The Sunday Times review by Stephen Amidon

In an era when writers scarcely get a first chance to make their mark, much less a second, the reissue of Austin Wright’s superb novel Tony & Susan is a real treat. The author was an English professor in Ohio who published seven novels. Most of them were critically acclaimed, none more than Tony & Susan, which received ecstatic reviews from the likes of Saul Bellow and The New York Times when it came out in 1993. It never really caught fire with the public, however, and by the time Wright died 10 years later, he was largely forgotten.

Readers would be wise to take advantage of the book’s resurrection. It is a masterful example of narrative intensity and artistic control. It opens when Susan Morrow, the quietly unhappy wife of a successful heart surgeon, unexpectedly receives a manuscript of a novel written by her first husband, Edward. This odd gift awakens uneasy memories, particularly since her lack of faith in Edward’s talent contributed to their split.

Edward’s novel turns out to be a taut story of suspense. In it, a college maths professor called Tony Hastings is involved in a minor car accident while driving his wife and teenage daughter to Maine. He soon finds himself plunged into a grisly, violent nightmare when the psychopathic driver of the other car proves to want more than just Tony’s insurance details.

In addition to being a nail-biter, Edward’s novel proves to be a penetrating portrait of guilt and revenge. Tony’s cowardice in the face of sudden evil leads him on a vertiginous course of vengeance after a renegade detective provides him with the chance for some under-the-radar payback. The final explosion of brutality would do a master of the crime genre such as Dennis Lehane proud.

Woven into this dark thriller is the quieter story of Susan, as she recalls her relationship with Edward while also trying to come to terms with her current husband’s suspected infidelity. Her realisation that she might have suffered a loss of nerve at a pivotal moment in her own life — that she might be a bit of a coward — proves a perfect mirror to the grisly intensity of Tony’s narrative.

While it is unlikely that Susan will get back with Edward, she will never again be able to believe there is such a thing as a perfectly safe life. This is the book’s deepest achievement: Wright’s insistence that art can crack open the shells of caution in which we encase ourselves to let in the chill wind of danger and possibility.

Tony & Susan by Austin Wright
Atlantic £14.99 pp352