The Book of Skulls (Robert Silverberg)

The Book Of Skulls is essentially an intimate little character study; there's very little external stuff to get in the way of the exploration of what these four characters mean to each other, yet enough to sustain the story. Silverberg has managed a delicate balancing act and the result is a cracking read.

An eerie, if sometimes slow novel, Silverberg manages to avoid being obvious about the direction of the plot. The characters do become slightly 2-dimentional archetypes in some places, and you sometimes feel that it is used more as a platform for social commentry than entertainment. Overall a worthwhile read.