There is a line which has resounded through B-films, soap-operas and pulp fiction and it goes something like this: "Ned, wait!… Are you familiar with what are commonly referred to as the Greek mysteries?" There is a pregnant pause, and Ned whispers, in a tone somewhere between shock, anguish and determination, "No! And that won't stop me!" My first quote is taken verbatim from Mr Tryon's new novel (he is already famous for The Other, the other one), but I mus...

In spite of what we must technically call Thomas Tryon's prose, his study of a Garbo character, a child prodigy, a failed actress and a decrepit Ronald Colman type, from Hollywood figures who are loosely associated in a particular film, has a curious, even an unaccountable readability. It appeals to that part of one's nature, at least if you were brought up on the films rather than the television, which rejoiced as the organ disappeared and the credits flicked up at the prospect of well-organi...

Thomas Tryon seems to have been born with a silver story in his mouth. He spins best-selling novels: "The Other," "Harvest Home," "Lady." He probably has written another best seller in "Crowned Heads"—a tale with the impact of "The National Enquirer" crossed with "The Day of the Locust." The places are right: Los Angeles, New York City, the undiscovered paradises of Mexico and Crete. And Tryon's characters, fou...