A Kind of Obsession

Obsession can come up hard against reality.  A partner in a romantic relationship may decide that the romance is over, and clearly inform the other partner of their decision.  But rather than accepting the decision, that other partner may remain persistent, with a certain type of love.  Obsessive love.

II.

As an adolescent in London, Leonora Chisholm had come across a city street gang, where she met Guy Curran.  Leonora and Guy became young lovers.  In Going Wrong, Ruth Rendell addresses the class differences between Guy and Leonora.  Guy is from a slum neighbourhood, while Leonora has been raised in a patronizing middle-class family.  The Chisholms do not always succeed in concealing their contempt of Guy Curran.

University begins - for Leonora.  Her family is hopeful that leaving for school will keep Leonora from further contact with Guy.  Meanwhile, Guy applies himself to being a drug-dealer.  His ruthless criminal talent quickly makes him a wealthy man.  As for Leonora, he stays in touch by phone, calling her daily while she is away at university.  Guy also sees Leonora regularly, by taking her to lunch every Saturday afternoon.

At one of their Saturday meetings, Guy notices Leonora's reaction as he makes his way toward her in a wine bar.  "If only he could have deluded himself that her expression was not - dismay. ... Then he deluded himself. He was imagining it." <1>  In any case, her reaction does seem a long way from the "unbearable tenderness" Guy felt when he saw her at the bar.  Sitting together, Leonora tries once again to get through to Guy about their break-up.  " 'I've told you enough times, Guy. ... Why won't you believe me?' "

Guy responds by confirming with Leonora that she has a new boyfriend.  William Newton is of a similar educational and social background as Leonora, and so, much more acceptable as a suitor to her family.  It is settled in Guy's mind.  The Chisholm family (condescending snobs), their circle of friends and acquaintances (pretentious snobs), and now, this Newton: they were all set against him in a conspiracy to keep him and Leonora apart.

Rendell has shown us Guy's fondness for alcohol in the narrative, and as he broods over his situation, his drinking increases.  The alcohol further loosens his grip on sober reality, and through criminal contacts, Guy makes arrangements to have certain persons in the Chisholm circle permanently silenced.  Meanwhile, the Chisholms have been arranging things as well, to remove Guy from Leonora's life: their plan just does not involve homicide.  The reader will have to learn for themselves how Guy's and the Chisholm plans turn out.  I will share, however, the words of Leonora's mother Tessa, as she expresses them to Guy near the conclusion of the novel.  " 'You never seemed to understand. You've no place amongst us, you're not our kind of person. To be perfectly frank, no matter how much money you've made, you don't belong in our class.' " 

III.

Guy Curran causes significant distress to Leonora and her family.  Why then does Leonora stay in contact with Guy as they both age into their twenties?  The explanations include the suggestion of an ambivalence on Leonora's part about keeping a former lover in her life, even as developments accumulate in a specific manner in the novel.  Going Wrong is a compelling and exceptional crime thriller by Ruth Rendell.

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<1>Rendell, Ruth. Going Wrong (1990). Seal Books edition, 1991.

Deep Freeze

It gets cold in Trippton.  Set in Minnesota, the small town has icy weather in the way Minnesota is known for during the winter months.

II.

Among those living with the seasonal cold and snow in John Sandford's Deep Freeze, there is David Birkmann.  His school days in Trippton were a time in which he collected a series of nicknames.  None of these unofficial names were of Dave's own choosing, and all of them were intended to poke fun at him.  "Big Dave", because David was considered fat.  "Bug Boy", because Dave's father owned an insect exterminator business.  As for "Chips", it recalled the incident when Dave had tried to shake a bag of chips loose from a high school vending machine, only to have the machine tip and fall on him.  For this episode, and the perceived comedy of his general social ineptitude, Dave had been selected Class of '92 Funniest Boy.

In the years after high school, David goes on to become the fortysomething owner of the pest exterminator business that he inherited when his father passed away.  He is newly-divorced, just as someone he went to school with, Gina Hemming, has recently filed for divorce.  Dave's attraction to Gina is long-running and unrequited, but with their marriages playing out as they have, he dares to be hopeful.  "There she was, David's first and truest love. Available." <1> 

III.

Virgil Flowers is on a week's vacation from his work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, when he is called in by the BCA.  The dead and frozen body of a woman has been found in a river near Trippton, and Flowers is needed on the case.  Virgil's boss, Jon Duncan, is well-aware that he is cutting Flowers's vacation short.  " 'Virgil, I owe you.' 'You keep saying that, but you never pay off.' "  With a reference to the Shakespeare he, Jon, had brought up earlier in their conversation, Duncan replies:  " 'That's one of your fardels' ".  Virgil breaks the news to his girlfriend and makes his way to Trippton - to investigate the murder of Gina Hemming.

Flowers hasn't been in town long before he finds himself assisting a private detective, Margaret Griffin, on a case of her own.  A production of altered Barbie and Ken dolls has been traced to Trippton.  The alteration to the dolls is of an obscene nature, and Griffin has come all the way from Los Angeles " '[t]rying to serve a federal cease-and-desist order' ".  Jon Duncan has officially attached Virgil to Griffin's investigation, and along with leading the Gina Hemming homicide inquiry, it looks like Virgil Flowers could be in for an extended stay in Trippton.

IV.  

There is plenty of humour in Deep Freeze, but the narrative can get just as serious as it needs to be for a crime novel.  The identity of the killer is revealed early to the reader.  To learn what we already know, Virgil Flowers has to piece it together from the evidence he finds amid the idiosyncrasies of small-town conversation, gossip and behaviour.  John Sandford is a marvelous storyteller, whether he is relating the town of Trippton as a seemingly harmless place, and, when it is not.

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<1>Sandford, John. Deep Freeze (2017). G.P. Putnam's Sons.