20 NOVEMBER 1993, Page 41

Francis King

The death of Adam Johnson in May of this year at the age of 28 was a tragic loss to lit- erature. His earlier poetry struck me as unremarkable; but in the brief period of a year or so when he knew that he was dying, he produced some exceptionally fine work. This can be found in his The Spiral Stair- case (Acumen Publications, £4.95). The novel which gave me the most plea- sure was Peter Ackroyd's vigorous, inge- nious and arresting The House of Dr Dee (Hamish Hamilton, £14.95). It is not a per- fect book; but only envy can explain some of the obtusely venomous reviews which it elicited.