Tangled Web UK Review January 2007
The Murmur of Stones by
Thomas H. Cook
hbk out October 06
Published by Quercus
at £12.99
Another spell-binding novel from the great Thomas H. Cook. One or two
reviews of this book have compared it unfavourably with Thomas Cook's
previous novel, the Dagger short-listed Red Leaves (out now in Quercus
paperback). Which I think does this one a considerable injustice.
David Sears,"not the usual suspect", awaits questioning, contemplating "the
vast store of facts and quotations" that he has long suppressed. Amongst
them he recalls Three Deaths, a tale by Leo Tolstoy, and recounts his feelings
of dread as the story unfolded. Then his cell door opens.
Three deaths? At this point in the book we know of no deaths but that is soon
to change. The first we know something about is that of David's father, an
academic and teacher who has ended his days in fits of paranoid rage. "I
wore his death like wings", comments David. The second, again in the recent
past and in mysterious circumstances, is that of Jason, the son of David's
married sister Diana. But the third death (and a possible fourth that is also
suggested) – are they metaphorical, as in Tolstoy's story,
or real deaths in the physical world?
But, as the civilised probing by the polite, college educated police detective
continues – like Cook classics Breakheart Hill (1995) and The Chatham
School Affair (1996) this is a small-town tale – that is not the only question
that haunts the novel. Also ever-present is the family fear that the seed of that
dread disease that so afflicted their father has been passed to future
generations. Cook writes in prose so hushed that every deviation from the
norm is high-lighted – and suspect.
The book comes in at 327 pages (shorter if you allow for the wide-spaced
typography) and it's the perfect length for a tale of this kind. It's a masterclass
in suspense, teasing out the facts one by one and yet stretching each moment
so that the tension becomes unbearable. A literary page-turner, in the best
sense.
(
Bob Cornwell
)
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