Verdict delivered
Jan. 25th, 2004 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gervase_fenSuccess! I finished reading "Pecking Order" this morning, and then spent three hours thinking about how to find a way in to my review which didn't ruin any of the well-crafted surprises in the book.
PECKING ORDER by Chris Simms
Professor Eric Maudsley, twenty years a lecturer in the Social Studies Department of Manchester University, is desperate. Budget cuts are on the way, and the courses he teaches and believes in are under threat. He hasn’t been able to secure a big research grant from Europe, unlike his up and coming colleague, Patricia Du Rey. Eric can see who is most likely to be made Head of Department when the crunch comes – who’s at the head of the pecking order.
Clare Silver is coming to the end of her final year at the University, and is making ends meet by pretending to be a fortune teller for “Girl Next Door” chatlines, at £1.17 a minute. If she could work for Patricia as a post-graduate researcher then her own future would be bright. But she can’t count her chickens just yet.
Roy Bull, ‘Rubble’ to all who know him, works on a battery hen farm. Described by his employer as “my walking, talking rottweiler”, Rubble’s in charge of egg collecting, supervises new chickens being caged, and removes the dead and injured birds from the sheds. He has his caravan, his comic books and he likes killing things – rats, foxes, and chickens. He dreams of being in the Army (but they turned him down). When he feels lonely he rings the horoscope chatline and asks to speak to Sylvia Claro.
One night he has more to talk about than usual – he’s been contacted by a Government agent, and he’s taking part in top secret missions. Mercy killings….
Chris Simms’ new novel is an ingeniously plotted psychological thriller, with a vivid, contemporary feel. The book opens with a lengthy tour of Embleton battery farm: the scene-setting is exemplary, and the details about the brief lives of chickens aren’t for the faint-hearted. Look out for the ‘hedgekins’ that live at the bottom of the slurry pit, feeding on the carcasses that Rubble throws down.
The chickens aren’t the only creatures who are suffering. There’s a subtle social commentary underneath the thriller story about the way society treats the elderly. There are also some very good and very black jokes – the Voight-Kampf Test from “Blade Runner” puts in an appearance, as does a lady wearing a chicken suit dancing (what else?) the funky chicken.
Reading Chris Simms is like watching a Danny Boyle film – strong characters in a present day setting, energised with splashes of sudden violence. This is an accomplished book, a cracking read, and it’s well worth shelling out for.
...I suspect I've overdone the chicken puns - over-egged the pudding... but never mind.
PECKING ORDER by Chris Simms
Professor Eric Maudsley, twenty years a lecturer in the Social Studies Department of Manchester University, is desperate. Budget cuts are on the way, and the courses he teaches and believes in are under threat. He hasn’t been able to secure a big research grant from Europe, unlike his up and coming colleague, Patricia Du Rey. Eric can see who is most likely to be made Head of Department when the crunch comes – who’s at the head of the pecking order.
Clare Silver is coming to the end of her final year at the University, and is making ends meet by pretending to be a fortune teller for “Girl Next Door” chatlines, at £1.17 a minute. If she could work for Patricia as a post-graduate researcher then her own future would be bright. But she can’t count her chickens just yet.
Roy Bull, ‘Rubble’ to all who know him, works on a battery hen farm. Described by his employer as “my walking, talking rottweiler”, Rubble’s in charge of egg collecting, supervises new chickens being caged, and removes the dead and injured birds from the sheds. He has his caravan, his comic books and he likes killing things – rats, foxes, and chickens. He dreams of being in the Army (but they turned him down). When he feels lonely he rings the horoscope chatline and asks to speak to Sylvia Claro.
One night he has more to talk about than usual – he’s been contacted by a Government agent, and he’s taking part in top secret missions. Mercy killings….
Chris Simms’ new novel is an ingeniously plotted psychological thriller, with a vivid, contemporary feel. The book opens with a lengthy tour of Embleton battery farm: the scene-setting is exemplary, and the details about the brief lives of chickens aren’t for the faint-hearted. Look out for the ‘hedgekins’ that live at the bottom of the slurry pit, feeding on the carcasses that Rubble throws down.
The chickens aren’t the only creatures who are suffering. There’s a subtle social commentary underneath the thriller story about the way society treats the elderly. There are also some very good and very black jokes – the Voight-Kampf Test from “Blade Runner” puts in an appearance, as does a lady wearing a chicken suit dancing (what else?) the funky chicken.
Reading Chris Simms is like watching a Danny Boyle film – strong characters in a present day setting, energised with splashes of sudden violence. This is an accomplished book, a cracking read, and it’s well worth shelling out for.
...I suspect I've overdone the chicken puns - over-egged the pudding... but never mind.
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Date: 2004-01-26 06:44 am (UTC)