You can't help loving it - but...
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If you've got this far and avoided the Yankee plot-spoilers, you will have gained the impression that Horace is getting old, tired and a bit repetitive. I can't disagree with that. But just as Hard Times is not good Dickens, not-good Dickens is streets better than no Dickens - and so it is with Rumpole and his terrorist. There are more loose ends than you'd find in a tin of Heinz spaghetti, more improbabilities than in the Heart of Gold, but it still keeps you turning the pages feverishly until the all-too-soon end. It takes 90 minutes to read if you're a slow reader. So what? Read it again!
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Running out of steam
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I agree with a previous poster that this is no longer vintage Mortimer. The rôle in which Rumpole's wife is cast is out of character. In the audio version her voice is not even right: she sounds much too young and not enough like the elderly female bully she is supposed to be. The plot is not a bad one but to Rumpole fans it will sound like a rehash of previous Rumpole plots. What remains of course is a very laudable critic of Today's war on terrorism. Timothy West is the best reader of Rumpole ever: if he reads earlier Rumpole stories in unabridged version I'll be the first to buy.
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Rumpole fights on
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Horace Rumpole is to me a familiar friend of many years standing, news of whose exploits I eagely await. This familiarity is re-inforced by the book cover's caricature drawing of Leo Mckern's TV portrayal. This is a typical Rumpole tale used to great effect by Mortimer to take a side swipe at not only the reactionary policies of a reactionary government, but also to remind the bleeding heart liberals that in truth there really are some very bad people out there. Horace Rumpole of course is gifted with the all knowing eye so that under the withering gaze of old fashioned forensic advocacy, the truth will out and the innocent are saved. There is also a nice coup de plume as Rumpole's memoirs are intertwined with the memoirs of Mrs Rumpole. I do not know if the book has enough substance to win new fans, but there is plenty here to satisfy the existing ones and on that basis I give it top marks.
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An Old Story in New Clothes
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Since his inaugural case in the 1970's Rumpole has busily defended one or another of the Timson clan (a large and industrious family of South London thieves) on various charges. More than one of the cases Rumpole has previously chronicled involves a Timson unwisely befriending, trusting, and being betrayed by a Molloy (another large and industrious family of South London thieves). Rumpole brilliantly wins each case by convincing the jury that the Timsons and Molloys are like the Hatfields and McCoys, and that the conniving Molloy has framed the hapless Timson.
This case serves up a slight twist on that old plot, with Rumpole defending a Timson who unwisely befriended another Molloy, and at the same time defending a Pakistani doctor who married a Timson and whose affairs also cross paths with the Molloys. Besides bringing Rumpole, the Timsons, and the Molloys into the 21st Century, Mortimer also manages to mix in huge doses of critique of anti-terrorism laws. He's not too heavy-handed with his criticism, and the political commentary does not detract from the story.
The first Rumpole stories were complex pieces of work, with numerous subplots involving Rumpole's colleagues swirling around the main mystery. Mortimer's later efforts have been less complex, with Rumpole's chamber-mates at Number 4 Equity Court receding to the background as Rumpole's relationship with his wife Hilda (She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) receives more attention. The trend continues in this latest effort, with Soapy Sam Ballard, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Claude Erskine-Brown, Hoskins, and Henry the clerk receding into cardboard figures with little depth. Still, "The Reign of Terror" was so engaging that I read it in one sitting.
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Time for retirement?
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For thirty years and over seventy tales John Mortimer has kept readers entertained and enlightened with his stories of the crusty old barrister, Horace Rumpole, and his dedication to the finest principles of British law. In doing so he has maintained for so long an astonishingly high level of imagination and invention, but to judge from the latest offering it may at last be time to put the warhorse out to grass.
'Rumpole and the Reign of Terror' tells an unlikely story drawn out to book length of a Pakistani doctor framed on terrorist charges, a victim of the government's abolition of normal procedures of justice in its fight against the forces of terror. In fact the book seems little more than a pretext for Mortimer to sound off against current abuses of law.
Few of Rumpole's familiar and endearing character traits emerge here, the plot creaks and improbabilities abound: Rumpole's formidable wife is even made to write her own memoirs on a laptop in the boxroom of their Gloucester Road mansion flat and conduct a half-clandestine romance with Rumpole's arch-foe, the 'Mad Bull' Judge Bullingham.
Rumpole fans will still want to read this and enjoy it, but maybe, Sir John, it is time for you and Rumpole to rest on your laurels? You have given us much delight and we cannot reasonably expect more.
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