|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
This classic crime novel first appeared in 1953 and has been reissued with a new introduction by John Le Carre. The author, John Bingham, and Le Carre worked together at MI5 but ended their friendship in part because of the betrayal Bingham felt about Le Carre, whom he mentored. These two men, both outstanding writers on their own terms, came from two different generations of spies, and their writing worlds reflect a difference of vision, though not necessarily of purpose, which could not be reconciled. What Le Carre champions in his introduction is Bingham’s fine writing style, gentlemanly-mannered characters, and keen perception of the human condition captured in his stories. In FIVE ROUNDABOUTS TO HEAVEN, Bingham explores the friendship of two men who become entangled with the same woman. The first man is Philip Bartels, a failure in the wine trade, who is married to a woman who cannot love him; the second man is his friend Peter Harding, who is more successful in every aspect of life, including his ability to steal Bartels’s mistress away from him. At the center of the story is the simple question: What causes an ordinary man to consider murder? In Bartels’s case, it is the poisoning of his own wife, in his desperate attempt to be with his mistress and find a woman who can truly love him, while 'protecting' his wife from a life of loneliness. What author John Bingham does so well in his storytelling style is capture the mindset of Bartels as he plots the murder and considers all those details that might entrap him after the act has been committed. Meanwhile, his friend Peter Harding (unbeknownst to Bartels) has his own agenda in place – to steal Bartels’s mistress. Bingham brilliantly uses the detail of everyday life and flashbacks to Bartels’s childhood to convey the machinations of the mind of Bartels, to let the reader inside his brain as he applies his flawed logic to the rationale of murder. Perhaps even more sinister are the actions of his friend Harding, who Bartels never suspects of disloyalty, even until the end. Harding uses Bartels’s own weaknesses against him to serve his ends, even while recognizing that he has a choice to bring happiness into the picture, changing the foregone conclusion to the story. That such likeable characters are made so sinister is testament to the writing skill of Bingham. Although the period setting of the novel may seem a far cry from the world of today, the story remains universal. So it’s no surprise that this classic crime novel would be reissued in 2007; its characters and story remain timeless.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, August 2007
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
