Sweet Tooth / Ian McEwan

Winston Churchill once famously said of Russia, “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.” The same might be said of Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Sweet Tooth, set in 1972 during the Cold War, when the UK was trying to define a new role in a postcolonial world in which the US and the Soviet Union were the key players, and there was money to be spent on culture wars.

Muses, literary prizes, and bookstore readings aren’t usually the stuff of spy thrillers, and a novel that starts so promisingly as Serena is drafted as a secret agent, very quickly becomes something quite different. Sweet Tooth definitely had its moments, and McEwan’s style is always a treat, but as a novel it just didn’t work for me. The premise was credible enough I suppose, but just not that compelling in the end. And then the whole unreliable narrator thing—didn’t McEwan already try that with Atonement? I used to so look forward to anything new by Ian McEwan, but the last two novels haven’t been up to scratch in my opinion. Still, I remain true, and will not doubt pick up anything he’s written in future.

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