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The Unquiet Night |
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T he Unquiet Night byPatricia Carlon Soho Press 191 pages, June 2000 ISBN 1569471940 Reviewed by Susan McBride The Unquiet Night by Australian author Patricia Carlon was first released back in 1965, though this is the first American publication of the novel. The story may seem almost tame by today’s standards for psychological suspense, but the writing itself does not feel dated, and Carlon’s descriptions are first-rate as in this one which sets the atmosphere: At half past five it was dark, water thudding on the roof, gurgling down piping, dripping on pathways under the trees….None of the houses she could see had lights at the front. It was as though the whole town had drawn into separate little cocoons of hibernation till the weather cleared. The center of the novel is the supposed murder of a loose woman named Rose by a rather unstable young man called Mart. Mart’s sister Ivy has been bailing him out of trouble for years, even changing their last name and moving to keep Mart out of prison. When Mart picks up Rose one afternoon, takes her to the lake and just wants to talk, she angers him by telling him she hasn’t come out all that way to chitchat. Out of control, Mart assaults her, and Rose goes limp. Figuring he’s murdered her, he rolls her into the reservoir then turns to leave - then finds he’s not alone. A woman and a girl stand beneath the trees. Have they seen him struggling with Rose? Did they watch him push the lifeless body into the water? Rain begins to fall hard, and the pair race off to their car. Mart panics, not knowing what they actually may have seen. He makes a point to hunt them down in the small English village where everyone seems to know everyone. The police are soon after Mart, and he wonders if the woman has already talked. But it’s someone else entirely who tattled on him, because Rose isn’t dead. The Unquiet Night follows Mart’s attempts to locate Rachel and Ann, the aunt and her niece who briefly encountered him at the reservoir. He wants to be rid of Rachel, sure that then he’ll be safe. Only nothing ends up as Mart or Rachel have planned. Ms. Carlton tells an interesting tale with well-developed characters. If not exactly engrossing, The Unquiet Night is entertaining on the same level as Hitchcock's film Vertigo for instance - perhaps not quite as good as Rear Window, but nice to watch just the same. |
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