Penny Ponders On Life In Prison
“Straight from a psychiatrist’s nightmare”
When I heard that Mark P Henderson had written a sequel to Perilaus II, I was astounded. A sequel!! How? I’m sure anyone who’s read Perilaus II thought the same.
In fact, I later heard that Henderson himself had no inkling that a sequel might be in the pipeline, but he — just like his readers — really wanted to know what happened next.
I’m so glad he did.
Con is another psychological masterpiece, but it widens the readers’ view so we get to see protagonist Doug Carmichael through the eyes of a lot of different people — and goodness me, doesn’t a whole new story emerge!
These ponderings are not reviews
I’m just doing a bit of scene-setting because this isn’t a book review as such. I intend to home in on a specific point as part of my pondering on the spotlight books for Fantastic Books Publishing’s
But I don’t want anyone to feel short-changed. I have written a review of Con here:
And fellow author Walter Pilcher has reviewed Perilaus II here:
Both books were awash with subtleties that gave the stories all their layers. There was so much that went by unnoticed in a first reading, yet popped up later to give real depth to aspects of the plot. I picked on a single one of these — a black cab — for one of my questions, and for the other, I went for something far more prosaic.
The iconic black cab — and prison secrets
I think the world knows of London and its iconic black cabs plying their trade in amongst the equally iconic doubledecker buses, but I don’t think as many people are aware that black cabs are also a thing in Edinburgh.
My question to Mark Henderson on Perilaus II was this:
When Doug wakes the morning after writing the murder scene, he calls a taxi company. It’s a mundane journey on the face of it, but loaded with sinister undertones. He could have walked, taken a bus, (given how drunk he was) simply woken up somewhere new.
What made you realise that a black cab would be the perfect vehicle to move the story into its new context?
Here’s what Mark told me:
This came from a dream I had one night when I was young. In the dream I’d died, and Charon was taking me over the Styx in a black cab.
When I came to write Perilaus II I realised I could use that dream, (1) to take Doug into his fictional world and then, near the end of the novel, out of it again, and (2) to take the fictional Peter near to the site where he’s murdered.
Wow! And yet another new layer emerges. I’m not sure quite what answer I expected, but it wasn’t that. I feel vindicated in picking on the black cab and am rather taken by the idea of Charon taking people across the Styx in one.
My question on the sequel, Con, was more prosaic:
Have any ex-cons or prison warders read the book? I’m curious to know what they think. You give a lot of detail of life behind bars including how prisoners pass packages between cell blocks.
Personally I found it fascinating, but did anyone suggest you shouldn’t give this detail?
To which he replied:
A few ex-cons have read parts of the book but not the whole of it, and I haven’t run it past any prison officers.
Perhaps some of the details will cause discomfort in some quarters, but everyone in prisons, staff and prisoners alike, seems fully aware of the details of drug-dealing and weapon-passing. I therefore don’t think we need to worry about bringing trouble down on the heads of the not-so-innocent.
However, if and when the “target population” reads this novel, it will be interesting to receive their feedback! I suspect that the main criticism will be that some of the picture I’ve painted is now out of date.
Ah yes… writing contemporary crime and having it go out of date. It’s a problem I know well. Anyway, if I’m ever locked away, I’ll have some useful tricks up my sleeve from reading this book.
MABLE 2022
Con, Perilaus II, and Mark P Henderson are in the spotlight during this autumn’s online MABLE 2022 event that will run during September and October. Do sign up. It’s free and you’ll have the chance to chat with the authors.
