Contrast: The Drowned by John Banville

Let’s consider the personality contrast between two characters in John Banville’s outstanding 2024 crime novel, The Drowned.

Last year I discussed the conflict between two detectives, an extrovert and an introvert, in a 2008 crime novel by Ann Cleeves, White Nights. Striking extrovert and introvert differences in another crime novel, The Drowned by John Banville, published in 2024, also caught my eye, but this time the contrasting pair are two non-detective characters who interact in the first three chapters of the book.