Disturbance

This debut novel by Jamie O'Neill, who wrote the acclaimed At Swim, Two Boys, appears in the United States for the first time. Its tone is darkly comic and unsettling, and its subject is obsession.

Nilus Moore is a young Irishman who has not yet found his footing. He shares a crumbling family home with his unpredictable father, whose moods shift without warning. Nilus takes in every flaw of the place, from a chipped teacup to plaster coming off the walls. When an uncle plans to tear the house down and put an office development on the site, Nilus and his father open their doors to lodgers to keep it. Among them are Mrs. Houlihan, a medium, a blind accordion player, and Father Mulcahy, a priest who has been stripped of his office.

Outwardly Nilus seems composed, reserved and meticulous. Inside, he is struggling with his mother's death and the disorder around him. He retreats to his room, where he repeatedly assembles and takes apart a jigsaw puzzle with a matt-black surface, working to hold on to his grip on his own perceptions. The result is a portrait of a mind that is in disarray yet fixed on order.