Book Review: The Old School

I am an avid fan of Agatha Christie’s crime fiction books. (My favourite character is Poirot although I know many would prefer the likes of Marple or Tommy and Tuppence over the French — I mean, Belgian — detective).  One notable feature of Christie’s books is how accurately her novels reflect the period of time in which she sets them: the society, its people and the stereotypes with which they are imbued are captured perfectly.  To me, that is one key defining feature of a good author — that ability to accurately capture that feel into a published work.  I commenced reading The Old School by PM (Pam) Newton with this in mind, especially, noting that the book is set in 1992, Sydney.

The Old School revolves around a young suburban female detective called Nhu (Ned) Kelly.  Ned has an Australian father and a Vietnamese mother.  Ned’s parents first met when her father was a soldier posted to Vietnam. Their deaths, which occurred when Ned was but young, are central to the narrative of The Old School which commences when two bodies are found in the foundations of an old building site.  One is the remains of an Aboriginal activist who went missing for over a decade. The other: an unidentified Vietnamese woman.

As Ms. Newton states in a recent interview, The Old School is about grief.1 Ned attempts to disguise the grief she feels at losing her father, Mick — “a soldier, a lover, a witness”, behind the guise of her detective’s professionalism. She tells herself that she is simply trying to find the “truth” of her parents’ mysterious deaths. The reality of her overwhelming grief shines through.

Despite Ms. Newton’s indication that The Old School is not autobiographical2, there are obvious strong parallels between the author and her young detective character. Both are young females on the brink of a largely male dominated profession. Both lost their fathers at a young age.

Ms. Newton worked in the police force for thirteen years. The Old School, the author’s first novel, reflects a deep knowledge of police force, itself, and the policing profession in general.  The Old School carries a tone and an easy familiarity with an environment that other people, male or female may find extremely intimidating. The knowledge allows Ms. Newton to develop Ned’s lover — a married undercover policeman named Sean Murphy — with that same easy familiarity. Initially, he appears to be confident throughout their short-lived relationship. However, one catches glimpses of Sean’s indecision and doubt about their relationship. The reader equivocates between whether this is due to Sean’s possible involvement in the mystery surrounding the death of Ned’s parents or to the natural charisma of the undercover policeman.  Ms. Newton describes such folk as “strange” and “narcissistic” as they “have to think they are better and clever and smarter than anyone else” and Sean lives up to such a billing.

For all of its interest, The Old School does not quite live up to the difficult standards I have imposed upon it. Ms. Newton’s development of the characters as police-but-also-human tends to detract the reader from the narrative.  Ned is never sure about what she wants out of solving the mystery of her parent’s deaths or out of her relationship with a married man.  Ned’s portrayal as a tough woman, with a blunt sink-or-swim attitude, is undermined by her reliance and desire for Sean which turns her into a clingy and dependent girl. One wonders whether this effect was intended by the author. In one scene, where Sean turns up during an argument between Ned and her sister, Ned thinks how she “wanted to hurtle across the room, like some heroine in a bad romance with a knight fantasy…she’d wanted it so badly she was ashamed.”  This romance, where the object of desire is predictably unobtainable, seems to emulate Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomquist.   

Though Sean, Ned (and her colleagues) appear frequently to discuss the case, or for social gatherings (and in Ned and Murphy’s case, bed talk), development of the narrative is, sometimes, lost. The deceased Aboriginal activist, Dawn Jarrett, becomes incidental after the initial discovery of her body and only the occasional presence of her son, Marcus, reminds the reader of her.

The ambience of 1992 is not captured in the first half of The Old School although Prime Minister, Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech of December 1992 helps capture the mood of that era in the latter half.

Conflicts also arise in the writing styles and tones throughout the book.  On the one hand, Ms Newton portrays Ned’s circumstances as tough, unforgiving and ugly.  Expletives are generously sprinkled throughout. Ned is subject to nasty attacks, especially, by a misogynistic colleague nicknamed Ugly, who spits at her and refers to women as ‘power points.’  At other times, Ms. Newton describes the external environment to the point of romanticism.  Machines are “ruthless, chattering” out undesired images and Ned’s hair is not just long — it “trumpets freedom” from her police uniform cap.  Ned’s intended identity as a young female detective of Asian heritage in Sydney in 1992 fails to crystallise.

Most of the time, however, the narrative is well developed and reasonably paced and interest is maintained.  The grief theme also is progressed towards a form of resolution. The ending promises Ned the opportunity to find the deeper knowledge about her father which is also an object of her quest. The Old School has a lot to offer but, for this reviewer, it fails to excel. It fails to display the easy charm of a detective whose idiosyncrasies, at the same time, seduce the reader but serve only to facilitate the progress of the narrative and its mystery. It fails to allow the mystery to stand centre stage with the characters as willing support acts. Ms Newton mentions that she hopes people will buy the book and love the book.  I think a number will. They will be readers who look to know more about a main character as a person who grows and develops as the book progresses than to enjoy the solving of the mystery which underpins the book.

Mabel Tsui

Footnotes

1. http://mosman-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fiction-pays-for-crime-fighter-author/  accessed 12 July 2010.
2. http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780670074518/old-school/author-q-and  accessed 12 July 2010.