'Behind The Text’ Part 16_’Family Business’
‘Do good to you & yours, and then to others if you can.’ (Italian Proverb)
Hi,
‘Family Business' was published in 2013 and the 12th chronological novel
in the 'Jonas Forbes Saga'. It's set in 1966 England but is rather
different from most of the others in the series. Jonas Forbes is hired by
nobody but intervenes on behalf of his sister when her husband is badly injured
by the Morrison gang. For much of the book Jonas is on the run – from BOTH the
British police and the gang. Most of the action takes place away from urban
surroundings. Jonas’s normal helpers, Vanessa Holmes & John Wyatt prove of
limited use – Vanessa is hidden away for her own safety and John Wyatt is
restricted by his official responsibilities.
The
Morrison gang are linked to the Richardsons (notorious in the 1960’s UK along with
the Kray twins) and their plan to conceal their finances is ruined by the
dishonesty of one solicitor and the honesty of another, who happens to be the
brother-in-law of Jonas Forbes. It soon becomes a battle between Jonas and the
gang in which both innocent and guilty suffer.As we lived near Tunbridge Wells during the late ‘60’s, where the opening sequences occur, and had close relatives living near Petworth & Upperton, I found no problem in hiding Jonas away. I’ve tried to reproduce local attitudes etc. from memory when the area was ‘unsophisticated’ 25 years before the internet was developed. Various features – prices, transport, interests and living conditions – have changed far more than may be initially believed; here memory comes to the aid (& hindrance?) of research. I’d like to apologise here & now for my embarrassing attempt to reproduce a Scots accent & dialect. It was an attempt to fill out the character of Fraser Morrison.
This
novel contains several nasty scenes – e.g. the questioning of Daniel Longcroft
and the abuse of his wife, Cecile –
necessary because of the effect they reveal. Madness takes over Cecile as the
rather unpleasant personality she possessed is ground into nothing. But there
are other forms. Hilda Frost worshipping her boss to the point of self-delusion
and, by that route, resorting to such sadism as to bring about a collapse in
her own mental state through remorse. Max Morrison, so cocksure and yet so
terrified of his father that his highly-strung personality can swing so easily
between kindness & cruelty that arrogance brings about his
destruction.
Minor characters, I hope, are more than stereotypes – the police
(DCI Nicholson & Sergeant Wilkes), the locals (David Simmonds & his
Jonas-worshipping family – and the resentful Harry Benbow) and the typists
(Susan & Janet, varying in the measure of charity they can muster for
others).
This thriller’s end lurches towards disillusion, despair and
the other ‘d’s associated with the darker side of life. The winners merely
survive – John Fairbrother remains crippled, neither Cecile nor Hilda are the
women they were and Vanessa’s marriage to Simon Holmes persists, or just about.
Next time, Jonas learns a lot - but not quite all that's needed.
Bob Hyslop
Next time, Jonas learns a lot - but not quite all that's needed.
Bob Hyslop
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