Flash without substance

Press, 24 April 1987, Page 19

Flash without substance

77» Green Flash. By Winston Graham. Collins, 1987. 416 pp. $32.95. (Reviewed by A. J. Petre) David Abden, aged 11, stove in his father’s head with. an iron handle. Since then, he has been a less-than-admirable character who is something of a psychiatrist’s delight — a confused and aimless fellow with a prison record for fraud, and a tendency to break the law just for the hell of it He is a stranger to true affection, and instead makes use of people. Abden joins the perfume business, being an individual with the rare ability to assess and identify scents with ease and skill. He leaves his first firm to join the small, but exclusive House of Shona, run by Mme Shona Carreros and her f husband. David Abden finds Shona, a mysterious Russian refugee, fascinating. The attraction is mutual. As the firm goes from success to success, they become lovers. David is also interested in fast cars, an interest that runs in his family — a family for which he nourishes a thinly disguised contempt It is with astonishment that he gets the news that his cousin, has been killed in a

road accident when a tyre failed, and that he, David, has inherited an impoverished baronetcy and a crumbling Scottish manor bouse, with 500 acres of worthless scrubland. David always knew Shona was older than he. When he finds that her true age is 10 years greater than he thought, he cannot withstand the blow to his pride, and ceases to be her lover. He stays with the firm, and marries a young, vivacious, but rather empty-headed young fencing champion, Erica. It is a marriage destined for disaster. That disaster brings Shona back into David’s life. Winston Graham is a prolific author with many fine novels to his name, including the popular Poldark series. His talent is considerable, but “The Green Flash” leaves one oddly unsatisfied. Abden is a complex character, but he remains elusive. The jacket describes him as one of Graham’s “most beguiling creations” — an inappropriate phrase. There are other potentially fascinating characters in the book, but few of them are allowed to develop. The art of the novel seems to exceed the substance.