Part of Scottish Literature Week
I usually manage to squeeze in some familial anecdote to my reviews, but not today. And I’m grateful. The kids have gone back to school, the husband to work and I had solitude and silence to devour the eagerly awaited new novel by J.A. Henderson.
This novel fits in very nicely with our Scottish themed week, not only is the author a Scotsman but the book is set not very far from where I sit now.
Crash, is just one of those books that grabs you. There is an immediate drawing in by the intriguing set up chapter. A trawler in the Norwegian Sea is doing a job it shouldn’t be doing when it is suddenly surrounded by dead fish as far as the eye can see and “white and bloated as maggots.” Then the story itself begins with the line “Bobby Berlin lost his father on the 6.15 p.m. train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen.” How much better can it get than that?
Bobby Berlin and his father Gordon have been to the cinema in the Capital and are heading home across the Forth Bridge when they witness a workman falling to his death. Immediately Bobby’s father passes out on the seat and wakes up thinking he is a fourteen year old boy called Dodd Pollen and that the year is 1977.
There is a huge amount of hilarity in the opening segments as Bobby tries to talk sense into his dad and explain the 21st Century. The man has no knowledge of the internet, remote controls or microwave ovens. But underlying this you can really empathise with the fear of a boy whose father appears to have gone off his head.
There are several narrative strands working their way through the book. Tension is kept at fever pitch by the frequent swapping from one to another. The trawler in the North Sea is smuggling ancient artefacts into Scotland. Bobby is trying to work out what has happened to his father. And his friend Mary Mooney is casting spells from an old Romany book that she found in her grandmothers house.
There’s just an amazing amount of questions that keep you racing to the next chapter to find out what’s going on. Was Dodd Pollen a real person? Is Bobby’s dad possessed? What exactly is the secret cargo on board the Trawler? But it isn’t until the very end that the whole story is brought together so cleverly I had a massive grin on my face when I closed the book.
J.A. Henderson uses small chapters, raising each one to a climactic precipice before moving on to the next. Crash is a wonder in dramatic tension. But underneath is the very touching story of Bobby and his dad and their lack of a real relationship. It’s only when his father becomes a boy of his own age that Bobby begins to find a connection with the man who abandoned him as a baby. And this results in feelings of guilt that he prefers his dad as a psycho than a normal father.
J.A. Henderson explores many themes in Crash. Both Bobby and Mary are lonely, they’ve been lied to and let down by the adults in their lives and they are both searching for their pasts. The exploration of these themes makes for touching breathing spaces between the frantic cross country chase, the nail biting excitement and the race to find out the truth.
There is a huge depth to this novel and coupled with the furious pace of the narrative drive it left me unable to put this book down for an instant. I was glad there was no-one in the house to need lunch.
Crash is published by Oxford University Press (3 April 2008), 304 pages. ISBN-10: 0192720791 ISBN-13: 978-0192720795
Review of Bunker 10 by J.A. Henderson.
The Rest of Scottish Literature Week:
Reviews
Ron Butlin’s “Belonging”
Maggie Haggith’s “The Last Bear”
Alan Warner’s “Morvern Callar”
Interview: Doug Johnstone, author of “Tombstoning” and “The Ossians”
This sounds very different for a teen novel. Is it for teens or younger, would you say? I am particularly interested in the idea of the father thinking he’s a boy – bizarre!
Hiya Rosy!
I would say it was a teen book, but there’s nothing really unsuitable for the younger reader, ten upwards perhaps.
The father thinking he’s a boy is exceptionally well done – I mean it’s difficult enough to pull of convincing interaction between an adult and child but when one of them is an adult who thinks he’s a child… In some places it’s a hoot, I laughed out loud on many an occasion.
Very nicely done how you make a circle in writing the review, starting out with a mention of family and ending it that way too. Nice and tidy. This book sounds as if it would be exciting for grown-ups too, with all the mysteries & suspense. I’d like to know the answers to the questions you posed, too.
Great review – it has really made me want to read a book that I’ve surfed right past a few times recently!
I saw this come into the shop. I’ll read it now!
[...] Ron Butlin’s “Belonging” J. A. Henderson’s “Crash” Alan Warner’s “Morvern Callar” Interview: Doug Johnstone, author of [...]
[...] Ron Butlin’s “Belonging” Maggie Haggith’s “The Last Bear” J.A. Henderson’s “Crash” Interview: Doug Johnstone, author of “Tombstoning” and “The [...]
Blimey, Eve. This one sounds highly original. Don’t think I’ve read anything like it. Must have been complicated to write. Agree with Jackie. I want those answers too. Excellent review.
[...] Crash by J.A. Henderson. This was just one of those books that grabbed you and pulled you through. It was an irresistible read that has stuck in my mind long after I’d put it down. My ultimate sticky book! [...]
I LOVED Crash. J A Henderson is, in my eyes, Scotland’s most promising new writer.
As a ferocious reader, I have no time for rubbish. Crash was one of those rare teenage books that caught and held me in it’s intricate plot web. I was deeply disapointed when it lost out to Anne Cassidy’s ‘Forget me not’ in the Angus Book Awards (and I know Jan was too).
A fast-paced, action-packed thriller that starts with a bang and never lets up on the action, all packaged into a deeply intricate, cunning, and downright BRILLIANT plotline… Crash is one of those few books that I’m sure I’ll remember for a very long time
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