The Rhyl Poster by Tom McCarthy review – is this avant-garde spy drama worth the riddles?

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According to The Guardian, Tom McCarthy returns to his experimental and riddling style in his new novel, 'The Rhyl Poster'. The story is set within the corridors of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, featuring a protagonist named Stanton, a jurist scarred by his military service in Iraq and struggling with a painkiller dependency. Guardian critic Anthony Cummins describes the novel as a mashup of trauma plot and heist narrative, written in a dry blend of legal jargon and idiom. Despite McCarthy's literary allusions and wordplay, the critic suggests that Stanton's characterization lacks sufficient emotional weight, noting that reading the book feels like trying to fill in a crossword using the wrong clues.