s very slow and it ratchets up the tension with the fantastical, to do with the ritual Glamour. Some special people are dubbed invisibles, with the general population being unable to see them. It extends to what they interact with as well. And this notion is introduced by the primary opposite character, basically the only other character in the book: Sue. Who claims to be one of these people, as she attempts to reconnect with him and rekindle an odd relationship they had held before the event.

It’s fairly unconvincing but does become more so when this strange account of Sue’s is brought up, which deflates the tension around his false memories, as her account is from her own perspective, so more-or-less invalidates his memories. But even more annoying than that, is none of that even matters. It’s not actually about what it purports to be and transitions into some outlandish supernatural horror aspects, including a very graphic, horrific rape - followed by Sue becoming an even more unbelievable character, as she gets over this violation quickly and the relationship with the rapist completely uninhibited. Then the plot itself, also is completely eschewed on a flight of fancy / gotcha moment.

There isn’t much that it particularly has to say and it doesn’t even respect the fiction it creates. It is very near completely pointless and there are many other novels with a meta context that makes this point much more interestingly.