This companion piece pairs with McCarthy’s other new release, sharing storylines and characters. At the time of this narrative, Bobby – protagonist in The Passenger – is in a coma after a racecar accident. This protagonist, Alicia (by choice, Alice by birth) has checked herself into a psychiatric facility. This unique narrative reads like a transcript of conversations between her and her psychiatrist, Dr Cohen … and no writer writes naturalistic dialogue as well as Cormac McCarthy.

There’s a metaphoric dance between patient and doctor. At times it’s not certain who’s leading. Alicia’s intelligence outweighs the doctor’s and their conversations veer from the personal and professional to the abstract and existential. Alicia’s mental health deterioration is partly related to the relationship with Bobby, but that’s the last topic she wishes to discuss.

Instead, they talk of Alicia’s career in mathematics, her father’s career in physics, as well as the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein and the theories of Freud and Jung. The pas de deux continues between binaries within topics too. It’s not necessary to completely understand the mathematical and philosophical arguments, but some simple backgrounding might help. Alicia’s mentor, Göthendieck, following Plato’s concept of perfect forms, theorised that maths could be seen as an abstract, rather than solid, construct. Schopenhauer contended that the universe wasn’t necessarily logical and that suffering was the default emotion felt by humanity. Alicia contends that happiness has a ceiling, but misery is bottomless. Göthendieck’s ideas made her question her career; Schopenhauer’s made her question the point of her existence.

The title is a Latin reference to the Virgin Mary, ‘the star of the sea’. This, then, is a Catholic institution, yet Alicia and the physicians, Drs Cohen and Horowitz, are Jewish. McCarthy subtly shows that life’s defined boundaries are often breached.

There is a genuine warmth between doctor and patient, although there’s always the sense that healing is just out of reach. The depth of issues covered within the novel seems limitless. This book will benefit from re- and re-reading. The reader will benefit from that, too.

Thought-provokingly brilliant writing.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

Listen to an audio clip off Cormac McCarthy reading The Passenger