With academic precision (although with less narrative verve than general readers might hope), the Rothmans consider several notable examples of "treatments" that have crossed that vague line from therapy to enhancement.

Lampley had a fine night, bringing intelligent, well-paced narrative verve to his calls.

But it does so with remarkable narrative verve and theatrical invention.

Jane Shilling of The Telegraph said, "Like Human Traces, Engleby is distinguished by a remarkable intellectual energy: a narrative verve, technical mastery of the possibilities of the novel form and vivid sense of the tragic contingency of human life."

But it was a clutch of young playwrights from England and Ireland who shone brightest, combining old-fashioned narrative verve with a bold, atmospheric use of language.

Ill "[Tom Godwin's SF] exhibited a fine clarity of conception, and considerable narrative verve.

The narrative verve and psychological depth in a classic like Theodore H. White's "Making of the President 1960" depended, to a great extent, on behind-the-scenes reporting that, in the age of blanket, moment-by-moment coverage, had already been digested in real time.

However, it received praise from other quarters: the Daily Telegraph said the book was "distinguished by a remarkable intellectual energy: a narrative verve, technical mastery of the possibilities of the novel form and vivid sense of the tragic contingency of human life."

For some reason, neither the narrative verve nor the dismayed affection for her characters that Ms. Weldon has displayed in such recent novels as "The Hearts and Lives of Men" and "Life Force" is anywhere to be found in these pages.

This time, leaving his well-defined courtroom turf to take on wartime experiences that have been written about so exhaustively, he has less narrative verve at his disposal.