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THE NIGHT FOLLOWING is a tricky book to categorise. If you insist on your pigeonholes, it's tangentially a crime fiction book and loosely psychological suspense. In a nutshell, a woman knocks another woman off her bike, then inveigles her way into the widower's life. It's a strange book and one I find it difficult to form a categoric opinion on. That's partly because of Morag Joss's writing style. It's what some people would call spare. I call it underwritten. But I did at least finish this book, which hasn't been the case with some of her previous ones. The problem for me has been building an attachment to any of her characters. Mind you, she doesn't make it easy here either – the book has one of those vaguely annoying conceits of an unnamed central character. Mrs Anonymous is a reserved, quiet woman, the wife of a doctor. One day she discovers her husband is having an affair. She rushes from the house and drives off. Moments later, on a country road, she hits and kills a cyclist – and leaves the scene of the crime. But that's not the end of it by any means. She inveigles her way into the life of Arthur Mitchell, the widower of cyclist Ruth. And there begins a surreal existence for the two of them, as Mrs Anonymous, wracked with guilt, resolves to take care of him. THE NIGHT FOLLOWING has three strands – our unnamed woman's story, the widower's notes to his mysterious guardian angel and extracts from the victim's novel. And this, in the end, is what makes the book worth the effort. Mrs Anonymous's account is actually the least effective, as she's too under-drawn and grey to elicit much reaction from the reader. The winner by a mile on that score is Arthur and his querulous notes, followed by the novel where you genuinely want to know what happens. On balance, THE NIGHT FOLLOWING is a winner, despite its several flaws, mainly because of the ambitious nature of it, and the fact that Joss treads successfully the fine line between black humour, melodrama and pathos.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, October 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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