Eye of the Monkey

Tóth’s alluring English-language debut chronicles the affair between a patient and her psychiatrist in a dystopian near-future Europe. Citizens of the unnamed country are under constant surveillance by webcams and segregated by economic status. After Gizella, a married professor, is accosted by a young man claiming to be her son, she enters therapy with Dr. Mihály Kreutzer, to whom she insists she’s never been pregnant. As Gizella recounts her parents’ divorce and sister’s suicide, Dr. Kreutzer relives the events that led to his own pending divorce and grapples with his grief over his mother’s recent death. Despite being somewhat unstable, Kreutzer holds a unique position within the autocratic government, harbors secrets unknown to the general populace, and supplies the nation’s leader with medication. Kreutzer and Gizella begin a sexual relationship, until she discovers one of his notebooks that hold records of his sexual conquests. The plot thickens when Kreutzer learns of a radioactive leak that has been contaminating the city, and the cleanup effort involves Gizella’s family. The eerie story is buoyed by keen character work, as Tóth delves into the secrets people manage to keep even in a totalitarian state. Fans of tantalizing suspense and layered storytelling such as Ryeo-ryeong’s The Trunk will find much to enjoy. (Oct.)