Deserters

by Chris Paling

trade 1st edition Vintage 1997 paperback, fine In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Born in 1956 in Derby, Chris Paling studied social sciences at the University of Sussex. He started working as a studio manager for BBC radio in 1981. In the early 90s he had a Thirty Minute Theatre play called Way Station produced on BBC Radio 4. He wrote more radio plays and later began writing novels.

Chris Paling is married with two children, Sarah and Thomas, and lives in Brighton.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the back cover of this novel:

'Cliffie, a sexually ambiguous drifter becomes attracted to May, a mysterious, deeply unstable young woman. When May is committed to a mental hospital, Cliffie decides to rescue her and the pair embark upon a vertiginous journey into terror and pain before each one finally finds peace.'

So that is what the book is said to be about, and it is, broadly speaking. I am torn about giving the novel three stars, I am not sure if I am being ridiculously generous or mean spirited. The author can write, he writes well but, isn't there always a but, I quickly grew very tired of the characters and stories because they all resemble clichés out of novelisations of tv shows from the 1980's or 90's. If there is no 'tart with the heart of gold' there was a gay antiques dealer, a violent but lovable(?) local gangster complete with a camel hair coat and gold jewellery in profusion, and just about every hack convention about mental patients and mental hospitals. Even for its publication date of 1997 it seemed dated and out of touch with what seaside towns in Britain were like. I found it impossible to finish because I couldn't invest time in the cut out characters and situations.

[Abbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is tough to describe. It's raw and honest, with unlikeable characters that you somehow end up sympathising with. There's a seediness to it, but it's not bad. The atmosphere of the novel is dark, and I loved that about it.
Cliff was one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read from, but there is something charming and relatable about him. In fact, he ended up being my favourite character. The author was not afraid to inflict bad things upon each and every character, to give them a darkness or weakness regardless of how kind they were in actuality. In fact, it seemed like the entire novel was meant to be a harsh reality check - a message that life is terrible and terrible things are always happening. It was morbid, and the juxtaposition of these themes with the wonderfully stylistic writing was very effective. A solid read.

[Donald Wolff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why haven't I heard of this before? Terrific read. Noir thriller.