The unknown lady is, of course, the narrator - with shades of Cusk to her - who we meet checking into a hotel under a false name, just as much as the mysterious and totemic art forger Renee in search of whose story she goes in her dissolute way. Doesn't have the same remarkable quality as Optic Nerve, but does have some of the same pleasures - the sentences, the slipperiness, the combination of clarity with opacity.
