SOURCE: "A Gripping Tale out of School," in Newsweek, Vol. CXXIV, No. 22, November 28, 1994, p. 68.

In the following review of Borderliners, Shapiro, though noting the "choking" effect of the narrative voice, offers a positive assessment of Høeg's book.

Peter Hoeg has been a popular novelist in his native Denmark for years, but hardly anybody in this country had heard of him until Smilla's Sense of Snow appeared here last year. What a calling card! A brainy, witty thriller, Smilla caused a sensation; when Hoeg mentioned in interviews that he had finished another novel, his new fans were delighted. "It's very different," he said at the time.

Borderliners is very different—a denser more introspective novel than Smilla, with fewer of its easy pleasures. It's set in Biehl's Academy, a boarding school known for its high standards and willingness to take difficult children—like Peter, the narrator. An orphan...