Shear — Tim Parks

A geologist turns sleuth in this “engrossing and beautifully written suspense novel” set in Greece by the author of the Booker Prize shortlisted Europa (The New York Times).
 
A New York Times Notable Book
 
In the hallucinatory light and heat of a Mediterranean island, London geologist Peter Nicholson arrives to inspect a granite quarry where a worker has died under suspicious circumstances. Hired to write as damning a report as possible, Peter brings his young mistress and pushes his wife and family to the back of his mind. But his blithe plans are disrupted by the arrival of the dead man's widow, hell-bent on revenge; a fax from his wife announcing her pregnancy; and a threatening dispute with the quarry owners.
 
By the time the home office instructs Peter to drop the case, it is too late. He has already stumbled into a web of blackmail, deception, and murder.
 
Geological shear occurs when intense pressure from multiple angles acts on a rock formation, and in Shear, Tim Parks has created a “positively volcanic . . . smolderingly brilliant” portrait of a man caught between powerful forces (Booklist).
 
“The novel impresses deeply with its tautness, precision of detail, sharp dialogue, vivid characters, apt symbolism.” -- The New York Times Book Review