Maurice Swift is one of the most despicable and detestable human beings one might ever encounter on the pages of a novel. How appalling of a man is he? In the first part of John Boyne’s A LADDER TO THE SKY, Maurice meets Erich Ackermann, a successful German writer. Maurice will eventually expose a secret past from Erich’s youth: as a young man, he was responsible for the murders of a Jewish family in Nazi Germany. As evil as Erich’s behavior might have been, he is a sympathetic figure. Maurice is the character readers will despise.

A LADDER TO THE SKY is a novel about novelists. Almost every significant character in the story is either a writer, an aspiring writer or a publisher of writers. Just as in any other profession, writers are ambitious, devious, selfish and often jealous of the success of their fellow writers. These qualities make for a book that frequently reads like a mystery. But it also offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to write a novel.

"A LADDER TO THE SKY is an entertaining and often playful examination of the dark side of creative ambition. You will probably be repulsed by Maurice Swift, but you will find him to be an unforgettable character in one of 2018’s finest novels."

In one of his early meetings with Erich, Maurice acknowledges his frustration: “I’m not very good of thinking up plots, that’s the problem. I feel like all the stories in the universe have been told.” But Erich offers support to the young writer: “The more you read, the more you write, the more the ideas will appear. They’ll fall like confetti around your head and your only difficulty will be deciding which ones to catch and which to let fall to the floor.” While the advice is perceptive, Erich is unaware that he is communicating with a psychopath.

Boyne presents readers with a mix of fictional and real-life writers. Various parts of the book have different narrators. In an early section, Maurice meets Gore Vidal at his home on the Amalfi Coast. Vidal is the narrator here, becoming one of the few characters who seems capable of piercing Maurice’s evil façade. In addition to becoming acquainted with a range of authors, readers travel internationally to venues in Germany, England, Holland and America. Along the way, there is black humor and satire of the publishing world. There are also repeated references to “The Prize,” apparently the Man Booker Prize, a major book award. It is refreshing that Boyne, an award-winning novelist, maintains a sense of reality about the politics and vagaries of such awards.

A LADDER TO THE SKY is structured around the interaction between Maurice and his victims. Although readers suspect that danger lurks ahead, they will have difficulty anticipating the breadth of Maurice’s evil. Even his eventual demise has an interesting twist that will keep them guessing until the final page of the saga.

John Boyne is the author of 11 novels for adults, five young adult books (most notably THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS) and a short story collection. A LADDER TO THE SKY is an entertaining and often playful examination of the dark side of creative ambition. You will probably be repulsed by Maurice Swift, but you will find him to be an unforgettable character in one of 2018’s finest novels.