Synopsis/blurb….
It was a White
Christmas. A pet cat was found strangled in a snow drift. A road accident on
the moor had set free a notorious child-killer. A mentally defective girl had
disappeared from the village party. Snow blocked the country lanes. Telephone
wires, blown down in the storm, isolated the village….
A rubbishy reading month ended on a high with this 1969
book, perhaps more famously regarded for the 1971 film – Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah
with Susan George and Dustin Hoffman than the novel that spawned it.
We have a married couple renting a farmhouse – Trencher’s
Farm in the West Country village of Dando. George Magruder is an American
professor seeking solitude to finish his book. Louise is his English wife and
Karen their young daughter.
Keen to embrace English village life, George embarks on a
visit to local pub, where he is ignored by the villagers. Dando is a village
with a particular suspicion of outsiders – not just of trans-Atlantic visitors
but even folk from the next valley. They look after their own, never more so in
the oft-whispered case of what happened at Soldier’s Field when the village
men-folk dealt out justice to a village girl’s rapist. Within our community we
have some villagers with a less insular view, in particular one of the church
elders and the doctor; people who have lived part of their life away from the
confines of Dando.
Our sense of isolation becomes more palpable with the on-set
of a severe snow-storm which cuts the village off from the outside. The weather
contributes to an accident in which an ambulance crashes and the patient, a
notorious child-killer - Henry Niles escapes in the aftermath. Niles, himself possesses
the mind of a child and is now on the loose with the village boundaries. Throw
in a damaged, missing village girl, herself the product of years on in-breeding
and the village soon takes on a panicked mentality.
George out driving in the storm, collecting his wife and
daughter from the village Christmas party, runs over Niles in the snow and
takes him back to Trencher’s Farm to look after him. A call to the police –
hours away because of the snowstorm and the village doctor, soon has the local
grapevine buzzing and the men-folk up in arms. Missing girl, child-killer on
the loose – 2 plus 2 = 5. A raiding party is on its way to Trencher’s Farm and
the American who is harbouring the guilty party.
Violent, brutal, gripping, atmospheric. The villagers in the
gang display a convincing sense of entitlement and hey you certainly can’t
knock their community spirit! From our married couple, we have an already
difficult relationship put under extreme pressure. Our marriage is full of
discontent and pain, does the approaching trauma cause it to fracture further –
beyond repair or does the shared danger bring them together? With our child
killer, we see confusion and a lack of comprehension or is this just a mask
until opportunity presents itself in the shape of Karen, the Magruder’s
daughter?
Interesting also, how avowed pacifist, George almost
embraces the physical danger with relish once he has accepted that on this
occasion violence must be met with violence.
4.5 from 5
I purchased a copy of this some years ago second hand
online.
My copy depicts Hoffman in a scene from the film. Something
I have a copy of but haven’t yet watched. I’ll be interested to see the
similarities and the differences. I think originally the film was extremely controversial
on release and the subject of some kind of ban and cuts. I believe the film
twists the plot-line into once concerning locals and the rape of Louise Magruder
as opposed to a vigilante gang targeting a paedophile and child-killer.
This would have been an entry for Rich Westwood’s Crimes of
the Century meme in October, but unfortunately whilst I managed to finish the
book in the month, my thoughts didn’t make the deadline.
Author Gordon M. Williams hails from Scotland so this one will count towards my on-going three year Scottish Reading Challenge! He's an interesting character having written over 20 novels and for film and television, including an old TV favourite of mine - Hazell. In collaboration with Terry Venables, he penned a few Hazell novels under the pen name P.B. Yuill - I have a couple of them. Read more about him here at his wiki page.
Col, you have sold me on the book, but I'd like to watch the film before I read the book.
ReplyDeletePrashant, until I looked up the film I hadn't realised there was a 2011 re-make, so you might have a couple of versions to choose from. From some reading yesterday the 71 film version at least has a different plot line and emphasis than the book. The basic premise of the couple coming under attack remains.
DeleteThanks for the inputs, Col. I like Hoffman in his early films.
DeletePrashant - you're welcome. Let me know how you get on if you do manage to see either version, or read it.
DeleteI'm glad you thought this was a good read, Col. I admit I've not read it, but the film is a classic. I'll be really keen to know whether you havea preference for one or the other once you've seen the film.
ReplyDeleteMargot cheers. I hope to watch it soon, but it might be uncomfortable viewing. I'm not too sure anyone else in the family will be enthusiastic about watching it TBH.
DeleteI almost mistakenly thought that Dustin Hoffman was the author...on first glance. This book sounds interesting. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteKeishon - you're welcome. If Hoffman wrote something like this I'd probably read it....haha
DeleteThis is a very interesting post, Col. I did see the 1971 movie when it came out and it was much too bloody and violent and realistic for me. I wasn't prepared for it at all. Now I watch more bloody and violent action thrillers but they do not seem so realistic. The book sounds like I might try it. It is relatively short, isn't it. And I was very interested in the information about the author.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post and I'm guessing you won't necessarily be re-watching the film. The book was only 160 pages long, so yes short but it didn't feel brief if that makes sense. There was enough time to get to know and understand everyone.
DeleteStrangely, I read a different book by Gordon Williams a while back, a Booker-nominated literary novel. He had a very varied career. But I hated it - misery doom and gloom down on the farm in a different way. So not tempted by this.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of the Hazell books, but I'm happy to stop there. (Unusually for me!)
DeleteWell, at last a book that I've already read, so I don't have to worry about whether I should stick it on the list or not! I also know the original movie well, though I've not bothered with the remake -- I spose I ought to get round to it sometime, but I cannot imagine what it might have to bring to the table.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised you've crossed paths with both during your illustrious career. I'll wait and see if you watch the remake. Any luck with WILD TALES?
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