28 MARCH 1998, page 28

Down There With The Best

Nicholas Harman THREE MILES DOWN by James Hamilton-Paterson Cape, £16.99, pp. 296 A fter love and detection, a treasure- hunt is the best kind of narrative to hang a story on;......

The Perspective Of The Losers

Paul Bew CRISIS AND DECLINE by R. B. McDowell The Lilliput Press, Dublin, £16.99, pp. 227 R B. McDowell, who was born in Belfast in 1913, is the last survivor of a remarkable......