Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Is it as simple as it appears in A Shock to the System to become a killer, even a serial killer?  Can someone live thirty or more years as a law-abiding citizen only to have a seemingly insignificant action be the beginning of a series of murders?  In this English novel published in 1984, the answer is yes.

Graham Marshall was, in his own mind and that of his proud parents’, “a success.”  With a great deal of sacrifice on the latter’s part, he was sent to a public school (what in the United States is a private school) and then to a university, all to put him on the road to a meaningful career.

He is now the assistant director of personnel in a multi-national firm with a near certainly to be made director upon the upcoming retirement of the present director.  But then it all falls apart as the job is given to a much younger man, new to the firm.

Stopping into a pub for a few drinks after receiving the bad news, Graham is on his way home when he’s accosted by a vagrant asking for a quid.  When the man demands money for the third time, Graham reacts angrily and hits the man with his umbrella, then throws the unconscious body into the river.  After a few days of remorse and fear, Graham puts the death out of his mind…that is until he thinks about how much better his life would be without his wife.  As they say in mystery novels, the second murder is always easier than the first.

At the beginning of the novel, the reader may feel some sympathy for Graham.  He’s been at the international oil company for nearly two decades, certainly long enough, in his mind, for him to prove his worth.  His self-value is determined by his position there, to say nothing of the five thousand pounds he was expecting to receive on his promotion, and now he has to pretend in front of the other corporation members that he’s fine with being passed over for a younger, less experienced man.

At home, there are more problems.  He and his wife overspent on their house, anticipating Graham’s rise in the company, and now they are very close to having major financial problems.  Their two children are in public schools, his wife doesn’t want to go out to work, and her mother, a difficult person at the best of times, has moved into their house almost full time.  There’s only one way out of this situation, Graham thinks.

The author has written a novel in which we know from the start who the villain is and why he is committing these murders, but readers nevertheless will be inexorably driven to read to the end.  Graham’s slow descent into becoming a serial killer, and his self-deluding rationale, make A Shock to the System a terrific read.

Simon Brett is the author of five detective series and many stand-alone novels.  In 2014, Brett was chosen as the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association for “an outstanding body of work in crime fiction.”  You can read more about him at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.