The writing is good and the narration enjoyable so you should give it a try and see what you think. I guess it is an attempt at a philosophical treaty on mens' sexual behavior and what motivates it, so I might not be the best critic of this book. Except for the protagonist's personal and egocentric feelings, the other characters are used as mere tools.

We are transported in a world where promiscuity is treated as experimentation. However there are fortunately men that can control their behavior better than others. We hear often enough that men's urges are different than women's and I won't argue that point. I cannot say that I could relate to the protagonist's protestations of the 'devil man made me do it'. This is a most unusual book that centers on a man's conflicting feelings in his inability to resist his sexual urges. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. He sets out to record in diary form his sexual encounters with various women: the middle-aged Gertrude, her teenage niece Caroline, and Diana, the wife of a mad composer determined to adapt Varney the Vampire into an opera.īut Sorme finds his beliefs and ideas challenged when he meets the fascinating and dangerous Caradoc Cunningham, who seems to possess occult powers and who has developed his own ways of expanding consciousness through drugs, orgies, and black magic.Īnd when Cunningham is targeted by his enemies, fellow black magicians who he believes are directing the powers of evil spirits at him, Sorme will find himself caught up in Cunningham's peril, culminating in his participation in a bizarre occult ritual.įirst published in 1963, Man Without a Shadow explores Wilson's philosophy in the form of a black magic thriller that draws on inspirations as diverse as the writings of Aleister Crowley and Montague Summers, Huysmans's Là-bas, and the 'penny dreadfuls' of Thomas Prest.

Gerard Sorme thinks the key to a more meaningful life lies in an expansion of human consciousness, and he believes that one way to expand it is through sexual experiences. He writes a clear, light prose, and he makes his interests, however bizarre, seem important.' ( Punch) 'One of the more earnest and interesting writers of his generation.' ( The Guardian)

Man Without a Shadow by Colin Wilson