Jason Elliot has written award winning travel books on Afghanistan and Iran as well as a novel, The Network. At the age of 19 when I was planning my first trip to Benidorm, Jason made his to Afghanistan. The fact that there was a war going on at the time between the Russian invaders and the Afghans must have added a certain amount of excitement.
His latest work, The Madhouse, is a strange book, an attempt at escape from what can only be described as a lunatic asylum where the protagonist has apparently been imprisoned in error.
It is described as an allegory, an inward journey in a fairly horrific landscape. There are one or two incredible shocks and at no time is there any indication of the final outcome. Jason has provided an explanatory text for those like me who needed a little help in interpretation which makes an excellent accompaniment to the book.