|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Belgian born Kevin Wignall, who lives in the west of England, studied at Lancaster University. He taught English as a Second Language before becoming a full time writer. His first novel, People Die, achieved some success and no doubt he hopes his second book, Among The Dead, will reach an even wider audience. It is difficult to categorise Among The Dead. In a brief Q&A on his website, the author denies it is a thriller. It also lacks the humour of his first novel, concentrating deeply on character, human reaction and mistaken loyalties. The book opens with a group of five friends returning to college (a thinly disguised Lancaster University) after a party. The five have been a very close knit group since the beginning of their university careers. Suddenly, a girl whom the reader later discovers to be student Emily Barratt, runs out in front of the car and is tossed quite a long way, presumably to her death. Medical student Alex gets out of the car to investigate the girl's fate and comes back to tell his friends she is dead. Then their quandary begins - what do they do about it? Because they feel their own futures will suffer, they decide not to report the accident to the police. The death goes down in the annals as just another unsolved hit and run. The outline of the beginning of the plot is, as the author acknowledges, reminiscent of the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. The treatment, however, is different. The friendship of the five is examined and it is easy to see the cracks developing right from the beginning. Two of the male students turn to outside friends. something they would never previously have done, and one, despite the vow of secrecy they have taken, divulges to a girl that the group was involved in the accident. Ten years on, Alex is now a doctor involved in sleep research. He is subject to freakish nightmares in which the shade of a woman whom he presumes to be Emily Barratt, appears to him. He is horrified to learn of the death of one of his former friends who had turned to drugs to escape his past but has fallen prey to a drug overdose. Despite considerable doubt being thrown on the method of the killing and the implication it could well be murder, the police refuse to investigate. Alex attempts to track down the remaining trio of friends but is appalled to hear of further deaths. The narrative shifts points of view in the earlier part but in the latter part, ten years on, is told from the point of view of Alex. It is rather a claustrophobic tale but extremely well told with excellent characterisation and coherent writing. Perhaps the introspection is a little overdone but on the whole the story is absorbing. Some strange loose ends are left floating - for example, the mystery of why Emily Barratt was running from the party in the first place, so lost to the world that she flung herself into the path of the car, is never solved. When the author is queried on this point in the Q&A he replies 'I don't know. I wasn't there.' Despite the inconclusiveness, the story really works and should be recommended to readers of crime fiction. Editor's Note: This is a review of the Australian edition, available from Flame books on July 11, 2002.
Reviewed by Denise Wels, June 2002
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
