CHARADE

by John Mortimer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1986

In the wake of his acclaimed Paradise Postponed (1986), here comes the first US publication of Mortimer's first novel (published in England in 1947), a largely autobiographical work based on his experience with a documentary Film unit during WW II. The unnamed narrator arrives in an English seaside town to join the Action Film Unit as Fifth Assistant Director (translation: gofer), a position secured through his mother's former friendship with the Director. The Unit is filming Army training on the beaches, when not taking refuge in pubs from the constant rain. The education of the wet-behind-the-ears narrator takes place away from the camera, as he threads his way through the intrigue-riddled Unit, absorbing the words of the glamorous Director's wife, her lovesick admirer the scriptwriter, the vainglorious Director, and later the easygoing soldiers; ""we'd never drive them the way you film people do,"" confesses the Major, who then disrupts the shooting schedule by disappearing to buy Ping-Pong balls. The plot revolves around the ""accidental"" death of an unpopular sergeant on location. As the narrator slowly realizes that a crime has been committed, and that both the Unit and the Army authorities are intent on a cover-up, he sees he must leave the Film world, though by now he has discovered that the Director is his actual father (this after also having bedded the Director's wife). Slight work that's essentially an affectionate albeit barbed salute to the mysterious workings of a film crew. While it has its moments, it becomes snagged on unresolved whodunitry, and the sound of Mortimer's wry, tragicomic voice is muffled, For Mortimer fans, the alternative is to read his wonderfully beguiling autobiography Clinging to the Wreckage (1982), which also covers his film work.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION