Decompression

Sven Fielder, the narrator of this deft thriller from German author Zeh (In Free Fall), used to be a lawyer but is now a diving instructor for tourists in the Canary Islands. Self-centered, incapable of feeling or comprehending deeper emotions, Sven is content to spend his days with a lover whom he regards as a convenience. The arrival of actress Jola von der Pahlen and her abusive husband, Theo Hast, on the island of Lanzarote disrupts his routine. Sven becomes increasingly obsessed with Jola, while Theo inexplicably encourages the affair. Wrestling with unfamiliar emotions, the infatuated instructor can’t fathom the intricacies of his clients’ dysfunctional relationship, his true role in it, or the depths to which his clients will sink. This is a competent character study of a man drawn unwillingly into a situation he’s ill equipped to handle—a figure whose fundamental flaws leave him vulnerable to destruction from a direction to which he’s blind. [em](May) [/em]