OK, let’s get this out of the way: anyone who constantly has discussions with their dog goes beyond cutesy to barf. However, this dog called Vera has sarcasm down to a T, thus mitigating my fear of being trapped in a Cozy book. Vera’s resilient keeper, Ms Emmeline Darling, is entertaining her friends with her memoirs—at their request but with her reservations. Emmeline’s early life in Nova Scotia was not easy, a Big Girl predestined to spinsterhood as everyone around her harped, continually commenting on her large shape and useless existence. Rejection by her deranged mother was worst of all; only one brother, Teddy, offered her love. When Teddy is reported injured in the First World War, Emmeline cuts her family ties and hives off to England as fast as she can, to take care of him. That’s just the beginning of her new life in that country; Emmeline’s friends are captivated by her saga. Now with uncertain health, she decides to get her life in order, especially since she inherited the old family farm.
Returning to Nova Scotia, she discovers whole new generations grown in her absence (a family chart would have been appreciated). Engaging characters, all, and even a kindred spirit or two to lift away her childhood heartache and disappointments. Although pretty much a ray of sunshine for everyone, Emmeline (and Vera) know exactly how and when to shut down negative or nasty people. Like the impossibly acrimonious sister-in-law Agatha. Do I need to say it’s not a crime novel? As a catalyst, this woman brings out the best in whomever she meets by “sticking her nose in.” My cynical self asks, could such a kind and wise soul ever actually exist? ... Cozy alert! The book is a bit too long, IMO, but then, there are so many people to fix! Guaranteed: no reader is left unmoved.
Mostly Emmeline
▪ Teddy always made my life better. (9)
▪ Is that what everyone thought of me? A great lump who did nothing all day? (42)
▪ “It’s not a nice image, a daughter trying to get away from her mother. I’ve always been ashamed of it.” (125)
▪ “I think I’ve done a foolish thing, laying bare my life story to a group of women, and now I’m regretting it a little. There are things I realize I cannot say.” (127)
▪ After decades of silence, she’d talked about her family with two friends, and suddenly a letter from home shows up in the mailbox? (165)
▪ “They don’t know what cold is until they’ve sat in a rime-frosted meadow with their bare arse at the crack of dawn on a December morning in Nova Scotia.” (289)
▪ Knowing everything she loved was in this one space made her hum inside. (307)
Others
▪ “Still titillating the others with your unending tale of woe?” (127)
▪ “Look what you’ve done, Father!” Bertie screamed. “You’ve ruined everything. She’s the only one who’ll have me!” (99)
▪ “I hate you!” she shrieked. “I hate you! Why didn’t you die instead of Teddy or John?” (113)
▪ Toby shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “Is this kid coming home from jail or the Olympics?” (243)
▪ “I’m just the emissary, Auntie Em. Your entire family is here with me, to tell you that you made a difference.” (333)
Medics
As luck would have it, when Emmeline walked out of the surgery, she saw a notice on the bulletin board announcing the arrival of a new doctor to the practice who was looking for patients. Dr. Marion Danby. Emmeline went over to the registration desk and asked to be signed up immediately.
“But aren’t you with Dr. Elwood?” the receptionist asked.
“Dr. Elwood says I’m dying. I disagree. And he’s an arsehole. So, I’d like a second opinion.”
The receptionist glanced to the left and right, and seeing that no one was close by, leaned in. “He is an arsehole.” (34)
That dog
“When are you telling the family that you’re handing over the farm to the jailbird?”
“Don’t be saucy, Vera. I suppose I’ll tell them at the Christmas party. I’m hoping that by then Theo will be doing such a great job with the improvements, everyone will realize it was the right decision to make.”
“And what happens if he just moves his old cronies in, and they drink and do drugs all day? How will you feel then?”
“Sometimes, Vera, you just have to go with your gut.”
“Hey. Going with my gut is how I live.” (237)
Protesting
Toby turned his wrath on Emmeline. “What gives you the right to come to town and turn this family upside down with your crazy schemes, and plotting, and getting everyone all tied up into knots? You’ve been out of our lives for forty years and now suddenly you come in like some fairy godmother and point your wand and tell people what you think they should do, and as far as I can see, everyone in this damn family is just marching to your tune like a bunch of lemmings right over a cliff.” (247-8)
Lamenting Bertie
“This is the life I could’ve had with him, if they’d given me half a chance. If they’d given us half a chance. But I was a nobody, and they didn’t want me anywhere near him. They told me we’d never be able to have children. They all lied to me. And his vision is better now. He said he was looking at the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. That was me. I was her. And I’ve lived my life alone, without anyone to love me, without children, because I always felt unwanted.” (339-40)
Although knowing that bath house in gay culture can imply gratuitous sex, I thought this offbeat thriller would help expand my LGBTQ consciousness even if it was a different lifestyle. The principal character in the novel is Oliver Park, a young man who went from addiction recovery and an uncertain future to become the partner of Dr Nathan Klein, a slightly older, stable man who fell in love with him. Living the life of finer things, Oliver is grateful and cared for. But. Oliver’s libido is not satisfied with the good doctor; he secretly takes chances contacting other men on internet chats. On his first visit to a bath house, an attractive stranger called Kristian is his undoing—shockingly, the man throttles him, intent on killing. Only a bit of luck lets him escape. Oliver’s panic kicks in, first to hide the truth of his ghastly bruises from Nathan, then to spill his unverifiable story in confidence to a sympathetic detective, Rachel Henning. She takes his assault very seriously.
Nathan believes the fake explanation that Oliver was mugged on the street, and insists on taking him to the police. Guess who is the detective that they see—Henning, who understands Oliver’s predicament. While she undertakes searches for the murderous Kristian, Oliver is in a quandary, having to build on his lies to save his precious relationship with Nathan. As if that’s not enough, Kristian reveals himself as a practised killer and somehow traces Oliver, resuming his deadly threats. Another disaster appears in the form of lowlife Hector, Oliver’s previous lover, bent on revenge for being dumped. Oliver’s mental anguish ratchets up excruciatingly. We hear from Nathan, too, whose shrewish mother controls ownership of their luxurious home, and she highly disapproves of Oliver as trash. Unknown to Oliver, Nathan is presented with an impossible ultimatum.
Oliver needs to share his continuing fears with Detective Henning, and summon the courage to tell Nathan the truth. There’s much more in the layers of interconnected secrets and lies. This novel has everything going for it: complex plot, fast pace, thoughtful writing, complicated characters. The climactic scene is horrific. Yet sex is the dominant issue, and some was more gratuitous than comfortable, although probably no more representative of gays than straights. Much depends on whether a character, or which one, prompts your empathy. Oliver—self-indulgent narcissist or immature näif? Nathan—unconditional lover or manipulative control freak?
Oliver
▪ This man lusts for me and being objectified is an intoxicating little feeling I’ve missed terribly. (17)
▪ My gut moves like I’ve swallowed a teeming knot of hornets. (141)
▪ Kristian has destroyed my sense of security and possibly my relationship, and now Hector—Hector!―has surfaced like the undead. (205)
▪ Everything’s unraveling. Everyone’s paying for my mistakes. (270)
▪ Call Detective Henning now! Before it’s too goddamn late! (373)
▪ “The coincidences, the timing, the whole thing felt, I don’t know, engineered. It smacked of design.” (415)
Detective Henning
▪ Would she ask a straight man that question? (76)
▪ “You need to understand what a false report means.” (117)
▪ Then we sit in silence for an uncomfortable length of time before she breaks it: “You have to tell him.” (156)
Nathan
▪ After five years of dwindling emotional investment from him, do I have some kind of psychosexual issue? (190)
▪ My dog. My house. My husband. My control. My mind. I’m losing them all. (264)
▪ It’s only reasonable, then, to conclude that he simply does not find me attractive. (277)
▪ If nothing else, I’ve instilled in him an ear for tones. Oliver knows when I give him a choice, and when I do not. (355)
Ian Rankin. Westwind. 1990. UK: Orion Fiction, 2019.
Wow. Rankin’s very early “forgotten” novel, a stand-alone with slight editing and an introduction by the author. Quite the fascinating departure from his outstanding crime series featuring Inspector Rebus. The story takes place in a fictional 1990, when American troops are leaving Europe and the UK—leaving them to their own defence options. Martin Hepton works in a British space lab, with colleagues Paul, Nick, and others, monitoring satellite communications and surveillance. Everyone in the building is stunned when the computers suddenly lose contact with their satellite, Zephyr. Especially during a visit from what looks like top-ranking army brass. After three minutes or so, everything comes back to normal; no one understands what happened but carry on they do. Martin, however, has a very inquiring mind and Paul thinks that he may have glimpsed something odd on his screen. Before Paul can share details, he’s hustled away to a “rest home” and winds up in a noose.
In the USA, horror envelopes their space centre as their shuttle, Argos, malfunctions on its descent, crashing to earth in a fiery ball. Five American astronauts die; Major Michael Dreyfuss, a British observer onboard, is the sole survivor. He’s whisked away to recover, eventually to deal with various covert or military officials. Dreyfuss and Hepton will intersect as each tries to figure out what went wrong in their respective operations. Actually, they have another common interest: their love for reporter Jilly Watson. Martin’s tenacity leads him into danger from competing intelligence agencies and a vicious assassin, not knowing whom to trust as he pieces together a mind-blowing conspiracy. Great stuff: lively action, spies everywhere, dizzying twists; more than standing the test of time!
One-liners
▪ “I ... don’t seem to remember that,” he lied, though why his instincts told him to conceal his returning memory was a mystery. (24)
▪ “It is in everyone’s interest for you to forget whatever Paul Vincent told you.” (51)
▪ “It seems Hepton paid Villiers a visit, wanted to know how to reach Major Dreyfuss.” (122)
▪ “How do we know he’ll come to the bar?” Sanders whispered. (156)
▪ “We had a spot of bother,” Parfit explained. (235)
▪ “You see, generals don’t always agree with their governments, and they command more respect from their men than do politicians.” (260)
Multi-liners
▪ Gilchrist’s job was to get things done, no matter what. Parfit’s job was damage limitation. There could never be one without the other. (28)
▪ “There was something up there, Martin. Something big.” (37)
▪ “I don’t want Jilly getting mixed up in this,” Dreyfuss hissed. “Anything but that. Keep her out of it, Parfit.” (125)
▪ “I’m going to kill you, Hepton! Going to shoot you to hell, you bastard!” (130)
▪ “You’re doing this unsanctioned,” Stewart observed. “That’s a dangerous game for us both.” (177)
▪ “These orders came from overseas. Someone’s been keeping tabs on Mr Devereux, someone besides your friends and you.” (224)
Worst scenario
“This is not a test. Repeat, this is not a test.”
They paused to look at each other, reading fresh panic in eyes reflecting their own. Not a test! It had to be a test. Otherwise they’d just lost a thousand million pounds’ worth of tin and plastic. Lost it for how long? Hepton checked his watch. The system had been inoperative for over two minutes. That meant it really was serious. Another minute or so could spell disaster.
Fagin, the operations manager, had appeared from nowhere and was sprinting from console to console as though taking part in some kind of party game. Two of the brass were in evidence too, looking as though they’d just stepped out of a meeting. They carried files under their arms and stood by the far door, knowing nothing of the system or how to be of help. (6)
Devereux, American controller
Now, his head was full of unanswered questions and fears. He again examined his fellow passengers, and saw that they looked every bit as nervous as he felt. First-timers in London, he supposed, and wary of every step.
Maybe at last he could stop looking over his shoulder. Maybe he could stop worrying about what he had seen, what they seemed to know he had seen. And had paid him to forget about, paid him by way of a holiday, a swanky hotel, a plastic wallet full of paper money. Maybe they’d leave him alone. And maybe when he stopped worrying, he’d stop thinking about it too.
Maybe, but he doubted it. (68)
Technical expertise
There was a knock at the door, and it opened. “Oh, there you are.” Sanders entered, carrying a bottle of whisky under his arm and a crystal glass in each hand. Hepton shook his head.
“That’s not what I need,” he said. “What I really need is a TV lab. Your surveillance personnel probably have one. Get me there, then I’ll show you what’s on these.” He slapped the tapes.
Sanders studied him, to ascertain whether he might be suffering from shock or something similar. All he saw was determination and a mind ready for work.
“I’ll call in,” he said. “I think I know just the place.”
“One question,” said Hepton. “How did they know about this place?”
Sanders shook his head. “I wish to God I knew.” (205)
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