War Damage [Paperback]

Elizabeth Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

London in the aftermath of World War II is a beaten down, hungry place, so it’s no wonder that Regine Milner’s Sunday house parties are so popular. But when one of Regine’s party guests turns up dead, there is no shortage of suspects.

War Damage is full of secrets, sexual experimentation, and surprises.

Elizabeth Wilson is an independent researcher and writer best known for her commentaries on feminism and popular culture. She is currently a visiting professor at the London College of Fashion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Wilson's The Twilight Hour (2007), also set in post-WWII London, this whodunit suffers from an ordinary plot and less-than-convincing characterizations. Shortly after Freddie Buckingham attends a house party thrown by writer and socialite Regine Milner, he's murdered on Hampstead Heath. The police investigation naturally leads them to Regine, her husband, Neville, and their guests. Neville uses his status as Buckingham's executor as justification for entering the dead man's rooms in advance of the authorities, where the couple discovers that some indelicate photographs are missing. Regine's withholding of information from the authorities, which parallels the actions of Dinah Wentworth, the socialite heroine of The Twilight Hour, places her in predictable difficulties. A police detective sergeant, whose over-the-top infatuation with Regine compromises him personally, adds little. The absence of a compelling puzzle isn't compensated for by any particular insights into postwar London society.
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Review

"'It would be selfish to hope for more thrillers from Wilson... but The Twilight Hour is so good that such selfishness is inevitable' Time Out 'Fantastically atmospheric... with the sort of breathy dialogue that reminds you of Brief Encounter' Sunday Express 'An elegantly nostalgic, noir thriller; brilliantly conjures up the rackety confusion of Cold War London' Daily Mail"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846686504
• ISBN-13: 978-1846686504
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,154,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exhilarating post WWII police procedural, September 6, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War Damage (Paperback)

In 1949, ballet critic Freddie Buckingham leaves a party hosted by socialite Regine Milner and begins walking across Hampstead Heath when he is shot to death. The police investigate the homicide.

Detective Chief Inspector Plumer and Detective Sergeant Murray quickly find a horde of people with motives to kill overtly homosexual Freddie. People from his personal life and his professional life with grudges against him seem everywhere. Even the hostess with the mostest is considered a suspect. However, none from the performing arts, the homosexuals, the bohemians, politicians or starving socialites stand out from anyone else. All seem to have in common a refrain of rejoicong that Freddie's dead.

This is an exhilarating post WWII police procedural that has a Noir feel to it, but no detective is hard boiled; the Noir comes from the atmosphere of the "Heath" and London in 1949 as unexploded bombs remain from the war, buildings are derelict and damaged but people reside in them, and the gritty dark fog enhances every step of the plot. Aptly titled WAR DAMAGE is everywhere. Although the introduction to just about all the party goers seems overwhelming at first, fans will enjoy this fine historical whodunit as Freddie's death enables Elizabeth Wilson to provide a tour of the war torn city.

Harriet Klausner

3.0 out of 5 stars Post War London Thriller, November 1, 2010

By 

Kiwifunlad (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War Damage (Paperback)

This book is easy to read and a page turner and has interesting insights into life in Post War Britain. However, the plot became too contrived towards the end and it failed to be convincing. The epilogue was gratuitous and overall Wilson's War Damage was a let down after a promising start.

Another aspect which seemed flawed was the interaction between Regine(Reggie) with a number of the other characters. A loose woman she may have been but a number of her encounters seemed unrealistic with a woman who was trying desperately hard to be the 'society woman' of Hampstead. The further the narrative unravelled the flimsier and unrealistic the inter-relationships seemed: Charles Hallam and Arthur Carnforth and Regine and Eugine being obvious examples. Like all thrillers Wilson contrived to keep the reader guessing as to who was the murderer but sadly this meant that the events became more and more unrealistic. Wilson writes well and the book in many parts is enjoyable reading but the plot should not to be analysed too closely.

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Reading, July 28, 2010

By 

Michael E. Tatham (Darwin, NT Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War Damage (Paperback)

This book settles into a very nice rythym once the murder takes place.

It had all the usual ingredients of the genre, bigamy, adultery, politics, law enforcement, blackmail, homosexuality.

Parts of it reminded me a little of Pat Barker's excellent 'The Eye in the Door' but perhaps not as atmospheric as that novel. But don't be put off, it is still evocative and well crafted - the writing is pretty good over all.

A worthwhile read which brings out the post-war austerity and constantly reminds us here in the early 21st century just how small and claustrophobic the Anglo life was in the late 1940s.

Anxiety over potential scandals is magnified and while such anxieties appear to have diminished significantly in the past 50 years this book makes one ask - have they?

Today's tabloid media is rooted in the post war era with its censorious 'reporting' and yet the consumers of such media appear to be happily posting pictures of their genitals on the internet. Hypocrisy anyone...?

Yes, this book is all about hypocrisy.