![]() The ending is pure bittersweet, and the murderer’s punishment is entirely unexpected and certainly would not pacify the police, who have given up the chase, ![]() “The Victim” is the author at her darkest, the carefully detailed account of how a murder is committed, with more than enough details about the bloody knife in the throat and an almost hilarious account of a woman who certainly was not worth killing for. James as usual evoked a certain sympathy for the actual killer, and the episode is left in lonely drama, except that the yo-yo is still there, quiet and polished. The most fascinating aspect of how this story is told is that the yo-yo has almost nothing to do with the murder which was concealed by a witness but never forgotten. It is told politely in characteristic fashion by the murderer who muses, “I found the yo-yo the day before Christmas Eve.” He notes that the yo-yo “precisely fitted my palm and with that touch memories came flooding back sweeping back to the day of the murder.” The six stories are laced with sardonic humor and perhaps only in James would you find a carefully constructed story about a yo-yo. The late Baroness James of Holland Park’s talent for killing off victims in a well-mannered way is nicely demonstrated in this slender but substantial collection that would probably make a good Christmas present.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |