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Victor Maskell = Sir Anthony Blunt in The Untouchable, John Banville

The protagonist of Banville’s stupendous novel is Victor Maskell, who is based closely on Sir Anthony Blunt, the British art historian and University of London professor who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in life. Banville’s topic is not so much the ins and outs of spying, but the phenomenon of having one’s past thrust into the daylight as an old, sick man — this is an existential novel, one that will make you laugh uproariously and then question every thought you’ve ever had, probably on the same page. Bonus: Graham Greene is in here too, though he doesn’t come off too well.