Fiction:Up to now I have avoided the novels of Douglas Kennedy. Call me shallow, but I have a tendency to judge a book by its cover. And what bloody awful covers they are, sugar and schmaltz - the sort of things that could have graced the front of the Jackie Summer Annual circa 1975. However, and I'm glad to say it, what lies between the covers of his latest novel, Temptation, proves how wrong I've been, writes Christine Dwyer Hickey
Temptation is Kennedy's seventh novel and it makes for that rare treat, a light and intelligent read. A page-turner that makes us reluctant to turn the page because the prose is such a pleasure to read.
Set for the most part in LA, with the odd zip off to New York City or a detour to a James-Bond-style location, this is essentially a story about success. The yearning and earning of it, and what happens when it finally turns, like a dog against its master. It's also a novel for and about the jobbing writer. Indeed anyone out there with a manuscript ready to go, may do well to recheck for "accidental plagiarism" because as we will see in Temptation, it's an accident often waiting to happen, and the repercussions ain't pretty.
Our narrator is David Armitage, a scriptwriter in his early 40s, stuck in "Nowheresville" with his wife, daughter and banger of a car. For years he's been turning out "generic but darkly comic" screenplays that nobody seems to want.
He struggles to hold on to his marriage, not to mention his faith in himself as a writer, while his family exists on 40K a year; mere "chump-change" in a town like LA. All in all, David is having a long, rough ride.
Then he gets lucky. He sells an idea for a television series that turns out to be a runaway success, and the dollars and the work-offers are tripping over each other in their rush to get at him. Now everyone wants a piece of David Armitage, including a hot and successful young television producer named Sally. He leaves the wife for Sally, and almost at once deeply regrets it. Still, there's nothing like a swish apartment, spanking new Porsche, and a nice bit of arm-candy to help a fella over these emotional bumps.
Then along comes Philip Fleck. Fleck is one man who doesn't have to worry about "chump-change". A multi-billionaire who has everything he wants, except that one thing he's never going to buy, and that's creative talent. On comes David as sitting duck. He accepts an invitation to Fleck's private island to discuss turning one of his early screenplays into a movie. David doesn't think much of his own screenplay, but he falls for the lifestyle and the billionaire's wife. And before we know it he finds himself stitched-up and on the fast-track back to Nowheresville.
The plot, that is, if you had a second to draw breath and wonder about it, is a little predictable, especially the cold plate of revenge towards the end. But Kennedy has such a talent for efficient story-telling that it doesn't matter a damn. His sardonic eye glares into every nook. He needles and picks at the foibles and needs of his characters. Most importantly David's voice, and it is the only voice we hear throughout, is never less than engaging; over 300 pages, this is an achievement.
It's hard to define Douglas Kennedy as a writer. He certainly churns out the work - seven novels and three travel books since 1994. He is a respected journalist and the French have made him a Chevalier du Lettres, an honour previously bestowed on Anthony Burgess, Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro. If Temptation is anything to go by, his novels work. Yet there is a sense that he is holding himself back; that were he to dig deeper and darker, he just might move up a division. He may not wish to do so, of course. But could he at least do something about those book covers?
Temptation By Douglas Kennedy Hutchinson, 307pp. £11.99
Christine Dwyer Hickey is a novelist and short-story writer. The Gatemaker, the final part of her Dublin trilogy, has just been reissued by New Island Books