An armed siege with unrealistically empathetic characters & cringeworthy social commentary.
I was expecting to be floored by the brilliance of Charity Norman’s novel given the compelling premise of an armed siege in a cafe uniting a group of strangers who happen to bear witness to the event. Disappointingly I never felt it lived up to the billing, lacked tension and ended up feeling like a public service broadcast intended to illustrate the ideal handling of such a situation!
The story gets off to a strong start and shows the three character who become hostages going about their very different lives. Fifty-something ex-teacher and homeless, Neil, is waking up in the grounds of a local church with his dog, Buddy; grandmother and nurse, Mutesi, from Rwanda is taking her six-year-old grandson to school and criminal barrister, Abigail Garcia, is on her way to defend a client accused of harming her child. All three are heading to the busy Tuckbox cafe in Balham and are amongst the witnesses to an incident that sees mid-twenties Sam Ballard fire a shotgun with irrevocable consequences. Frazzled working mother and police negotiator, DI Eliza McClean, is drafted in with a mission to establish a rapport with the gunman and get everybody out alive. What follows is seen from multiple perspectives - Sam, Eliza, Mutesi, Abi and Neil - and we not only learn more about the characters but also get their take on the unfolding situation. Sam’s perspective includes flashbacks to the earlier years in his life to illustrate his story and Eliza’s provides a glimpse into the behind the scenes police handling of such an operation.
Disappointingly the motivation for the gunman’s actions is made apparent at just twenty percent of the way through the novel and whilst what follows is a slow reveal of the detailed reasons behind his actions, I did feel that much of the tension was lost. From then on the novel felt like a drawn-out look at how Sam had been failed by society and the legal system. It became glaringly obvious at this point that the three hostages and police negotiator, DI Eliza McClean, were intended simply to demonstrate compassion and act as a sounding board for Sam’s story. I cringed at how the hostages tried to keep Sam calm and patiently listened to his backstory as it was so obvious that their intents were simply to pacify him and keep themselves out of danger. From this point on there were really no surprises and it all felt rather prosaic.
Whilst I felt that the character of criminal barrister, Abigail, was believable with her lack of tact and impatience, I had less success in investing in homeless, Neil, or nursing home carer, Mutesi, who both felt overwritten and overly-earnest. Of the characters it was Eliza I wanted to hear more from and wished she had been given a bigger part of the narrative. In the end this was over-sentimental and too mawkish for my tastes and whilst the prose is engaging and there are plenty of insights into the human condition, the novel lacked realism. Once I knew the motive for the gunman’s actions my interest in the novel waned and from the halfway juncture onwards I found the blatant politically correct execution of the story tiresome.
The story gets off to a strong start and shows the three character who become hostages going about their very different lives. Fifty-something ex-teacher and homeless, Neil, is waking up in the grounds of a local church with his dog, Buddy; grandmother and nurse, Mutesi, from Rwanda is taking her six-year-old grandson to school and criminal barrister, Abigail Garcia, is on her way to defend a client accused of harming her child. All three are heading to the busy Tuckbox cafe in Balham and are amongst the witnesses to an incident that sees mid-twenties Sam Ballard fire a shotgun with irrevocable consequences. Frazzled working mother and police negotiator, DI Eliza McClean, is drafted in with a mission to establish a rapport with the gunman and get everybody out alive. What follows is seen from multiple perspectives - Sam, Eliza, Mutesi, Abi and Neil - and we not only learn more about the characters but also get their take on the unfolding situation. Sam’s perspective includes flashbacks to the earlier years in his life to illustrate his story and Eliza’s provides a glimpse into the behind the scenes police handling of such an operation.
Disappointingly the motivation for the gunman’s actions is made apparent at just twenty percent of the way through the novel and whilst what follows is a slow reveal of the detailed reasons behind his actions, I did feel that much of the tension was lost. From then on the novel felt like a drawn-out look at how Sam had been failed by society and the legal system. It became glaringly obvious at this point that the three hostages and police negotiator, DI Eliza McClean, were intended simply to demonstrate compassion and act as a sounding board for Sam’s story. I cringed at how the hostages tried to keep Sam calm and patiently listened to his backstory as it was so obvious that their intents were simply to pacify him and keep themselves out of danger. From this point on there were really no surprises and it all felt rather prosaic.
Whilst I felt that the character of criminal barrister, Abigail, was believable with her lack of tact and impatience, I had less success in investing in homeless, Neil, or nursing home carer, Mutesi, who both felt overwritten and overly-earnest. Of the characters it was Eliza I wanted to hear more from and wished she had been given a bigger part of the narrative. In the end this was over-sentimental and too mawkish for my tastes and whilst the prose is engaging and there are plenty of insights into the human condition, the novel lacked realism. Once I knew the motive for the gunman’s actions my interest in the novel waned and from the halfway juncture onwards I found the blatant politically correct execution of the story tiresome.