Reginald Hill’s ‘Death of a Dormouse’ begins with shy Trudi forced out of the cocoon she has spun around herself to escape what she considers a dangerous, inscrutable world. For twenty-five years she has buried her phobias and anxieties under the silken blanket of her husband Trent’s superior intelligence and worldliness.
Then one day the cocoon breaks -- her husband dies in an unlikely car accident -- and she
finds herself virtually penniless and more or less alone in the world. It is only after this rude awakening of sorts that Trudi finds out what she’s capable of doing; but the
world out there truly is big and bad and Trudi seems to have a secret adversary who is out to get her.
Death of a Dormouse is an exciting read; often, while reading it, I was reminded of the movie ‘The Bourne Identity.’ There is the same suspense, the same uncertainty as to who the protagonist is to
trust and who she (or in the latter case he) can rely upon to deliver a vindictive blow. But unlike The Bourne Identity, Death of a Dormouse has a philosophical-psychological angle to it.
The book has echoes of George Orwell’s 1984. In
fact Trudi's husband is an ardent fan of Orwell and his collection of the great writer’s books finds a place in the Dormouse plot. But while 1984 talks about a whole population being subject to dystopian excesses, in Dormouse, it is only Trudi, and perhaps a few people she is connected with, who suffer this treatment.
The phrase from Orwell’s
novel – Big Brother is watching – takes on new meaning for Trudi, with her invisible adversary pre-empting her every move. He obviously knows where she has been, where she is going and, strangely, how her mind is going to work, a step ahead of Trudi herself (though this does not last long). Besides, Trudi has this overwhelming feeling that she is being watched all the time: while she is sleeping, while she is with her only friend Carol or when she is working.
The other theme from 1984 that finds an echo in Dormouse is that of betrayal. Just as everyone is eager to betray his best friend to the totalitarian state in Orwell’s novel, in Hill’s novel, everybody seems eager to betray Trudi. In fact Trudi’s growth towards independence and self-confidence involves learning how not to trust blindly without becoming bitter about treachery.
It is this theme that gives the novel its
thriller quality. The reader does not know what will happen next, because he has no idea who Trudi will trust only to be betrayed. He does not know whether Trent is really dead or if he has only played a game with Trudi and is actually alive and enjoying a life of filthy wealth and comfort somewhere out there in the lesser known parts of the world. What about Trent’s former employer – old man Schiller? What is his interest in Trent and Trudi’s lives? And where is he now that Trent is dead and Trudi penniless?
In the world inhabited by Trudi, everyone with a public persona of gentility and decency turns out to have a dark side to his personality; but there is not one character who appears a villain and turns out to be a good guy.
Now don’t get me wrong. Reginald
Hill could not write a dark, bitter novel even if he wanted to. He is too full of kindness and tolerance for human weaknesses. And the key to the novel’s humane tone lies in the fact that even villains are not un-redeemably villainous. They have their moments of nobility, if not in such high notes as to be uplifting. Dormouse is an earthy story about human fears and weaknesses and the futility of hiding from them.
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