Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks (Vintage, £7.99 in UK)

Sin is the theme of this ambitious, biblical saga based on the career of the abolitionist John Brown. Saint or madman or both, it was Brown who set off on a crusade to end slavery. The venture remains shrouded in confusion but is regarded as a central cause of the Civil War.

Told through the voice of Brown's maverick and now aged hermit son, Owen, a self-confessed liar, the narrative is anecdotal, personal and, ultimately, a suicide note. It is also his story rather than John Brown's and proves a compelling one, if not overly convincing as fiction. Owen's voice is too modern, his knowledge too encyclopaedic. Banks's language alternates between contemporary and biblical, with nothing in between. True, the patriarchal Brown may well have strode from the pages of the Old Testament, but the overall impression is of a haunted, harrowing, almost ritualistic book. At nearly 800 pages, it is very long, too long. One of America's finest writers, Banks is also the most underrated. Yet, however much one admires the effort, the monumental Cloudsplitter is not quite as magnificent as it should be.