[In "Like Any Other Man,"] Patrick Boyle has written a gem of a novel, limpid, sad and conceived on the dark side of the Irish soul. The protagonist, Simpson, is a lost Brian Boru, a civilized King Kong of pub and bed. His peace with the small, small-hearted town over which he officiates as fiscal priest is a terrible armistice of cunning and familiarity. He knows the foibles and weaknesses of each of his clients and considers himself exempt until syphilis strikes.

The novel deals almost entirely, over the span of a few weeks, with the quality of Simpson's terror.

[The author] has chosen his central image of descent, Simpson's retinal illness, with stark and frightening aptness. The right eyeball breaks with blood, flooding the noble man's vision with a sudden mushroom cloud, vaguely reminding him of God and shattering the buoyant will that has made him a...