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The First Casualty | 
 enlarge | Author: Ben Elton
Publisher: Transworld Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $1.41
You Save: $14.54 (91%)
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 295842
Media: Paperback
Pages: 419
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0552771309
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780552771306
ASIN: 0552771309
Publication Date: May 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In Flanders in June 1917, a British officer and celebrated poet is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder. Douglas Konig, formerly a detective with the London police, soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him.
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| Customer Reviews:
Alternate political characters enhance rather than overwhelm WW1 crime story March 6, 2007
Trevor Kettlewell (Nowra, NSW Australia)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book deserves closer analysis than my hazy recollections of a few months ago, but life being what it is this will have to do.
Elton creates perhaps the least sympathetic character possible as his war hero: a conscientious objector. I don't know that this book could have even been published closer to the time of its WW1 setting (well, I'm sure it couldn't have given some of the sexual content taken for granted less than a century on), but community attitudes have altered pretty radically since then. That being said, Elton's point is well made that while you'd never know it by reading a thousand other fictional books in this setting, there were conscientious objectors in the Great War, not to mention communists, homosexuals, Irish nationalists and feminists. Many stories set in wars are well researched, but it is refreshing to have a wider, more representative population. While he does have something of a barrow to push, Elton gives a deal more respect and time to conventional stiff-upper-lip conservatives in this book than more traditional war story writers give to his non-mainstream protagonists. Perhaps it would have been better if Elton had have allowed us an equally articulate pro-war character, the presentation of Kingsley's case is so strong as to border on a straw man attack, but, granted, we have been gorged with the pro-war argument from so much media for so long, in the scheme of things this is hardly going to tip the balance. In a similar spirit I'll grant him some clunky expository dialogue as Tommies summarise contrasting views on the reasons for the war: this conversation feels retrofitted, but it's interesting to even hear some alternative perspectives.
Elton's always had wit, but he's managed to surprise me on occasion by the quality of his writing (such as `Popcorn'). It's not merely a comedian exploring an alternative source of revenue; he can actually stand up creditably against many dedicated novelists. `The First Casualty' has a workable crime plot, historically viable settings, engaging characters and some thought provoking themes. While Elton started, for example, like David Baddiel, I don't know that the latter will similarly be able to reach a point where he can write a whole book without a few chapters of observational comedy (mostly about penises) to get us through. It's actually a testament to Elton's craft that I can write such a positive review about an author who probably passionately holds some views that I'd disagree with. Moreover I suspect we could still have a conversation.
Thus while it teeters on the edge now and then, the book doesn't descend into a mere propaganda pamphlet. Elton includes some interesting opinion, but never at the cost of writing a cohesive, engaging story. Kingsley's conscientious objection, for example, is not merely a veiled political statement from the author: it's a vital aspect of this character's at times irritatingly uncompromising character, and crucial to the appealing (if pretty implausible) plot device of dropping the most unlikely investigator, and investigation, into the Western front trenches. The book opens very well, taking us straight to a gripping time, place and person. The initial technique of cutting to different characters and locations is effective (as opposed to transparent and/or irritating as in some other books). The characters aren't throwaways, there are capable action and investigation scenes along the way, and the resolution is satisfying.
The book isn't flawless. While Elton is so careful about his historical settings, it does become absurd that just about every experienced veteran Kingsley finds himself on the battlefield with gets himself killed, generally at the instant they are in talking to him. I'm not saying death scenes are implausible on a battlefield, but there is something of the Rambo school of war where the hero stands untouched in a hail of bullets while all about him fall. I also get frustrated at how frequently authors blithely kill off characters described as experts: suddenly in one week three veterans of a dangerous profession all are killed nearby the inexplicably surviving rookie: it pushes the effect too hard and foregrounds the deliberate manipulation of the author (it's nicer when you don't realise). Another irritation is some incongruous immaturity. In making the nurse character something more than an extra Elton must have thrown around some options: could I make her an orphan? A spiritualist like Conan-Doyle? Perhaps a politician's daughter? Or a devout missionary who'd returned from China? Wait, hang on, I've got it... she could be ... a nymphomaniac. Gee, thanks Ben: is there some legal stipulation that all British comedians have to make some sort of homage to Benny Hill in each work? Even a powerful one about war? He could argue that this is just another of his balancing characters, a foil for all the typical `good girls' of the representations of the era, but I don't think he'd get away with it. This is gratuitous. It's disappointing, and hardly the sort of thing to reassure his female readers that he's not into perpetuating degrading male stereotypes of women (What? I'm suggesting that a nymphomaniac nurse is a degrading stereotype?! Why, the very idea etc.).
These weaknesses, however, are aberrations: my praises for this book are far greater than my objections. There is a lovely mix of the sweet conventions of good storytelling alongside sustaining historical and political meat. Elton does a few things very well here, any one of which would probably have been enough to make a decent read.
One of his best January 19, 2008
Kristian Pagh Nielsen
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is one of Ben Elton's best books, along with "Popcorn", "Dead Famous", and "High Society". It is really well worth a read. Elton mixes sex, violence and serious debates about moral issues excellently - almost like a modern day Shakespeare, using dialogues with opposing views to emphasize his points rather than painting everything black and white. Some reviewers have said that this book is different from his other books in that it is very serious and is without comedy. I must say that I disagree, although the comic situations does not make one laugh out loud due to the gloom and doom of the story in general, they are there.
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