Some Deaths Before Dying

Rating:
Summary: A pleasing return to the field by one of our best writers.
Review: Peter Dickinson is a writer who couples great insight into human character with a quirky genius for special effects. This latter talent has been evidenced more in his wonderful childrens books over the last few years, than it has in his mysteries. No longer are apes the sole witness to horrendous crime; or households of somnulent children the background to sensitive explorations of life and death. In Dickinson's last two adult novels he has concentrated on the imagined lives of his characters, and they take central stage. I think these books are equally accomplished, though less pyrotechnic. I suspect I will return to them, perhaps more often through the years.

I urge any readers of Dickinson's adult works to try his children's books. Tulku is very fine, as is The Blue Hawk, Annerton Pit, The Dancing Bear, and Bone from a Dry Sea. The other children's books, such as the recent Kin series are equally wonderful, but are aimed at a generally younger audience.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back to Peter Dickinson
Review: Peter Dickinson is slowing down a bit, but all his unique talents are on display in "Some Deaths Before Dying." The book is his usual mix of mystery, psychological insight, and social history. The central character is an old woman, Rachel Matson, dying and paralyzed, who attempts to solve the central mystery of her life and marriage. A perennial bystander to life, Rachel is aided in her task by voluminous albums of photos she has taken throughout her life -- even at her own wedding!

The drama unfolds slowly as more characters are introduced and we learn more about Rachel, her family, and her husband Jocelyn. In the end, the mystery is solved and, while it proves to be appalling, one can't help be impressed by the intellectual ingenuity of Rachel's laborious reconstruction.

The characters are finely drawn; the novel itself was elegantly written and well-structured using the tricky flashback technique in which Dickinson excels. I was disappointed, however, in its moral emptiness. Ultimately Rachel was concerned only with knowing what happened, not in understanding the events and certainly not in forgiving anyone, either herself, her husband, and those who betrayed them.

Rating:
Summary: Light summer reading at its finest
Review: This was a nice quick read and Dickenson does a great job of carrying the reader into the active mind of a terminally ill old woman. Rachel is confronted by her avaricious son about the appearance of one of Dad's antique pistols on Antiques' Roadshow of all places. This sparks an investigation by Rachel through both her loyal nurse and her own active mind as to the actual events of over 40 years ago. Every family has a story repressed somewhere in the subconscious of the most experienced generation. These are the interesting stories that don't seem to be recorded for subsequent generations in the family bible. The Matson mystery is particularly horrific and I couldn't wait for it to unravel. Rachel uses her extensive collection of photographs to spark her memories and we are all transposed back to the lives of Jocelyn and Rachel Matson before and after he was a prisoner of war in WWII. The main characters are all dead and she is forced to contact their surviving relatives for little bits of information. The only remaining witness to the events is Sergeant Fred and he prefers to leave the whole sordid mess dead and buried. The characters are beautifully crafted and realistic. On the whole, I enjoyed this novel very much. It is wonderful light summer reading at its finest.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasing return to the field by one of our best writers.
Review: Very simply, this book should appeal to anyone who likes good fiction. It is so much more than a mystery -- perhaps a treatise on living and dying. One of the best books I've read in a long time -- and I've read a lot of good ones.