Perilaus II by Mark P Henderson

Here is a gold artefact, from the Bronze Age, photographed by Captain Moth-Butterfly. Its relevance to this blog will become clear, if you read on.

He continues to recover - for which I am very very grateful, both to the Creator of life, Jehovah, and to the NHS, which has been splendid.  He even went out a'detectoring on Thursday, though he wisely made it a shorter day than usual.

My own specific medical requirements at the moment are: to re-arrange my cancelled shingles vax, have my next Covid vax (hoping my poor weakened immune system will stand up to all this), and arrange to collect my new glasses. I have picked up my revamped hearing aid after the standard call when they phone to tell me it's ready to collect and I keep saying "I'm sorry, I can't hear you, my hearing aid is away being repaired."

It occurred to me that now, when I am in the middle of Perilaus II, would be a good time to review it as I won't have to worry about spoiler alerts. The interesting questions it is raising are as yet unanswered.  I am waiting in suspense to finish the second half, so I can't give anything away by answering them.

The central premise is that Doug Carmichael, a writer of crime thrillers, finds himself suddenly inside the current thriller he is writing.  His characters are turning up, the murder he has already written has happened - much to his regret, as he now sees first hand the trauma his writing is causing.

This of course is raising all sorts of questions, such as: Can he not write his way out of this and back to the real world?  The answer so far would be that this is not as easy as we might suppose.

And: Should he have written it in the first place?

At one point, the protagonist, whose plot begins to surprise him, says:  "Something had happened that I didn't know. And this was supposed to be my story".

As a fellow author, in a minor way, I can relate to that.  Sometimes characters and stories take on a life of their own, and it does surprise. 

This is not one of these pre-digested reads, you will have to think a bit, and you will also learn something. There is, for example, interesting history/myth attached to the book's McGuffin, the bronze bull - which has also provided an occasion to share the photo of another artefact above. It's a piece of what is called ring money, and there is a mystery about it too, as its function is unknown - the idea of its being money is a speculation.

Perilaus II begins with a sense of menace as for a reason not yet revealed, the writer/protagonist feels he is under surveillance. Of course once he finds himself in the world of his half written thriller, he finds that he IS being watched and followed.  Is he now a suspect in the murder that he wrote?

Mark has some great chapter endings, to keep the suspense going.  And he can be very funny at times.

For example, here is the author in the world of the book, driving a strange car:

"My relationship with the Land Rover encountered teething troubles. Its controls were in unaccustomed places. An elderly Sunday driver in a hat, nodding dog in the back window, challenged my patience. Irritated by her adagio manoeuvres, I bruised my fist on a part of the steering column that was innocent of horn and then washed my windscreen at her."

I plan to return to Perilaus in at least one future blog - especially re Chapter 18, which I have just finished.  In it the author  - book and protagonist - address some of the most important issues facing us.  And interestingly Doug, the protagonist is addressing them to a clergyman - a benevolent character in the book - but who has given him no answers, so far, except for this one, which is accurate: "The Almighty sees a broader picture than we can."

But the Almighty has also told us much more, as he expect us to use the reason he gave us.

I have no idea where Perilaus is going next, and where it is going with the issued raised in this chapter. But I am looking forward to finding out, and hope to say more when I finish the book - while avoiding those spoilers of course.