Intelligence, that is, in the sense of espionage, information-gathering, dissembling and false clues. But if this is indeed Serena’s story, the telling of it in time becomes part of the mystery, yet another manifestation of McEwan’s fascination with the ownership of narrative and the complicated relationship between imagination and intelligence. So far as I can determine, the choice of surname is purely coincidental, as in neither mood nor themes does “Sweet Tooth” bear any resemblance to Edith Wharton’s well-known novel “Ethan Frome” indeed, for all her faults, Serena is a considerably more engaging and likable character than poor old Ethan, with his ruined face and frustrated love.

Well, you will say after coasting happily through the first nine-tenths of the book, of course this is Serena Frome’s “(rhymes with plume)” story, as told by her. In “Sweet Tooth,” as elsewhere in McEwan’s fiction, things are not always what they seem to be, with the result that the reader is permitted to delight in the aforementioned pleasures while wondering all the while what, exactly, is going on. Ian McEwan’s delicious new novel provides all the pleasures one has come to expect of him: pervasive intelligence, broad and deep knowledge, elegant prose, subtle wit and, by no means least, a singularly agreeable element of surprise.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan