This is the new (second) novel written by John Banville under the pen name Benjamin Black. I think I was first on the reserve list at the MCPL. I had enjoyed the first Black book, "Christine Falls," so much that I was quite eager to get my hands on this one.

I was disappointed. I truly enjoyed my visit to Dublin that Black/Banville provided (it's one of my favorite towns) but notwithstanding that, I thought the characters acted in ways that were not in harmony with their natures.

I won't make this review a spoiler, but I can say that at the start of the book the protagonist, who is a pathologist, lies in report. He certifies that a woman drowned and conceals the fact that he found a needle mark and discovered that her body was full of a narcotic that would have rendered her unconscious and that her lungs disclosed that she had not drowned.

He didn't know the woman and had no reason to commit malfeasance other than he was curious and wanted to be the only one knowing how she died so his (totally unofficial) investigation would be unimpeded by the police investigating the event. Translation: the author wanted the plot to proceed with the protagonist being the only person on the track of the truth. For this, he had the protagonist jeopardize his professional reputation and commit a crime by intentionally withholding evidence of a possible crime even though he had no substantial interest in doing so. Not a likely scenario.

This authorial manipulation cast, for me, a cloud on my enjoyment of the rest of the novel. And there were other instances of people acting other than one might reasonably expect them to act, apparently to further the plot.

I gave the book three stars because Black/Banville uses language and fictional techniques so startlingly well.

"The Silver Swan" was not a difficult book to finish because it is so stylishly written and the characters are quite fascinating and so richly portrayed, but the book's motivation problems nagged at me throughout.