It tells the tale of a working-class boy who wins a place at an esteemed university and becomes a suspect in a murder investigation after the disappearance of a girl from a nearby college.

[1] Mike Engleby attends an 'ancient university', studying English at first, but switching over to natural sciences after he begins to doubt the legitimacy of the subject.

He does not perform as well as expected on his second year exams but takes part in the production of a student film in Ireland involving Jennifer.

He remembers his working-class upbringing in Reading, his dad's death and his subsequent scholarship to Chatfield – a public school for the children of navy servicemen.

Engleby's final memory of Chatfield is of forcing Stevens to take a cold bath, just as Baynes had done to him previously.

It is revealed that a shirt the officers took from his college rooms during the investigation was checked using newly developed DNA techniques and was shown to have Jennifer's blood on it.

He pleads limited responsibility and after analysis by psychiatrist Dr. Exley he is diagnosed with a personality disorder and is sent to a mental institution.

Late in the novel, a psychological professional diagnoses him with schizoid personality disorder and some narcissistic tendencies, while maintaining that he does not have any biological mental illness like schizophrenia.

He is frustrated when she pleads to leave the car when he presumes to give her a lift home and deliberately takes a wrong turn to prolong their time together.

He went on to say, "The eventual arrival of men in white coats – a welcome introduction of sane voices – heralds the most successful section of the book.

"[3] Terrence Rafferty of The New York Times said, "At one point, near the end, when both the character and his creator seem to be getting slightly desperate, Engleby throws out the possibility that the 'idea of self' may be no more than a 'necessary fiction.'