The Third Policeman

Everything about The Third Policeman is shrouded in mystery, starting with its late publication and not ending with what makes it a masterpiece worthy of comparison with the miraculous realism of Kafka, who, according to his biographer, was an admirer, if not admitted, of his work.

The story begins with two murders and a theft committed by the anonymous narrator, who intends to use the spoils of the crime to publish a book containing his comments on the writings of a lunatic philosopher named de Selby, who posited that the earth is in fact not a sphere, but rather in the shape of a sausage, that night is a form of life, and that time is a form of air, just hallucinations. From that moment on, the book becomes even stranger, as the narrator finds himself in an alternate dimension not unlike the area around his Irish country home, but operating under an entirely different set of metaphysical laws. by the elevator, to the left of the river. The most surprising point is saved by the writer for the conclusion, when the narrator discovers some confusing facts about his metaphysical situation.

The Third Cop is a brilliant black comedy about the nature of time, death, and existence; a novel that joins with Flann O'Brien's other novels (Two Birds Swim; Poor Mouth; The Cruel Life; The Elite of Miles' Writing, The Dalkey Archive) to secure his place, alongside James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, as one of the great literary geniuses of Ireland.