A Plan for Escape is a weird, engrossing novel, bound to captivate--if not totally satisfy--most readers. The story revolves around Henri Nevers, a Frenchman sent by his father to a post at a penal colony in French Guiana. Arriving at Cayenne, the seat of government, Nevers learns that the governor, Castel, has deserted Cayerme to "be alone with the prisoners" on the islands. When Nevers ferries to the islands, Castel meets him with delight as "an educated collaborator." Nevers intuits that "Castel's interest in social and prison matters is strictly sadistic," and he tries to remain uninvolved. Confronted by inmates' allusive remarks and his own observations, however, he is compelled to follow the clues that lead him to unearth the horrible results of Castel's reign. Despite the novel's horrors, its tone is eerily distanced by its point of view: The tale is narrated by Nevers' uncle who has pieced it together from his nephew's letters. This perspective allows for holes in the story which readers who demand closure may not accept. (What-they might ask-is Nevers' motivation for making his last, dangerous trip?) Other readers will enjoy puzzling over the small mysteries left after the main mystery is solved. The relationship between prisoners and keepers is a dominant theme. As one character states, "Conscience and prisons are incompatible." This theme proceeds from Argentinian writer Bioy-Casares' reaction to accounts of Nazism in 1945, and it also-as others have noted--predicts the systematic tortures that would take place in his country in the 1970s. --Independent Publisher.