Gary Irvine's wife refuses to sleep with him, so he pursues an even stingier mistress: golf. But despite his spending unconscionable amounts of time and money, his game is wretched. Until the day he takes a perfect swing . . . and then everything goes black. After waking up from a coma a few weeks later, with a golf-ball-sized dent in his temple, Gary discovers that his last perfect swing has been imprinted on his brain. However, his newfound prowess is accompanied by some troubling side effects, most noticeably Tourette's. As Gary miraculously advances to the final round of the British Open, his delinquent brother, Lee, stumbles from one botched drug deal to another, his orbit drawing ever nearer to the terrifying local crime lord Ranta Campbell. With their lives on the line, Gary and Lee must rediscover the ties that bind to survive a blood-soaked final round.

ジョン・ニヴェンの真骨頂は、暴力と毒気あるユーモアを人間の滑稽な欲望に接合させる筆致にあります。本作は事故で得た完璧な才能を起点に、凡庸な男が狂気と栄光の狭間で踊るダーク・コメディです。洗練されたゴルフの聖域と剥き出しの本能が衝突する不協和音こそが、読者の理性を揺さぶる最大の文学的見所と言えます。 物語の深層に流れるのは、血縁という呪縛と救済への叫びです。落ちこぼれ兄弟が全英オープンの舞台で交錯するカタルシスはまさに圧巻。才能の代償と家族の絆を問い直す本作は、スリリングな展開と共に、読み手の魂に強烈な一打を打ち込んでくるに違いありません。