And what joy! (The Killjoy - Anne Fine)

Member Name: MorganaDQ

Product:	The Killjoy - Anne Fine
Date:	04/09/01 (1658 review reads)
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There I was stood in my local library, fishing around at the last minute looking for a handful of books to take with me on a week’s break not so long back. I always tend to avoid the hardback books when I can and head straight for the paperbacks. For some reason, they always appear to have more character to them. You can feel just how many people have picked up a book and leafed through it. You can almost feel them urging you to take it home with you, too. I love paperbacks, and that’s all there is to it.

My fingers edged their way along the side of the bookshelf, skimming over spines here and there, until they stopped at a quite sad looking one. Pity took over and I was intrigued. Bright orange, and with barely readable white print, the spine read ‘The Killjoy’.

I wasn’t especially inspired by the title or the cover (which is significantly different to the one shown above) when I slipped the book from its place on the shelf, but I read the back anyway. I skipped down to the adorations from critics and decided that yes, I was actually going to venture inside the cover.

Some of you might know that the way I choose a book is by reading the first page. If I really want to keep reading by the end of it, I’ll take it home with me. To say that the first page caught my attention was an understatement. It was actually just the first paragraph that did it for me.

“Now it’s all over I can tell about it – not dispassionately, you understand; but without passion. I feel myself again, careful and middle-aged, and if you were to interrupt me I’d listen thoughtfully to what you had to say and probably nod my head along with you as if this were just another seminar, saying, ‘Quite so. Quite so.’”

Oh, did that ever catch my attention. What’s he going to tell me? Why didn’t he feel himself before? Why is there no passion? Who is he?
Why is he telling me at all?

Those were all the questions running through my mind after that first little paragraph. It may not have appealed to you, had you been the one standing there in the rapidly emptying library. But it reached me, and in a way not many books have done before or since. Those worn pages were talking to me, too. “Take me home, take me hoooooome”, they said. So I did.

It was all I could do to wait until I was on my break before picking it up again. I knew I was going to savour this one, and I wanted to be completely relaxed when I did. No distractions, just me and a glass or two of wine, sprawled out on the huge soft sofa with no one to please but myself.

To say I enjoyed this book would be a severe understatement. In truth, I couldn’t put it down. I’ve not read many books in one sitting, but this was one of them. It’s not long, only around 200 pages, and I felt it was over far too soon if for no other reason than I absolutely adored the main character.

He’s Ian Laidlaw, a middle-aged lecturer whose life has been mapped out to the tiniest of details – by himself. He likes his life the way it is – ordered, uncluttered, familiar. He’s lived this way since his wife, Margaret, left him; routine is all-important and it’s just the way it is.

So what’s so unusual about him? He doesn’t sound extraordinary in the slightest, at least not until you learn of his disfigurement. People are always asking how and when he got the scar that covers one half of his face, and he’ll usually tell them. But he’s tired of it, and understandably so.

He keeps people at a distance, and has since the accident happened (no, I won’t tell you) as a young child. He walks on one side of the pavement, sits in a particular way during his lectures, and keeps conversation to a minimum, always hiding his ‘ugly’ side
.

He takes us back to witness parts of his childhood, his courtships, his marriage, but we never once feel as though he’s trying to excuse himself. He’s very matter of fact about everything life has thrown at him, including, to a degree at least, Alicia Davie.

Alicia Davie is one of his students. She’s unlike anyone he’s ever encountered before. She doesn’t care about his scars. She sees them, but doesn’t see them as a threat. So when she laughs at something that happens during one of his lectures, and then laughs at him, too, it’s only natural he takes an interest.

Oh, and what an interest he takes. He’s obsessed with her. He finds out where she lives, when she was born, her school examination results, everything he can. His days are taken up with thinking about her. Where he once methodically took care of paperwork, replied to correspondence, and so on, he now let the papers pile up onto his desk. His routine had changed to such a degree that even the cleaning ladies were becoming puzzled by his new manner.

Slowly, gradually, our ‘hero’ gets closer and closer to Alicia. It wouldn’t be fair to say he seduced her, because he didn’t really. In a way they seduced each other, though with such differing methods as to clarify their age difference. And so the story begins proper.



This is a chilling tale. Fine lays bare the workings of a disturbed mind, but never once tries to glamorise it. She has put into words perfectly, what most can only dream of. She has created a character who is triumphant in his manipulations, yet is still attractive to the reader.

Ian Laidlaw is the hero in this book. It may be hard to understand how such a thing is possible, and before reading this I may have told you exactly where to stick the idea, but it’s true. He’s a cold, calculating, manipulative, sadistic beast, and all the
while he’s cordial and polite, extremely intelligent and witty.

As you may or may not have guessed, due to the relationship between Laidlaw and Alicia there are a number of intimate scenes. They do serve to shock, but on a much different level to that which may be expected in other such stories. These scenes are an integral part of the story and shouldn’t be overlooked in the slightest. They aren’t present for titillation, they’re important. They’re probably some of the most important parts of the tale. So if such things easily offend you, don’t read this book (though saying that, the language isn’t crass, but the author does force you to imagine every little detail where she describes none).

Fine takes us on a tour of Ian Laidlaw’s psyche, and as chilling as it is, it’s even more addictive. It’s written as he tells us (the police, presumably, though to my recollection it’s never said outright) exactly what happened from the beginning of his journey with Alicia, to the end. How that journey ends I’ll leave to you to find out.

I never once felt as though I was being talked down to as I savoured every last line of this fascinating story. It was intelligent yet accessible, something which seems increasingly scarce of late. It was clear and concise, and still descriptive to the point of every detail flashing before my eyes as I read.

This really is a stunning book, and I could never recommend it highly enough. I was utterly entranced by it from start to finish, and when I finished it I wanted to read it again and again. This is one, which I have no doubt will end up in my ever-increasing collection at home. But for the moment, it will have to return to it’s home in my local library.

I just hope that the next set of wandering fingers at closing time manage to hunt this little gem out as I did.

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Publishe
r, Black Swan
ISBN: 0552998281
amazon.co.uk currently have this title available for £5.59 (RRP £6.99)

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