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That Which Was
A man confesses to murder, but can a crime really be so simple?
As a former bank worker, closet Velvet Underground fan and student of stand-up comedy, Ken Avery is not your usual Presbyterian reverend. But when a middle-aged man comes to him claiming to have blood on his hands, Avery reacts as befits a man in his position. This is Belfast in the summer of 2000, the prisons are emptying of paramilitary prisoners, and Avery's visitor says he can't remember where, when or whom he killed. And so begins Avery's personal quest for the truth . . .
As a former bank worker, closet Velvet Underground fan and student of stand-up comedy, Ken Avery is not your usual Presbyterian reverend. But when a middle-aged man comes to him claiming to have blood on his hands, Avery reacts as befits a man in his position. This is Belfast in the summer of 2000, the prisons are emptying of paramilitary prisoners, and Avery's visitor says he can't remember where, when or whom he killed. And so begins Avery's personal quest for the truth . . .
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 10, 2009
Another title of his - The International - was recommended to me by a friend, but this was the only title the library has, so went for this. So far so good...
This novel looks at life in Belfast, c2000, so 'peacetime' but ordinary life still resonating with the 'Troubles'. The main character is a prebyterian minister (who likes stand up comedy and Lou Reed) and around him the area is decked in Loyalist flags and graffiti. It starts with a new member of his congregation 'confessing' to murders he thinks he has committed, but feels his brain has been interfered with by the 'state' to make him forget. So not so much a who-dunnit as a did-he-do-it. However this thriller element, while compelling, is buried for much of the time in a narrative centering around the minister's everyday life with his pregnant wife and child and their friends and community. This is marvellously done, intricately but unobtrusively structured, layered with the detail of the everyday, the river, the hospital, the church, and how peole talk.
It reminds me a little of Anthony Cartwright's 'Heartland' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60... ) in the skill and density of the writing. Both also use an inter-community football match to highlight tensions (although the football is much more central in 'Heartland').
For most of the book I was thinking this is 5 star stuff, but the ending did slightly disappoint, hence 4. I'll certainly look out for 'The International' now.
This novel looks at life in Belfast, c2000, so 'peacetime' but ordinary life still resonating with the 'Troubles'. The main character is a prebyterian minister (who likes stand up comedy and Lou Reed) and around him the area is decked in Loyalist flags and graffiti. It starts with a new member of his congregation 'confessing' to murders he thinks he has committed, but feels his brain has been interfered with by the 'state' to make him forget. So not so much a who-dunnit as a did-he-do-it. However this thriller element, while compelling, is buried for much of the time in a narrative centering around the minister's everyday life with his pregnant wife and child and their friends and community. This is marvellously done, intricately but unobtrusively structured, layered with the detail of the everyday, the river, the hospital, the church, and how peole talk.
It reminds me a little of Anthony Cartwright's 'Heartland' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60... ) in the skill and density of the writing. Both also use an inter-community football match to highlight tensions (although the football is much more central in 'Heartland').
For most of the book I was thinking this is 5 star stuff, but the ending did slightly disappoint, hence 4. I'll certainly look out for 'The International' now.
November 18, 2008
Patterson is always a reliable novelist, and he's especially interesting now as we start to see how Northern Ireland's writers are responding to peace. I may need to read this one again to appreciate it more fully, but its treatment of an increasingly puzzled Presbyterian minister as he gets drawn into the potent psychological reside of Northern Ireland's violence creates interesting implications regarding the nature of time, memory, history, and personal/societal trauma.
April 23, 2019
If you happen to be from northern Ireland
If you happen to be a Presbyterian
If you happen to be a parent
There is lots of quirky commentary in this book to keep you entertained. Also inside jokes that I didn't always get. Good read
If you happen to be a Presbyterian
If you happen to be a parent
There is lots of quirky commentary in this book to keep you entertained. Also inside jokes that I didn't always get. Good read
December 6, 2007
i read this when i was away from belfast (which is a hard place to get your head around, no matter how long you stay put here) and it made me feel incredibly at peace with coming back home at the end of my holiday. a simply wrought book about twists and tricks of memory, and a country finding its feet after a long upheaval. about religion. about children, grown and unborn. its ending demonstrates succinctly that books don't start and end between their covers.
on that topic, i also learned that hardcover books make excellent cutting boards whilst on long picnics near mountain streams. and if you really like a book, you will really make an effort to catch it before it falls into said mountain stream.
on that topic, i also learned that hardcover books make excellent cutting boards whilst on long picnics near mountain streams. and if you really like a book, you will really make an effort to catch it before it falls into said mountain stream.
April 9, 2017
Yawn.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews