Five Roundabouts to Heaven

by John Bingham, John le Carré (Introduction)

FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY JOHN LE CARRÉ

"This novel comprises some of the best work of an extremely gifted and perhaps under-regarded British crime novelist....What gave John Bingham (1908-1988) his magic was something we look for in every writer, too often in vain: an absolute command of the internal landscape of his characters, acutely observed by a humane but wonderfully corrosive eye."

Peter Harding and Philip Bartels share a friendship that goes back to childhood. Now trapped in a disenchanted marriage with his wife, Beatrice, Philip meets and falls in love with the graceful, charming Lorna Dickson. Overcome by the prospect of a humiliating divorce, Philip makes the decision to poison Beatrice. But when he invites his best friend, Peter, to meet his mistress he sets off a shocking chain of events that will forever change the lives of everyone involved.

Available for the first time in over twenty years, Five Roundabouts to Heaven is one of master writer and storyteller John Bingham's greatest works. With a chilling, expertly calibrated plot and mesmerizing prose, it is the powerful study of how murder can so easily enter the minds of ordinary people.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, British Literature, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Detective

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

John Michael Ward Bingham - who became the seventh Lord Clanmorris - was born in Haywards Heath on 3 November 1908.

He was educated at Cheltenham College and became an art editor for the 'Sunday Dispatch'. He married Madeleine Mary Ebel on 28 July 1934.

During the Second World War he served with the Royal Engineers and was attached to the General Staff. He also worked for MI5 and was supposedly the inspiration for John Le Carre's George Smiley. And over the course of thirty years, he served MI5 in various high-ranking capacities, including undercover agent.

He wrote under a pseudonym and published 17 novels in the thriller, detective and spy fields. These included 'My Name is Michael Sibley', his first novel published in 1952, 'A Fragment of Fear', and 'I Love, I Kill'.

He succeeded to the title of 7th Baron Clanmorris on 24 June 1960.

He died in 1988.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I drank the whisky without a qualm. I didn’t care if Bartels had paid for them or not. I had come to steal his woman, and I was quite prepared to drink his drink while I did so. If you are going to set fire to a man’s house, there’s no sense in feeling awkward because your cigarette end has singed his mantelpiece.”

It is always awkward when you are meeting a friend and he brings his mistress with him. It starts out the same way, with him tap dancing around the true topic he wants to discuss before he finally zeros in on attempting to discover how you might react to the idea of him having someone in his life other than his wife. Adulterers do not want to be judged. They don’t seem to mind if you are uncomfortable. Secrets are thrilling for a while, but it seems there always comes this point in time when they feel the need to confide in someone. Mistresses are generally young and attractive, and there is that universal desire to want to show them off, not to everyone, but to someone. As if their possession of them doesn’t exist until someone else knows. They want someone to be envious.

I’ve been in the position that Peter Harding finds himself in. One of his oldest friends, Philip Bartels, is telling him that he has decided that his relationship with his wife Beatrice, a school chum of both men, has never been quite right. She never loved him enough. She certainly wasn’t in love with him in the beginning of their relationship in that “can’t catch my breath when he walked in the room” way. She loves him well enough now, but Barty lays awake at night feeling like he missed something marrying a woman who didn’t love him.

The mistress that I was introduced to was a hairdresser from shit kicker USA, with all of her assets on the outside and very little percolating in the gray cells inside. I may have left the bar/restaurant feeling like I needed a shower, not a cold one, a cleansing one, but Harding leaves his first meeting with Lorna Dickson definitely in need of a cold shower.

I had trouble ascertaining if his attraction to her was one of those cosmic things with balloons falling from the ceiling and fireworks going off behind his eyes, or if it was really more about the fact that she was with Philip Bartels. Wouldn’t he be doing the right thing by taking her away from Bartels and saving a marriage in the process?

We all do such a great job justifying our actions. After all, before we can fool others we always have to fool ourselves first. Harding knows he can pull this off. ”I’m cunning with women. I’ve got a kind of knack of seeming gentle, and sympathetic, and understanding, and all that sort of thing.”

Poor Beatrice.

”I thought sadly how heavily the dice were loaded against the wife in any triangle of this kind. The other woman knows that the battle is on. The wife doesn’t. The other woman is on her best behavior, trying to please, to charm, to flatter, and often, I suppose, to seduce. The wife, knowing nothing, is behaving like a natural person does: sometimes pleasant and amusing, sometimes dull, critical, or irritable. And silently watching her is her husband, noting her faults, comparing her with the allege paragon of all the virtues.”

It really isn’t fair; after all, part of a good marriage is being able to be yourself. You’ve earned it. You should be able to let your emotions, whether they be joyful or woeful, be expressed to the one who took a vow to stick with you through thick and thin. A wife can not be the paragon of perfection 24/7. The mistress though, for a few hours here or a few hours there can seem to be the bee’s knees, the crème de la crème, the ray of sun even when the skies are cloudy.

As an added twist, but not THE twist, Bartels decides that he can’t just leave Beatrice. It wouldn’t be fair to leave her on her own, devastated by the loss of his affection. He might have to kill her.

”It’s a mercy murder; surely you see that?”

Yeah, sure Bartels, how could she ever get over losing a loser like you?

Now don’t forget Peter Harding is floating around out there, the fly in the ointment, the irritation that Barty doesn’t even know he is supposed to be scratching yet. Peter is confident that, regardless of how the cards fall out of the deck, he will emerge victorious. ”I was always a better man than Bartels, better at everything, including murder.”

John Bingham worked for MI5 during WWII and for several decades thereafter. He might be more famous for being the inspiration for John Le Carre’s most famous spy, George Smiley, than he is for his own accomplishments as a British spy or as a novelist. Bingham was also the 7th Baron of Clanmorris. He and Le Carre had a falling out that was never properly resolved. Despite their difficulties with one another Le Carre has acknowledged the great influence Bingham had on him as a person and as a novelist.

This is a wicked little book. None of the characters are quite what we want them to be, yet they are unnervingly normal. The twists are delightfully incorporated into the plot. Cunning is paired with foolishness, and luck is tempered by things going awry. The tension is high as we watch this tempest in a teacup consume four people, each unaware of the true intentions of the others.

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[Sketchbook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it a mercy killing if your wife won't have to suffer humiliation that you caused ?

In this brilliant psychological novel, a tortured husband (Bartels) observes, "Anyone with half a brain could deceive his wife, provided she was a trusting individual." After all, don't most marry with their foolish hearts, rather than their heads? Romantic dreams are self-deception. Sex, that's what it boils down to, explains Bingham. What most call "love" means sex. The rest is comradeship. If you can even find that.

Sure, says author Bingham, a remarkable writer, time may soothe wounds, but many of us are exacerbated by the imagination...dogs don't suffer like that. So how do we survive? "Learn how to play on people, to draw emotions and reactions from them as the bow draws the notes from a fiddle." This, he admits in some of the best writing I've read in ages, requires a calculating, ruthless streak.

Ah, the self-deceived who think, as does trusting wife Beatrice : "I'm glad when you come back. I may not love you as you would like to be loved, but I need you. I don't like being left alone. I do my best, I can't do more." Beware Bea: your husband is planning to kill you... Author Bingham knows too much about the dark night of the soul.

What begins as a sexual rondelay, evoking Greene (in his plays) and Noel Coward, swiftly turns very black as 2 boyhood friends split apart 22 years later and the more handsome of the two (Peter) decides to seduce the mistress of the other (Bartels) and betray him. Do we ever know anyone? In Chapt 2, Peter candidly says, "I am a murderer...to this day the police are unaware..." Peter is not teasing us.

As for the wussies and sissies who fret about the 10 Commandments, Bingham asserts, these are "a mere set of simple rules to maintain order among a wandering desert tribe." Oh course ! Yes, Bingham says through the orphaned Bartels who craved love throughout his life, "Moses was an old fraud who claimed divine inspiration for some laws he thought up in his goatskin tent." You won't find this kind of writing in Ross Macdonald or Highsmith.

And death : "Death is of no consequence." We fight against it, "instead of accepting it for what it is, as normal an event as birth."

A dazzler from an exceptional writer -- one known to only a few, damnit -- with an insightful and sensitive mind. Now, who does Peter murder -- or do I mean Bartels ? And what about the Other Woman, Lorna? For there must always be the Other--.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting 1953 detective novel, the main content of which is a detailed and increasingly neurotic contemplation about a planned murder and whether, in the situation as described, the planned murder is an act of mercy, as the protagonist is delusioned enough to convince himself. Still, he would never have made preparations in such an elaborate way if he had not been striving to fulfil his utmost desire. Murder is committed in the end, but not as anticipated.
Interesting story. You almost forget you are dealing with immoral people because of the 1950s polite language and sentiments.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ ... I shall insist upon a better position in the firm. Something at head office. By God, I’ve earned it. And I shall demand it.”
“You will? Suppose they don’t give it to you?”
“I’ll make them give it to me.”
“Splendid.”
“There’s no reason why I should not be a director one day.”
“None at all. There is no reason at all why you should not be a director. I hope you will be. I think you probably will be, before you have finished.”

It was one of those broadly reassuring things which one says to failures. With men who are likely to succeed, you can afford to discuss the probabilities and chances; you can’t do that with failures.

In narrative fiction, we get to watch ourselves in every situation, reacting to every twist, every swerve in the proceedings. And as drama, murder is the ultimate eventuality. Because it is so final, and because murder works forwards and backwards.

For the murderer, it is the last and most extreme resort, in a rising crescendo of desperate behavior. For everyone else involved, it creates a high-voltage atmosphere, with explosive consequences riding on every moment's choices. Including the victim; even the innocent are on red alert.

John Bingham's "Five Roundabouts To Heaven" lingers in the painstaking setup and the slow, careful exposition. There is even a bit of blanched period hue ala the Angry Young Men, the low expectations of postwar Britain; there is something here also of Death Of A Salesman in the bleak outlook, the endless banal sitting rooms and teacups to be washed.

But halfway in, there is the inevitable, feverish lunge of the desperate man hopelessly cornered and spooked. This is true British Noir, a tale of civilization's orderly conventions all coming undone in a wave of quiet panic. That the rules have been reversed emerges from the sense that a social contract has been breached, fair play confounded, the pitch queered.

With the slow motion start, all that and a vicious little balancing act reminiscent of Strangers On A Train give Bingham's second novel an almost giddy pace (once we're on the rails). And then, the inescapable full-force impact that must result.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Bingham's sophomore novel finds itself included on HRF Keating's Crime and Mystery 100 Best Books list, published in 1953 he refers to it as the strongest of the early attempts towards psychological realism in crime fiction, his characters led one way and then the other often in a matter of moments by indecision, logic and emotion, the inexorable facts of life an by opportunistic grabbing at what seems any quick way out of a particular dilemma.

Told in flashback this is ostensibly the tale of how one man observed and assisted an old friend in his decision to kill his wife. The murderer is painted as somewhat sympathetic by the narrator who claims all of the villainy for himself (in an unreliable way) but the events are told in as matter of fact way as possible, shorn of hyperbole and melodrama. The "thrills" are allowed to come from the impressive insight in to human nature and the way the reader is brought to identify with the characters and events.

When I discovered that Bingham was the basis for Le Carre's Smiley after the pair worked together during Le Carre's early days in the British Secret Services this book jumped up reading queue, I somewhat expected the pair would have a similar voice, style or content but Bingham is his own very interesting person and perhaps the closest parallel I could draw would be the straight forward presentation of the facts of Bingham's narrator with the serious no nonsense Smiley.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is couched in a mood of reminiscence and reverie that makes it feel like Proust writing a crime novel. It's also comparable to Javier Marias, with an Englishman's more clipped diction substituted for Marias' lavish, dilatory prose. Of course it's also an entry in the crime genre, with a tale of interpersonal jealousy and infidelity building to potentially murderous results. The narrator claims the most noble motivations for everyone except himself, and says that this is a tale of good people committing crimes - again excluding himself - which is what makes it interesting, but I wonder. I strongly suspect the handiwork of an unreliable narrator, which adds another layer of meaning and interest to an already excellent novel. If all crime fiction was this beautifully written and engaged with questions of human nature we'd have to stop publishing 'literary fiction' altogether. Here's a sample:

'One has seen it all before, perhaps many times: this, one says, is where I came in. And if one decided to see the show again, one knows how the reel will run, amiably anticipating the pleasant periods, suitably fortified against the pains and pangs. Such is the penalty and such is the protection which the years bring you.'

Interestingly, Bingham worked for the MI5 during World War 2 and later (his experiences in post-war Germany also inform a part of this novel) and may have been the original of John Le Carre's George Smiley.

[Sam Reaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curiouser and curiouser... I grabbed a book entitled The Tender Poisoner out of a trove of old mysteries I inherited. Started reading, got hooked,liked it. Came to Goodreads, searched for it to post a review, came up empty. Googled to find out what other title it might have been published under, came up with Five Roundabouts to Heaven. (Lots of books had one title in the UK, another one in the US.) The kicker is that the author, John Bingham, apparently was a real-life spy and one of the models for John LeCarre's Smiley. All very interesting.
As for the book, it's a psychological thriller, not my usual genre but like I said, it grabbed me. The writing is good, the premise intriguing. A man is content in a passionless marriage until he meets a woman who really loves him; wanting to spare his blameless wife the pain and disgrace of divorce, he decides the humane thing is to kill her. OK, the guy has a few quirks. Bingham sells it; you have to read it. The guy also has a friend, the narrator, who has fallen in love with the mistress and is determined to steal her. Complications follow and the wife's life hangs in the balance...
Bingham wrote a lot of books; I'll be reading more of them.

[Ηρώ Φουτζοπούλου · Rating 1 out of 5]

Με βάση την περίληψη όταν έπιασα στα χέρια μου αυτό το βιβλίο περίμενα ένα θρίλερ που κόβει την ανάσα. Εν τέλει κατέληξα με κάτι αρκετά κακογραμμένο, αργό και ειλικρινά τόσο βαρετό που έπρεπε να με βάλω με το ζόρι να το τελειώσω για να μπορέσω επιτέλους να πάω στο επόμενο βιβλίο που με περιμένει.
Κακο κακό πολύ κακό για μένα και θα το σκεφτώ πολύ αν θα ξαναδωσω ευκαιρία στον συγγραφέα.

[Maria João Fernandes · Rating 2 out of 5]

"O importante não é quando se morre. É como se morre. Que diferença fazem alguns anos a mais ou a menos, se considerarmos a infinidade sem limites do tempo?"

Este é o argumento utilizado (demasiadas vezes) pelo assassino principal do livro "Casamentos e Infidelidades" de John Bingham. E digo principal porque esta história não tem apenas um, mais dois assassinos, se é que lhes podemos chamar assim. Ambos os homens, amigos de longa data, deixam muito a desejar tanto como criminosos, como seres individuais. Um assassino que se preze tem um lado obscuro, uma aura tenebrosa ou um passado trágico. Deixem-me que vos diga que nenhum dos assassinos de John Bingham possui uma destas características. Considero-os assassinos do acaso, livres de reflexões profundas pertinentes, mas com mentes ricas de pensamentos supérfluos e insignificantes. Tudo isto seria suportável se nos fosse apresentado um assassino apenas. Mas dois? Dois tornam a leitura fatigante.

Peter Harding conta-nos a história do seu melhor amigo Philip Bartels, na qual ele também representa um papel, ainda que pequeno.O enredo não podia ser mais trivial: Philip é casado com Beatrice, mas apaixona-se por Lorna e pretende lutar pela sua felicidade ao lado dela. Contudo, este homem excessivamente carente, ingenuamente pensa que a sua mulher não consegue viver sem ele. E é este pensamento ilusório que o leva a concluir que o assassinato da sua esposa é muito mais humano e bondoso do que simplesmente lhe anunciar que quer o divórcio.

Esta história, isenta de mistério e suspense, gira em torno dos pensamentos do fracassado caixeiro viajante de vinho, Philip. Contudo, estes pensamentos não nos são dados em primeira mão. O escritor britânico optou por nos transmitir os sentimentos e emoções do seu assassino através do narrador, que se coloca na pele do amigo e reconstitui os acontecimentos passados. Uma história já por si desinteressante torna-se ainda abominável quando contada por um terceiro.

Quanto à narrativa destaca-se pela quase ausência de diálogos e pelo facto de os poucos que existem serem, de certa forma, cansativos e sem conteúdo. As descrições são demasiado longas e, por vezes, desnecessariamente detalhadas. John Bingham é repetitivo e as sua tentativas de conferir um pouco de humor ao enredo revelam-se, a meu ver, infrutíferas.

O ritmo é bastante lento, o que não seria um aspecto negativo se a escrita fosse apelativa e contagiante - o que não é o caso. O tema abordado apesar de óbvio podia ser estimulante. Afinal de contas, um casamento apenas pode ser a base de uma história rica em tramas e conflitos. Mas não se iludam, que este livro não vos oferece nada deste género. Por outro lado, confronta o leitor com o tema do matrimónio, infidelidade, amizade e, ainda que de uma forma mais superficial, a família, num enredo que só pode ser comparado a um cavalete com uma tela em branco. Isto é, a obra apresenta uma estrutura sólida, mas onde está o conteúdo?

Neste livro, descrito como thriller psicológico, em que é preciso um esforço e atenção redobrados no sentido de manter o interesse mínimo para chegar ao final, o escasso número de personagens deixa muito a desejar. Quanto ao protagonista só tenho a dizer que me parece demasiado irreal e enfadonho. Como é que um homem, incapaz de matar uma aranha, decide tão prontamente matar a mulher? O seu fiel e suposto melhor amigo, que tão falso e traidor aparenta ser, é igualmente peculiar. Parece que ambos encerram no seu intimo sentimentos demasiado contraditórios que tornam para mim impossível sentir empatia. Nem mesmo Beatrice, nas costas de quem todo o planeamento criminoso se desenrola, me suscita pena ou compaixão. Esta mulher independente e esposa exemplar é demasiado fria e cruel. Já Lorna, a amante, é tão superficialmente descrita que dificilmente poderia ter formado uma opinião sobre a sua pessoa.

Apesar de imprevisível o final não é, de forma alguma, surpreendente. É simplesmente um final, que tinha, inevitavelmente, de existir ou o romance ficaria para sempre incompleto. O que não seria mau de todo.

O livro "Casamentos e Infidelidades" foi adaptado ao cinema em 2007 pelo realizador Ira Sachs. Este drama romântico tem um elenco mais do que razoável: Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson e Rachel McAdams são os actores principais. Sinceramente não me recordo do desfecho, mas garanto-vos que apesar de ser mais um filme comum, sem nada que o torne especial, proporciona mais entretenimento que o livro em que foi baseado. E, se pensarmos bem, só temos de dispensar 90 minutos do nosso precioso tempo. Se tiverem de escolher entre um dos dois, creio que não terão grandes dificuldades.

[Alan Wightman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly simple and enjoyable crime story set in post-war London. Filled in a couple of days when I was ill in Kuala Lumpur.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a movie based on this book and was immediately intrigued.

[Virginy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si vous vous attendez à de l’action en commençant ce polar, vous serez déçus. Et pourtant! Ce récit n’a pas besoin d’explosions, de tirs de mitraillettes ou de courses poursuite pour être efficace. Tout repose sur la psychologie des personnages, sur le cheminement de leur raisonnement, sur leurs doutes ou leurs certitudes, sur leur empathie ou leur égoïsme, sur leur timidité ou leur confiance en eux. Philip Bartels est tellement bien décrit, que le lecteur finit par devenir presque aussi intime avec lui que son ami Peter Harding. Le suspense est bien là, même si la façon dont Bartels a prévu d’éliminer sa femme apparaît assez vite dans le cours de l’histoire. Le lecteur se retrouve dans la tête de cet homme, devient complice de ce sombre projet qui se met en place petit à petit malgré les réticences qu’il peut avoir. Ce récit, c’est aussi celui d’une amitié et d’une trahison, celui d’une vie construite sur un manque. Celui d’une confidence, teintée de remord.

L’intrigue est menée de main de maître, et je suis persuadée que beaucoup, comme moi, ne verront pas venir ce rebondissement final. Et bien que les techniques de la police scientifique aient évolué depuis son écriture, cela reste un polar efficace plus de soixante ans après sa rédaction.

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[Guerra dos Livros · Rating 1 out of 5]

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Ganhei este livro na Feira do Livro de Lisboa deste ano. Por cada 15 euros ganhávamos um livro ao calhar. Este livro foi uma grande desilusão. A capa é alusiva ao filme que eu não vi e não fiquei com vontade de ver. A história é sobre um casal que passa por momentos difíceis quando ele arranja uma amante. Peter, um grande amigo do casal, fica com inveja de o amigo Phill, além de se ter casado com a mulher perfeita, ainda arranjar uma amante. Claro que Peter vai arranjar confusão. O plot da história até é cativante mas durante a narrativa não me senti entusiasmada para ler. As personagens acabam por passar por crises de idade e parecem que se esquecem dos seus verdadeiros sentimentos. Peter é aquela personagem que fala mal do amigo mas que o inveja, acabando por nunca se sentir realizado. O livro no final torna-se um bocado mórbido.

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best suspense novels based on the Kingston bypass that I have read recently. This surprised me because I had no idea that this dual carriageway even existed in 1953 when this was written. But if you can tear yourself away from the idea that it’s about roads (cat’s eyes - great) you’ll find yourself in the middle of a psychological dilemma. If you have a happy but loveless marriage and then meet someone who you fall head over heels with do you leave your wife? Not if you cannot bear for her to suffer for the rest of her life. You’d rather kill her quickly and painlessly because death isn’t so bad, it’s the suffering that precedes it that we are squeamish about. It also helps if you’re a psychopath dreaming of the perfect murder. But what if your single, more attractive best mate meets your new love and also falls for her and decides to usurp you in her affections? Complications! The best laid plans and all that. So it’s swings and roundabouts, not just the latter.

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book to start my challenge for this year. Interesting presentation of the murderer's mind in a very different way where classic characteristics are missing (passion for muder, smart moves etc). You can read it in 3-4 days, nice one for the cold winter days or for killing you rtime at the metro.

Ωραίο βιβλίο για να ξεκινήσω το challenge της φετινής χρονιάς. Ενδιαφέρουσα παρουσίαση της ψυχοσύνθεσης του δολοφόνου με πολύ διαφορετικό τρόπο όπου διάφορα στοιχεία του χαρακτήρα του που θα περιμέναμε να είχε ως δολοφόνος λείπουν (επιθυμία για φόνο και πόνο, έξυπνες προμελετημένες κινήσεις κλπ). Μπορεί να διαβαστεί σε 3-4 μέρες για τους πιο αργούς αναγνώστες και είναι ότι πρέπει για τις κρύες μέρες του χειμώνα ή για να διαβάζεις κάτι απλό όταν είσαι στα ΜΜΜ.

[Ray Hubley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd and chilling -- considering the provenance (Bingham as mentor to John Le Carre and reputedly the model for George Smiley). A bit slow to unfold, then inexorable in its arc to resolution. The stolidity of its measured voice and characters feels intrinsically British. Why in the world film adapters makers should ever think to transplant it to a US setting (yes they did) is a complete head-scratcher to me.

[MRS ROSALIND G BECK · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a real page turner and gave a very interesting insight into domestic life in the mid-twentieth century. There was a lot of creepy stuff about the thoughts of a murderer or would be murderer, which made me wonder a bit about the author and his thoughts. An under-rated writer.

[Duaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the best novel i have read this year!!! Wow
I have over 90 highlights. The writing is soo good!!!

[A W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very beautifully written in a simple but engaging way. Would recommend.

[Boris Limpopo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bingham, John (1953). Five Roundabouts to Heaven. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2000. ISBN 9781416545033. Pagine 226. 7,09 €

Mentre mi preparavo a scrivere la recensione di A Delicate Truth mi sono trovato a esplorare la produzione letteraria di John le Carré su Amazon e mi sono imbattuto in questo titolo, di cui non sapevo nulla. Ho presto scoperto che non si trattava di un’opera di le Carré ma di questo John Bingham, di cui ignoravo l’esistenza senza che la mia vita ne avesse sofferto per nulla. Ma perché le Carré si era preso la briga di scrivere l’introduzione al “giallo” di uno sconosciuto autore inglese? Perché Bingham, di una generazione più anziano di le Carré, era stato collega e mentore di David Cornwell (il vero nome di John le Carré) nell’MI5. I due erano stati amici, fino all’inevitabile rottura dovuta a una diversa valutazione di cosa si potesse o non si potesse scrivere (sia pure dissimulatamente) sull’MI5: Bingham aveva considerato le Carré poco meno di un traditore. Ecco che cosa aveva scritto 3 anni dopo la pubblicazione di La spia che venne dal freddo:

There are two schools of thought about our Intelligence Services. One school is convinced they are staffed by murderous, powerful, double-crossing cynics, the other that the taxpayer is supporting a collection of bumbling, broken-down layabouts. It is possible to think that both extremes of thought are the result of a mixture of unclear reasoning, ignorance and possibly political or temperamental wishful thinking. [dall'Introduzione di John le Carré a Five Roundabouts to Heaven, posizione Kindle 71]

Inoltre, per ammissione dello stesso le Carré, John Bingham era stata una delle due persone reali che erano confluite nella creazione del personaggio di George Smiley: «Short, fat and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes…»

Sarebbe bastato molto meno per indurmi a leggere il romanzo di Bingham.

Devo dire subito, però, che il romanzo non mi è piaciuto. Non per responsabilità di Bingham però, ma perché a me i gialli classici non piacciono, e questo lo è – nella varietà psicologica – fino in fondo. Forse mi aspettavo anche un’affinità stilistica con le Carré, che però assolutamente non c’è: Bingham scrive un inglese molto piano, vagamente anni Cinquanta. Il monologo interiore del protagonista (il libro è scritto in gran parte in prima persona e dal punto di vista di Bartels) è volutamente infarcito di frasi fatte e luoghi comuni.

Di più non dirò, perché il romanzo rispetta la maggior parte delle regole del genere e basterebbe qualche piccola indiscrezione per rovinarvi il piacere della lettura, se è la sorpresa il piacere che cercate.

Alcuni motivi di interesse e curiosità per me:

«Burglar, poacher, lover, mourner, they all looked much the same.» [pos. 1262: ricorda abbastanza da vicino la quartina di un famoso titolo di le Carré: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy]

la lunga discussione sui sette peccati capitali (di cui ho scritto più volte, qui, qui, qui, qui e qui) e se costituiscano ed eventualmente esauriscano i possibili moventi di un assassinio.

Dimenticavo: le 5 rotatorie del titolo sono davvero rotatorie stradali e, sì, conducono piuttosto all’inferno che in paradiso, come tutte quelle che incontriamo quotidianamente noi.

* * *

Per concludere, due passi che ho trovato belli (riferimenti alla posizione Kindle):

Maybe everybody has three character-skins. The first skin is the one they try to present to the world, the deceptive skin; then comes the second skin, the concealed selfishness, the cynicism, the callousness, covetousness, and greed; but then, if you dig deep enough, right down below it all, you find the third skin, that of the essential, basic child, insecure, needing to be loved and to love. [947]

Sin is not simple. Virtue is simple but not easy, and sin is easy but not simple. Sin is tortuous and twisted, involving lies, and lies within lies, and the bending and warping of the conscience, and subterfuges and concealments, and the ever-present necessity to be on your guard, to watch your every action, to rein in your tongue, to act normally when you yearn to show emotion; only to discover that in acting, as you thought, in a normal manner, you have in fact acted abnormally. [3229]

[Vichy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Με μια διαδρομή στο παρελθόν ο Πίτερ Χάρντινγκ ενισχύει το κύρος και την ανωτερότητα του στο παρόν έναντι του χαμένου και αποτυχημένου φίλου του Φίλιπ Μπάρτελς.

Ο θλιβερός Φίλιπ δεν αγαπήθηκε από κανέναν. Ήταν ένας αντιπαραγωγικός πωλητής οίνου που παντρεύτηκε μία αξιοπρεπέστατη γυναίκα την Μπίατρις Γουίλσον. Στο πρόσωπό της βρήκε την τέλεια σύζυγο αλλά της έλειπε εκείνο που αυτός πάντα έψαχνε. Την αγάπη πίστεψε πως βρήκε στη Λόρνα Ντίξον. Για τον έρωτά της θα προχωρήσει στο φόνο όταν κρίνει ότι ο θάνατος της συζύγου του θα είναι καλύτερος γι' αυτήν από τη θλίψη της μοναξιάς στην οποία θα την οδηγούσε ο χωρισμός τους... Φόνος από οίκτο...

Πόσα λίγα οι ίδιοι ήξεραν, όμως, σε σχέση με κάποιον άλλον...Η Μπίατρις έμενε μαζί με τον Φίλιπ για τον ίδιο λόγο, του οίκτου, αφού είχε βρει το alter ego της στον Τζον Ο' Μπράιεν...Την αποφασιστική νύχτα που το δηλητήριο της αλτραπίνης βρίσκεται στα χάπια της Μπίατρις, η Λόρνα ανακοινώνει στο Φίλιπ ότι για λόγους οίκτου προς τη σύζυγό του καλύτερα να χωρίσουν οι δρόμοι τους...ο ταλαίπωρος τρέχει να προλάβει το κακό αλλά μπλέκει σε τροχαίο και αντιμέτωπος με το χρόνο, ομολογεί τα πάντα στην Αστυνομία. Η σύζυγος σώζεται αλλά ο φόβος του Φίλιπ τον οδηγεί στην ιδιότυπη αυτοκτονία δια χειρός Πίτερ...

Η ιστορία, όμως, δεν είναι για τον τίμιο βλάκα Φίλιπ αλλά για τον έξυπνο και αδυσώπητο φίλο Πίτερ! Ο Πίτερ ερωτοχτυπημενος και ο ίδιος με τη Λόρνα καταστρώνει ψυχρό σχέδιο στρατηγικής. Γνώστης και των δυο παράνομων σχέσεων σιωπά αντί να λυτρώσει. Οι συμβουλές του είναι αυτές που έχουν το πραγματικό δηλητήριο και μάλιστα όχι μόνο χωρίς τύψεις ή ενοχές αλλά με διάθεση αλαζονείας και κομπασμού. Βάζει τους τίτλους του τέλους για τον Φίλιπ και κρατά τη Λόρνα για τον εαυτό του.

Αν και δεν είμαι οπαδός του εσωτερικού μονολόγου και των υποθετικών διαλόγων, το ψυχολογικό ταξίδι ήταν το κάτι άλλο! Μίσησα τον Πιτ εξίσου με τη βλακεία του Φίλιπ και την επιφάνεια της Μπίατρις όσο και της Λόρνα. Πρώτη φορά μου συμβαίνει να μην συμπαθώ κανένα χαρακτήρα αλλά να θαυμάσω τη συγγραφή και την ψυχολογική πλοκή ενός εγκλήματος. Το έγκλημα της σιωπής.

[Mangy Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up rather randomly off the shelf at the library. This was first published in 1953. What a great suspense story! I thoroughly enjoyed the way the first person narrator spoke and how he was able to mete out the clues and bits of information in such a way that made it really difficult to put down the book. The ending was brilliant--exactly as it should have been.

My favorite line of the whole book has to be at the crux of the story. It's absolutely magic in what it does to your breath as you realize what is about to be said. I think that as he put his arms around [his wife] and told her that she was wrong, and that he did love her, there was already stirring within his mind, very faintly, and in an undefined form, the feeling that he might have to kill her.

After this, my second favorite line would definitely be the last. But I won't give it away. wink.gif

I saw that this was supposed to have been made into a movie (or will be soon). The story is definitely well-suited for the screen, but I'm not sure I would like it because of how it ends. Somehow, in a book, it works, but on screen...I think it might lose some of the charm of seeing the story unfold through Peter Harding's eyes.

I'd highly recommend the book to any fans of suspense however. It's well-written and superbly crafted.

[suchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kind of book I was yearning to read since long. It is a mystery novel, with a plot meticulously calibrated and a story well streamlined. This novel has the glint to keep you captivated with it's mesmerizing plot. The parable is unfolded in a series of flashbacks.

John Bingham is certainly a brilliant and lucid writer.

The parable has Beatrice, Bartels and Peter as central characters. Beatrice and Bartels are friends since the boyhood. Bartels is married to beautiful but cold Beatrice. Beatrice is smart, beautiful, levelheaded and well balanced female which any normal man would feel fortunate to have her as wife. But, Beatrice is not romantically inclined towards Bartels. The spark and the charm of romance is missing in their wedlock. Whereas bartels cares more for emotional bend and support. To fill up the void, Bartels falls for appealing and mesmerizing Lorna. Peter happens to meet Lorna with Bartels and inevitably falls for her. Any how and for any price, he wants Bartels out of the position.

Now, Peter plots a series of events which eventually thrust Bartels out of Lorna's life, paving a way for him to enter the heart and life of Lorna.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Bingham's Five Roundabouts to Heaven is the book to reach for if you are looking for a one which absolutely transports you to 1950s Britain - with all the societal differences that encapsulates - and which will have you burning the midnight candle as you turn page after page wanting to know how it ends. This is no gory, gruesome murder mystery; this is a personal dilemma mystery. Just a damned good read. Oh, and if you are lucky enough to pick up the edition which contains an introduction by John le Carré then you will indeed have a lovely treat to look forward to.

[Ana Filipa · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Nota: O livro em português (de Portugal) chama-se Casamentos e Infidelidades.]

As personagens eram muito manipuladoras e egoístas para o meu gosto. Mesmo assim dou duas estrelas porque li até ao fim e ainda me conseguiu surpreender. No entanto, achei que ficaram algumas coisas por explicar, principalmente a fobia do Bartels (ou então fui eu que não percebi a origem dela).

O que retiro deste livro é que a verdade pode doer, mas através dela poupam-se muitos outros constrangimentos que podem advir da mentira ou da omissão... e se querem deixar a vossa mulher, deixem, mas não lhe queiram tirar a vida.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by John Bingham and I enjoyed very much. It was a very nice litttle psychological mystery about a man who is married but falls in love with another woman and must sort out how to resolve this situation. Add to the mix a jealous friend and you have a nice little story. It was well-paced and well-written. The ending was a nice twist. Very enjoyable. I will be trying to find more books by him.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sordid tale of self-absorption and deception, narrated by a sociopath. Sounds good, right? Well, I may not be doing it justice. Originally published in 1953, this compact book comes up frequently on various "best of" lists. In it, the narrator calmly recalls his youthful friendship with the other main character, and the various events leading up to .... well, never mind. If you like tension, and the inexorable unraveling of orderly lives, give it a try.

[Cristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

As premissas até eram boas... Casamentos,infidelidades, assassínios... Mas assim que li as primeiras páginas fiquei desiludida. Fui continuando à espera de uma surpresa, mas cheguei ao fim e a surpresa não apareceu...
Achei a história muito parada e algo confusa e não consegui ficar "presa" ao livro...

[Titus G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant analysis of motives and characters. Interesting and consistent characters. But the main attraction is the writing skill, the voice of 1950's England, the suspense in developing and introducing the characters and the plot.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, full of twists and turns. After watching some of the previews of the movie, it appears the movie took a different story line...