The Architect

Stephen is a vaguely dissatisfied young man living abroad in London and working as an apprentice to an architecture firm. In need of money he begins to toy with the idea of accepting a loan from three eccentric criminals in exchange for helping them out in an art theft, whose only motive seems to be the bizarre belief of one of the three men, that destroying art is the highest ideological principal attainable by Man. He balks at the absurdity of this idea at first, but after a series of unusual and disturbing experiences, including a surprise letter from an ex-girl friend who abandoned him years ago, a potentially disastrous attraction to a teenage girl, a late-night mugging, and an ill-fated one-night stand, he comes to believe that through accepting the offer and becoming a thief he will undergo a metaphysical transformation and ascend to a higher plane of spiritual perfection. He accepts the offer and after this his world becomes gradually more unhinged until the climax where the theft goes wrong and his life is thrown into a state of  peril. With its cast of bizarre characters including the belligerent and hilarious Fat Man, the chilling Seducer, and the delusional Lindqvist, The Architect is a daring take on the modernist obsession with unmotivated crime.
Refreshing and imaginative, it brings to mind Kafka in its blend of absurd humour with an exploration of alienation and Joseph Conrad in its psychological analysis of the corruption that lies in the hearts of deviant personalities and grandiose social misfits. One reviewer on Apple Books gave The Architect 4 stars and said: "Excellent.  Reminds me of Camus.  A sad tale beautifully told.  Looking forward to this author's future works."