Who are we - at our core? This allegorical adventure and mystery novel poses this question, epitomised in the character of the hermit, and provides the answer, hiding in the enigmatic hunt for a (real or imagined) giant predatory fish. Then there is the riddle of the death of the man's parents, a puzzle that slowly edges towards an almost impossible-to-guess resolution. The action takes place on a sparsely populated island and the offshore sea. The time is the last quarter of the twentieth century.
This story is inspired by the influential idea (by Sir James Frazer) that someone can only become king by killing the king personally. And afterwards, the new ruler himself has to wait to be overcome.
The main character of the novel seems curiously removed from his time, at once murderous and sophisticated in character, a mercenary and a recluse merged into one person. His behaviour is archaic. He invents and experiences stories in which he himself is the hero, although there are no witnesses to what he does. He carves his adventures, both real and imagined, into the stone surface of a cliff. When he needs company, he makes it up and, if necessary, communicates with insects and smaller animals in his very own way.
The book is aimed at a readership that is ultimately like the hermit of this sea and island adventure.
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