James Hamilton-Paterson
What Lies Beneath
A Monstrous Commotion: The Mysteries of Loch Ness
By Gareth Williams
Orion 365pp £20 order from our bookshop
This book’s subtitle, ‘The Mysteries of Loch Ness’, lets slip the fact that the possible existence of a monster in those deep, cold Scottish waters is merely one of the enigmas it addresses – and not necessarily the most significant, either. The first two hundred pages of this lively and entertaining account are essentially a useful chronology of sightings of the monster, after which their plausibility can be examined in detail. Meanwhile, the drawback for the sceptical reader is that the lack of hard scientific evidence for the creature’s existence, the likelihood of hoax and the perennial delusion of credulous spotters make it difficult patiently to suspend disbelief.
We can dismiss the first recorded sighting by St Columba in AD 565 since there is no disinterested eyewitness account, still less any decent smartphone picture. Apparently the saint prevented the monster from devouring a swimmer by making the sign
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The trouble seems to be that we are not asked to read this author, reading being a thing of the past. We are asked to decode him.'
From the archive, Derek Mahon peruses the early short fiction of Thomas Pynchon.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/rock-n-roll-is-here-to-stay
'There are at least two dozen members of the House of Commons today whose names I cannot read without laughing because I know what poseurs and place-seekers they are.'
From the archive, Christopher Hitchens on the Oxford Union.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/mother-of-unions
Chuffed to be on the Curiosity Pill 2020 round-up for my @Lit_Review piece on swimming, which I cannot wait to get back to after 10+ months away https://literaryreview.co.uk/different-strokes https://twitter.com/RNGCrit/status/1351922254687383553