It is all too rare nowadays to find a first novel which leaves you desperately keen to find out whether or not the author has written anything else since its publication. However, 'The Wishing Game' by Patrick Redmond was such a book and my immediate reaction after reading the final page was to rush to amazon in search of more.
Described as a "powerful psychological thriller of haunting suspense", 'The Wishing Game' opens in the present day with a young journalist who believes he has discovered a 'scoop'. The journalist awaits a mystery visitor, with whom he wishes to discuss the explosive events he believes he has unearthed. The visitor arrives and agrees to tell his tale.
With that, the book goes back in time to 1954, to Kirkston Abbey private school in Norfolk and we are introduced to the main character - a 14 year old pupil called Johnathon Palmer. Johnathon is sadly not having a happy time at school. He is homesick and also the victim of merciless bullying from his peers. Yet he does have three close friends. The bespectacled Nicholas and the Perriman twins are fellow misfits in the rough, tough life of a boys public school and the four flock together for protection and comfort.But Johnathon harbours a secret yearning. More than anything, he wants to be friends with the school's 'Mr. Cool', the aloof and enigmatic Richard Rokeby.
It is said that you should always be careful what you wish for, since wishes may sometimes come true. Johnathon eventually manages to penetrate the brick wall with which Rokeby has surrounded himself and the two become inseparable,to the detriment of Johnathon's previous friendships. And,with the developing friendship between the two boys, comes the unleashing of a strange power. It seems that everyone in the school has a secret- from the death of a child in an unreported hit and run accident to homosexuality - and no secret is safe from Rokeby, especially if he might be able to use it to his own advantage. And, of course, Rokeby has a few secrets of his own.
The book culminates back in the present day, having led the reader through a maze of plots and sub-plots, reserving the final twist in the tale for the penultimate page. This is a novel which is slick and suspenseful, one that was so evocative that it gave me goosebumps on more than one occasion. You can almost smell the all- pervading odour of boiled cabbage, sweaty socks and furniture polish and, as you read on, you find yourself empathising with Johnathon and the dilemnas which he faces as things go horribly wrong at Kirkston Abbey.
If I had to offer any criticism of 'The Wishing Game', it would be that it had a slightly slow start - the characters didn't fully develop until about a third of the way through the book. Yet, once it 'got going', it was unstoppable.
The author captures the rarified atmosphere of a boy's school beautifully (not that I ever attended one, I hasten to add!) and his characters are eminently believable. So much so, that reading the book is almost like watching a film - you can literally 'see' the characters in your minds eye and I found myself relating them to some of the people that I was at school with many years ago. Every school has a 'nerd' like Nicholas, a bully like James and an oafish lout like George - one who is not good at reading and writing but is very good at lifting heavy things.
This book is a treat for any fan of psychological thrillers and, I was pleased to find that Redmond has produced a further two books since writing this one. Dare I hope that they will be as good? Watch this space...
Publisher: Coronet
ISBN: 0 3407 4818 4
Price: £5.99
Date Reviewed: July 2002
My Rating: 5/5
