Reviewed by Lily Bond
Times of war create many casualties, but author Ben Elton contends that the first to fall is always the truth. In a gripping crime novel The First Casualty (2005, Black Swan, 419 pages), Elton sets out to prove his point in the Great War of 1914-18.
His story is set in England and in the trenches of Flanders during 1917. From the trial of a senior police officer prosecuted for refusing to join a “foolish” war, the book places us in prison conditions, in the halls of power and in the mud and despair of the conflict’s infamous trenches.
The police officer, Douglas Kingsley, finds himself in the midst of the battle of Ypres while trying to solve the murder of a soldier poet who died while recovering from shell-shock well away from the enemy lines. He must prove the innocence of a soldier, who once spared the gallows, would be returned to die in squalor at the front.
Elton’s story raises serious questions: What is murder? How is murder different from the killing that happens routinely during wars? Witty and captivating, The First Casualty pulls you into a maze, which results in plenty of wondering and guessing on the way to a satisfying conclusion.
Born in England in 1959, Elton has written brilliant crime novels, several plays and many scripts for British TV shows like The Young Ones, Black Adder and The Thin Blue Line. He also performed in his own standup comedy show.
His 1999 novel Inconceivable became a hit movie, Maybe Baby. In that plot, he explores the agony of a couple striving to have children and the consequences on their relationship.
You can’t go wrong when reading anything by Elton.
Approval rating: 82 per cent.
For more information: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/ben-elton/.
(March 19, 2007)
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