BOOK REVIEW by Colin Emmins
The Mortal Maze
A new novel from Ian D. Richardson, a
former radio and television editor (and a member of Ealing U3A), is a thriller
dealing with broadcasting and terrorism in the Middle East. The central figure
and anti-hero is a gifted and eager television reporter posted by the BBC to
Armibar, capital of the fictional country of Central Arabia. There two
acquaintances from the past catch up with him: one now working for western
intelligence, the other who has become a committed ‘freedom fighter’. Each of
them manages to use him for their own widely different purposes in a series of
unexpected events with ultimately disastrous results. All three characters are
convincingly drawn, as indeed are the other characters supporting the story.
The
most exciting and realistic plot conveys not only the drama of a reporter’s
life but also the routine of the job without ever slackening the pace of the
narrative. Neither the plot nor the dialogue is for the faint-hearted and whatever
reservations there may be about the use of the historic present throughout, it
certainly adds to the dramatic tension and makes the possibility of a screen version
easy to envisage.
The author’s knowledge of broadcasting and of
the Middle East sets the novel against a colourful and authentic background,
making the startling twists and turns of the plot all the more believable. His
view of management at the BBC and in the intelligence services is all too
believable.
The moral and ultimately mortal implications
of the story provide a compelling theme running through the whole work. They
are strikingly illustrated by the book’s cover where its title The Mortal Maze has the ‘t’ of mortal
picked out in red against the otherwise white lettering to dramatic effect.
The Mortal Maze is published by Preddon Lee Ltd of London, and is
available online from Amazon.
