Skios – Michael Frayn

Skios, the Greek island home of the Fred Toppler Foundation and destination of Dr Norman Wilfred, eminent scholar, booked to deliver the prestigious annual lecture to the great and the good gathered there.

Skios, also the destination of Oliver Fox, feckless philanderer, for an illicit assignation with the gorgeous Georgie in a luxury villa borrowed from a friend of a friend.

Skios Airport, where the confusion begins: first, Dr Wilfred and Oliver Fox have identical suitcases; second, Oliver eyes the ‘discretely tanned, discretely blonde’ Nikki Hook holding up the sign to welcome Dr Wilfred and he just can’t resist the opportunity for a free ride from the airport, probably a free meal, and possibly more besides. Particularly as Georgie is delayed.

Dr Wilfred is left with no luggage and no limo, but it is not all bad as Oliver’s taxi, the luxury villa and Georgie (back on schedule) have become available.

Frayn’s capacity for farce in theatre (Noises Off) and cinema (Clockwise) translates well into the written word as he skilfully keeps all the plates spinning as characters enter and exit foundation and villa, with two Greek taxi drivers, brothers Stavros and Spiros, providing the necessary, if largely unremunerated, shuttle service.

It’s clever and funny, but Frayn provides some food for thought through Dr Wilfred’s belief (well tested here) in cause and effect; and in his realisation that not being Dr Wilfred is not all bad.

The read is light but fairly breathless as events hurtle towards a finale full of possibilities. Dr Wilfred would argue they are probabilities based on cause and effect, but would have to concede that this ending is at the lower end of the bell curve.

 

Pure – Andrew Miller

By 1785 the cemetery at les Innocents in the heart of Paris has become a problem that can be ignored no longer. The rotting of countless bodies, particularly in the common pits, is producing a stink that pervades the district and threatens public health. The King has decreed that the church and graveyard, bones and all, be removed.

Young provincial engineer Jean-Baptiste Baratte is given the task and arrives in the capital keen to make his name as the man who purified Paris. He soon meets a cast of characters who would be at home in Les Miserables.

There is the demonic remnant priest, heard but not seen; an aged sexton with a young, innocent daughter eager to help; the organist with revolutionary tendencies; Baratte’s landlord and landlady with an eligible if unattractive daughter; and finally the mysterious “Austrienne” who plies her ancient profession to the better off local tradesmen.

The engineer brings into the mix his former colleague from the mines of Valenciennes with his handpicked crew of ex-miners to dig out the burial pits and extract the bones for transfer out of the city.

Jean-Baptiste’s professional, personal and even political life comes under close scrutiny as his mission becomes known; welcomed by some locals but resented by others. He is a free thinker, a man of the future, but this job could grind anyone down and pressure grows as the summer heat builds.

The story unfolds in the present tense, giving an immediacy and volatility that suits its ends. The writing is crisp and, despite its dark subject, light, drawing the reader effortlessly into pre-revolutionary Paris. The characters are well drawn and tension and uncertainty remain to the end.

All that is known for sure is that Jean-Baptiste will finish the year more than 12 months older and much wiser in the ways of Paris.

Trick – Sean Hancock

School’s out, and Richard Trick having finished his GCSEs, is at a loose end. He lives in Hitterton, a non-descript little town in North Devon remarkable in his view only for the absence of an appropriate initial letter S in its name. He is in with a bad crowd and they are into fags, booze, dope and now a (not very) armed robbery on the local store.

The raid is unexpectedly successful both in terms of execution and the proceeds, but this brings more problems than it solves for the gang. They can’t spend the cash without attracting suspicion and the money taken includes the ill-gotten gains of a local hoodlum, who wants it back.

Trick’s problems don’t end there: he is the only black kid in town; he’s in love with a girl he thinks is unattainable; and relations with his mum and stepdad are fraught (or normal for a teenager).

Hancock takes us through Trick’s pivotal summer at a fast pace, with liberal references to fashion (branded T-shirts & trainers), music (retro heavy metal), and soft drug culture. Also used liberally is the unsavoury language of unsavoury youth.

The subject matter, style and language would probably go down well with the young adult market. But while some may consider it unsuitable for younger teens due to the casual swearing and drug references, older teenagers may find the story lacks sophistication and depth.

As an adult (vetting the book for my 15 year-old) I found it passed the time well enough, and I did feel for Trick. Hancock does capture some of the vulnerability, frustration and irrationality of adolescence, as Trick perversely pursues paths that he knows will lead him to no good. Will his dawning maturity and native wit be sufficient to find a sustainable route out of the mess?

Care of Wooden Floors – Will Wiles

The book opens with the un-named narrator arriving in an obscure Eastern European city to flat-sit for his old university friend, now classical musician, Oskar.

Oskar’s compulsion for neatness and order, illustrated by his minimalist composition ‘Variations on Tram Timetables’ finds expression in his stylish flat. To ensure it is looked after he has left detailed written instructions for its care, many out of sight but strategically placed in anticipation of need at some juncture. Care of the pristine wooden floors is particularly urged.

The temporary custodian is at first amused, but then irritated by Oskar’s ability to second-guess his every move; after all he can surely be trusted to look after a flat for a week or two, even one with wooden floors, a leather sofa, grand piano and two cats. There is even a cleaner who calls twice a week.

In fact it is an opportunity to prove that his personal disorganised lifestyle is due to circumstance not nature. But no: he asserts his capacity for independent thought, ignores some apparently over-prescriptive notes, and the first minor mishap occurs.

Order is a fragile, unstable state of being. Once upset, attempts to restore it can be counter-productive (in life as well as in flats). As his eight-day stay proceeds the various components – floor, sofa, piano, cats and even the cleaner – are at increasing risk, not to mention the narrator himself, the unwilling agent of entropy.

The novel unfolds beautifully from early philosophical musings, through awkward social interactions, to frantic farce. All related with the same detached, elegant prose shot through with descriptions and metaphors that drip originality and wit.

A read that starts intriguingly and just gets better and better.

 

Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham

Read as part of the World Book Night 2012 reading journey.

When an observant pathologist is curious about the death of a young female stroke victim, who has none of the usual risk factors but has traces of a tranquiliser in her blood, he shares his concern with colleagues. As a result two other similar cases come to light and the police are alerted. Someone is plying young women with alcohol and drugs before applying a medical procedure to induce a stroke.

Then a fourth victim, Alison Willets, is left dumped at A&E; still alive but in a coma, specifically locked-in syndrome, fully conscious but unable to move or speak.

DI Tom Thorne is on the case and he receives a chilling note from the killer. Alison’s survival was not a mistake but the intended outcome; it was the preceding deaths that represented failure. And having now succeeded in suspending Alison between life and death, he plans to test his technique again.

The procedural crime thriller takes it from there at a good pace. Unsurprisingly we get conflict between Thorne and his superiors as he is determined to pursue his prime suspect despite the lack of evidence. Last time he ignored a hunch there were tragic consequences. We also get some love interest as he hits on Alison’s neurologist, who’s attractive, recently divorced, and has history with the suspect.

But in addition to following Thorne we get two other perspectives. One is locked-in Alison’s view of the world as her thoughts on the case and her situation punctuate the narrative with punchy, Geordie-girl directness. The other is from the unidentified killer. But here Billingham teases us throughout with clever use of the personal pronoun; the reader is unsure whether the ‘he’ referred to in these passages is always the killer – sometimes it turns out to be another character entirely.

The uncertainty lasts to the climax when all is satisfactorily revealed; but what represents a satisfactory ending for Thorne, his neurologist friend, or indeed Alison Willets?

This first in the DI Thorne series was a good read, well written with a pleasing balance of action, procedure and psychology. Thorne’s personal demons emerge but don’t dominate the book. Whether that remains the case in the next book in the series, “Scaredy Cat”, I will let you know in due course.

The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning – Hallgrimur Helgason

Hardened in the crucible of the 1990’s Croatian – Serbian conflict, Tomislav Boksic graduates through the Croatian Mafia to be a top contract killer – 66 professional hits and counting. And, taking a pride in his work, he is counting. Unfortunately #66 turned out to be an undercover FBI officer and the agency is turning New York upside down to find the killer.

His cover blown and feds all over the airport, he takes refuge in the gents and emerges with #67’s clothes (including dog collar), passport and flight tickets to Iceland. His hopes of a low profile arrival in Reykjavik are dashed by a welcoming committee of local Christians expecting the Reverend David Friendly, the famous (in their circles) US evangelist with his own TV show.

Cultural misunderstandings abound as the peaceful Icelanders and the Christian do-gooders get to work on redeeming the soon unmasked Croatian hitman, whose name has not been abridged to “Toxic” without reason. More effective are the attentions of the young, sexy, “butter-blonde” Gunnhildur, who is strangely attracted to the middle-aged, balding, overweight criminal; (it must be the glamour of notoriety or else subconscious wish-fulfilment from Helgason).

Can the leopard change his spots and become a fluffy white polar bear? Can this Icelandic refuge indefinitely shelter him from the FBI and his old Mafia bosses?

The Icelandic Helgason wrote the book in English, and it bobs along easily enough. There is some black humour, some farcical moments and much use of the F word. My interest flagged in the middle as credibility stretched and empathy with Toxic evaporated. However the finale had tension and pathos giving a glimpse of what the novel might have achieved.

In my view the book it suffers from a lack of identity: not funny enough for a farce; too light–hearted for a thriller; unbelievable as a romance; and lacking the weight to be redemptive. Other than that it was OK.

Gone with the Wind (volume 2) by Margaret Mitchell

The Review (continued)

The first 500 page volume was reviewed in April 2013 and took us up to the loss of Atlanta and the defeat of the Confederacy.

In volume 2 the war is over and sufficient of the main characters have survived to continue the story. Tara is still standing; or rather it’s on its knees. With the hated Yankees in control, the negroes freed and carpetbaggers from the North flooding in to plunder the defenceless Southern states, Scarlett needs cash to pay taxes or lose the plantation. She turns gold-digger (not in the Californian sense) and returns to Atlanta to entrap one of the few respectable southern gents with any cash.

This saves Tara and gets Scarlett a toe-hold in the now booming Atlanta economy. Her approach to the carpetbaggers is if you can’t beat them, join them. Rhett Butler has the same view and they continue their tempestuous relationship, making dollars, infiltrating the new-moneyed Yankee folk, but losing the respect of the downtrodden, proud remnants of Confederate society. Only faithful friend Melanie Wilkes and her husband Ashley will give them the time of day.

These desperate days for the Southerners give birth to the abomination of the Klu Klux Klan, which attempts to mete out a rough justice on negroes perceived to have slighted (or worse) any white lady’s honour. Following one of their skirmishes Scarlett finds herself widowed for the second time; free once more, but to wed Rhett Butler or to prise Ashley Wilkes from his passionless marriage?

The painful reconstruction of the South eventually gives way to recovery as Georgia gains a measure of self-governance. But the complex four-cornered relationship between Scarlett, Rhett, Melanie and Ashley shows strain and stress under the pressure of events, producing uncertainty right to the end.

The power of the book is in Scarlett’s uncompromising character; frequently dishonourable, always selfish, but undeniably resilient in the face of adversity. Any problem too big to solve today can be shrugged off until tomorrow – famously “another day”. What lifts the book out of the chick-lit pot-boiler category is the broad historical sweep and the riveting scenes between Scarlett and Rhett that crackle with sexual tension and expostulate Rhett’s “don’t give a damn” philosophy.

Six month’s reading (both volumes) and no regrets; tomorrow is another book!