‘Glass Hotel’ a tragic, well-constructed puzzle

Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel “The Glass Hotel” tells the story of Vincent, a young woman whose fate we know from the first sentence — “Begin at the end: plummeting down the side of the ship …” — but it’s the title that inspires the novel’s central theme. “The Glass Hotel” is a more descriptive name for “The Hotel Caiette,” an isolated establishment on the northern end of Vancouver Island. Vincent moves there with her mother as a teenager, wandering the woods and eventually working as the hotel bartender. The clientele pay top dollar to stay in this remote and luxurious place.

An ephemeral quality permeates the novel. Many of the characters are haunted and most of the story is told in flashbacks to various times in Vincent’s life. Characters are introduced at different times and collide throughout the novel to complete a portrait of Vincent’s life and sketch their own stories, too. There’s Jonathan, an investor whom Vincent seduces and lives with as a trophy wife back in

New York; Vincent’s brother, Paul, whose journey takes him from heroin addiction to an artistic career kickstarted by using his sister’s personal videos without permission; and Walter, who never leaves the hotel, working as the property’s caretaker for a decade after it closes.

There are no heroes here and only a couple characters who inspire much sympathy, but the unique structure keeps you turning the pages. It’s a thrill when the puzzle pieces start to fit together.