Jon Morgan is a retired police Superintendent and francophile who, it is said, has consequently seen almost everything awful that people can do to each other. He relishes quality writing in all genres but advises particularly on police procedure for authors including John Harvey and Jon McGregor. Haunts bookshops both new and secondhand and stands with Erasmus: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I may buy food and clothes.”
The premise here is a twenty-five plus year re-union of old university friends some successful, some not so, some with kids, some without and the tensions and dynamics of a largely, though not wholly, rather privileged, group at Oxford which surface after a long time buried. Surfacing and at the same time impacting on the present when one of the hosts of the re-union is accused of the rape of another.
The group then fractures and largely from the perspective of the wife of the accused man, events unravel. Other perspectives are addressed both through flashbacks, first person reflections and narratives and the story is progressed through a series of twists and revelations. The book is well written and engaging but the hyperbole of the cover blurb as “brilliant and breathless” is rather difficult to justify. Yes, the denouement is particularly Machiavellian and it come after a false denouement which is a nice touch, but the whodunit was visible from some way off albeit not the why !
Some good examinations of how the middle class liberal position on rape suddenly falters when it is one’s own husband who is accused. All in all a more than competent book which has few characters who are actually terribly pleasant. Analysing them would take too long but from employers covering their own backs to school teachers seeking to protect institutions rather than individuals, no one comes off particularly well. Perhaps too many issues are sought to be addressed here!
One issue grated slightly and possibly from my experience in the Criminal Justice system. I think it most unlikely that a key witness in a serious crime would be allowed to visit — pre-trial — an alleged offender. whilst remanded in custody.
Still, they, mostly, seem live happily ever after…
