Literary Views And Reviews SOME OF THE NEW NOVELS

Press, Issue 31095, 25 June 1966, Page 4

Literary Views And Reviews SOME OF THE NEW NOVELS

The Savage State. By Georges Conchon. Collins. 255 PP. In 1958, Georges Conchon spent some months in an administrative capacity in Cen-

tral Africa, and this novel, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1964, is the outcome of his disillusioning experience there. A UJi.E.S.C.O. official called Avit is sent on a mission to a newly-constituted republic in Equatorial Africa, formerly a French colony. Avit is young, politically naive, and has little understanding of the racial tensions which exist beneath the facade of peaceful co-existence. He starts off badly by showing disdain for some racist sentiments expressed by a French businessman. Shortly afterwards, however, he discovers that his former wife, who deserted him for a French trader, is now the mistress of an African Cabinet Minister, and he is at once confused by strong racial feelings of repulsion. The situation in which Avit now finds himself, is an explosive one. His presence in the African state is resented by the Negroes, who consider Laura’s liaison with one of their leading figures an affront to their race. He is rejected just as vigorously by the dissolute French community, who not only despise him as an ineffectual cuckold, but sense in his predicament a reflection of their own uncertain status in a Negro State. Helplessly confused by his experiences, Avit flounders blindly around, treading tactlessly on everyone’s toes. Resentment and hate quickly erode the flimsy restraints of civilised behaviour, and culminate in a gruelling trek to the aerodrome, during which Avit and Laura become the sport of the whole population. The outcasts are buffeted backwards and forwards between blacks and whites in a symbolic act of rejection; and a brief rapport is established between the two races in the picnic atmosphere of what promises to become a piece of ritual blood-letting. The irony of this scene is superbly controlled, and the novel as a whole is a powerful indictment of the excesses of racism—black as well as white.

Moving Target By Jack McClenaghan. Reed. 192 PP"Moving Target” is Jack McClenaghan's first novel and should appeal to those New Zealanders who have not yet tired of reading about “good keen blokes.” It tells the story of Jim Dougherty, who when called up for warservice is unable to conform to the rigid discipline of the Army and so deserts to resume his life as a deer stalker and gold prospector. The tale of the subsequent man hunt is far too drawn out; one feels that this idea would have been better suited to treatment as a short story rather than as a full length novel. The book is marred too by an unnecessarily complicated time scheme, involving a long sequence in which Dougherty dreams of the past, and by some oversimplified and exaggerated characterisation of bullying army officers. However, the central character on which the book really stands is sympathetically if obviously drawn, as are a couple of minor characters who assist Dougherty, Tibbett and Southey. It is clear that the writer knows and loves the bush-covered ranges which are the background to the

hunt and his descriptions of the bush and the mountain huts form some of the best parts of the book. This is by no means the “remarkable first novel” that the dust jacket claims, but it is interesting and readable if rather shallow and obvious.

Shooting Script. By Gavin Lyall. Hodder and Stoughton. 254 pp.

Gavin Lyall achieved instant popularity with his first novel, "The Wrong Side of the Sky,” and sustained it with his next two books. In his new book Mr Lyall fills in against the aviation background he creates so expertly a Latin American revolution and an American film unit on location in the Caribbean. The chief character is Keith Carr, a commercial pilot who is trying to keep a one-man charter business going. He first encounters an old fighterpilot comrade who tries to enlist him into a rebel squadron he is training. Carr’s refusal leads to conclusions being drawn by several interests, including the F. 8.1., and his involvement in some embarrassing chicanery. The interest the film unit comes to take in him weaves into his other affairs usually with dramatic but sometimes amusing results. This story includes the technical command of flying details that readers have come to expect from Mr Lyall; there is also the crisp writing and sharp characterisation for which his work is notable. And in this book Mr Lyall shows a neat sense of humour, and a not overdone capacity for guying. Gavin Lyall goes from strength to strength, earning as he goes the respect that attaches to a specialist doing his chosen job well.

Tree Frog. By Martin Woodhouse. Heinemann. 218 pp.

This story is in the current trend of secret service/ espionage thrillers in which the hero is the victim of manipulation by his own side, to his great discomfort and danger. Giles Yeoman, a scientist, knows there is something phony about some pieces of an aircraft allegedly brought from East Germany that are shown to him, and he is just as sceptical about a top-secret pilotless reconnaissance aircraft he is taken to a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire to examine. But curiosity persuades him to be bait for “the other side” at an international scientific conference in Vienna. From there he becomes dangerously involved in cold war machinations and as baffled as “the other side” to know where truth lies. The dialogue is sophisticated, as would be expected from a writer who is a psychologist and medical doctor; and the artion is sharp and at times more than a trifle extravagant, as would be expected from one who cut his teeth as a television writer on “Supercar” and moved on to “The Avengers.”

The Shadow of the Land. By Phillip Houghton. Hodder and Stoughton. 224 pp.

Rakeahus, the land “beside the rim of the earth,” which shapes the lives of all who try to wrest a living from it is the central force in this first novel by Phillip Houghton. It is a waste land where a tiny community is perched on the edge of an inhospitable lake, “bounded to the east by the flat sterile immensity of the plains and on the other side by the

cliffs which rear up at a near perpendicular angle for a thousand feet or more.” In long passages of description and in short telling comments Mr Houghton has created a land which pulls! at the imagination and takes' vivid shape in the mind of the reader. This creation is without doubt the main merit of the novel for the other aspects of the book fall far short of the standard it sets.. The characterisation is in general weak and stereotyped; the plot melodramatic; the tone of writing too I unvaried. One feels the ! author has tried to write a powerful novel of huge characters and intense emotion and has not quite succeeded. The land he has ; created as background is worthy of better-drawn characters and a less improbable story.

Dark Blood Dark Terror. By Brian Cleeve. Hammond, Hammond. 251 pp.

The way in which the chief figure in this story, Sean Ryan, is made known to the reader induces the belief that the book is a sequel to an earlier one; but this reviewer could find no printed advice to this effect, and he just went on learning piecemeal and casually that Ryan is exIrish Republican Army and ex-convict and is now engaged by British Intelligence, having recently returned from a mysterious assignment in Egypt. The dust cover says Mr Cleeve served in counterintelligence during the Second World War; unless it was among the worst sadistic

dregs of a Nazi concentration camp staff, it is impossible to believe that he ever met any beasts as bestial as the general run of men in this extravagant fiction called “Dark Blood Dark Terror.” !The plot involves a liberal organisation designed !to humanise relationships ! between whites, blacks and [ coloureds in South Africa, and two completely ruthless movements, one pledged to murder the whites and the other to killing or enslaving the blacks under a merciless white dictatorship. Fearing a brutal mountain of South African muscle called Lieutenant Naude, Ryan accepts instructions from him and sets out into the seamy side of London in search of Michael, a liberal (who has been kidnapped mysteriously) and his coloured mistress Marijke (whom he finds and rescues from threatening circumstances). Of course, he goes to bed with her and falls in love. There are some murders, and he and the girl come under suspicion (wrongly, of course). She has had her passport stolen. But that presents no difficulty to Ryan: he steals a Negro’s passport, forges alterations on it where necessary, personally paints her whole body with a disguising dye, and escapes with her to Switzerland. There Mr Cleeve really lets his imagination run riot in devising sadistic tortures for use by an international gang of incredible whites. The reviewer spares the details, except to mention that Ryan, the girl and Michael (rediscovered in brutal captivity) escape—but only just.