One of the pleasures of Cumming's fiction is that his characters often show a certain literary flair. The subtle characterization is also a hallmark of Cumming's work. You get to know the characters intimately.
"A Foreign Country" is one of those very rare books that from its first page demonstrates that it’s something out of the ordinary, one of those tales that the reader hopes will never end.
At the same time it's always an added bonus when the main character, Thomas Kell, reads the poetry of Seamus Heaney and the prose of E.M. Forster, and even the book's villain has the good taste to
prefer the crime fiction of Michael Dibdin... I know, it's an acquired taste, but for me, this kind of reference-dropping, make my day when reading a book.
Definitely on my 2012 favourites' list.
