There are so many ways for a novel to fail that I sometimes wonder how the good ones ever get written. This inaugural novel by Colin Harrison published in 1990 is a perfect example of one which succeeds on many levels, but still suffers from a critical flaw which ruined my pleasure in reading it. As it is well written, I mostly bought into it until the very end, at which point my appreciation for it fell off a cliff due to its incoherent plot development. 

Colin Harrison had been recommended to me by a good friend and fellow reader, but admittedly his recommendation was for one of Harrison's later novels. Unlike some other authors, none of Harrison's books feature reoccurring characters or situations. Some may find this to be a blessing, as a character or a place can become trite and prosaic over time, but I have always considered this to be far less important than the quality of the story of the story being told, something I found to be lacking here.

Happily, the author has gone on to write other novels like "Manhattan Nocturne" and "The Havana Room," which I have been told have been constructed much better. I look forward to experiencing for myself his progress as a writer after having been disappointed by this novel. 

One of the critical elements of writing and plot construction is character development. As a reader I feel that I have to know and understand the characters, especially the lead character, as to what they're thinking and what motivates them. That's the whole point of the story. If a plot has its lead character do something entirely out of character, then by definition the writer hasn't explained his character properly. Furthermore, if the writer has his lead character do something which is entirely against his own best self interests as Harrison does here, then I feel like I have been set up or lied to, and then the story really doesn't work for me anymore. 

Such is the case with Peter Scattergood, who is a youngish Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney. He is presented as an intelligent man and a rather promising up-and-coming prosecuting attorney. Throughout this story he evidences his street smarts and an inquisitive brain which shows why he is a success at his career. If I am working with these facts, then don't go pulling the rug out from under my feet by having him do certain other acts which are so boneheaded as to defy my belief.  

It is in the area of Peter's personal relationships which I have my complaint. Even though he deeply loves her, Peter's wife, Janice, has just moved out on him for reasons of her own choosing. Maybe because he hadn't paid her enough attention or otherwise didn't meet her needs, although her complaints ring somewhat hollow to my reading of the situation. After all, they had a reasonably happy life and a beautiful home of their dreams. They did argue over children, for he wanted them and she didn't, but that was about it. 

Peter had been raised in a cold, Quaker family, whereas Janice had been raised in an abusive family and needed a lot of positive reinforcement, a quality which Peter was unable to provide both because of his personality and because he was devoted to his work. Too devoted, to her way of thinking, but then these things happen, had to happen, to afford the home of their dreams on their modest salaries. 

The point is that Peter still loves Janice, and longs for her to return. This is half the story of this novel, and yet when it comes to proving to her that he loves her and that he wants her to return home, he ends up doing the most insane things imaginable, the kind of actions which are guaranteed to drive her away. Go figure. He needs a shrink, not a wife. 

What he does at the end of the novel just blew me out of the water as far as this story goes. I sat there reading these passages, seeing what was coming, and thinking to myself, "He really CAN'T be doing this, can he?" Sadly, yes. I don't understand people like this, and I don't like my literary characters to act so out of character. 

Fortunately, Peter's career is far more interesting, so at least with that part of the story there was some pleasure in reading this novel. He has been inching up the bureaucratic rung in the Philadelphia District Attorney's office for the seven years that he has been on the job and is on the verge of winning a brutal murder case of a young girl after he brilliantly trips up a lead witness for the defense. Winning that case is a foregone conclusion, but his handling of it will get him the plum job of prosecuting the suspected murderer of young black man who turns out to have been the nephew of the newly elected black Mayor of Philadelphia.

Wayman Carothers is a career criminal looking at life in prison for killing Darryl Whitlock, the nephew of the new Mayor of Philadelphia. The Mayor is none too happy about his nephew having being murdered, so he leans on Chief of Police Hoskins, who then leans on Scattergood to wrap up the prosecutorial case against Carothers. However, in looking over the case against Carothers, Peter finds that the police had committed several procedural errors because the preliminary evidence against him had seemed to be so overwhelming. He decides to investigate further on his own. 1990, Macmillan Picador, 352 pages.