I enjoy Nevil Shute's books. His plots are fascinating and his writing style — ambling along with all sorts of details but never losing the plot — is unique.

But there's one plot device he uses in a couple of his books, this one included, that really bugs me. He tells the story of Character A by having Character B dream it. Really.

Character B finds himself isolated, usually during a storm, surrounded by Character A's belongings and somehow, magically, dreams the history of Character A's life.

It's really weird. Once you get past that, the stories of both characters are well worth reading.