"Perched on a sofa, surrounded by books, paintings, drawings and tin soldiers, Marías has the aura of a classic movie star (Cary Grant or Robert Mitchum), especially with a cigarette dangling perpetually in his left hand." Now there's practically nothing right with that piece of prose, taken from an Observer interview with Javier Marías. A more general piece on the same author from Saturday's Guardian is far better. Both are written around his new book, Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear, which will no doubt enhance the fine Spanish scribe's already unenhanceable reputation.