Flash Point (Gilbert novel)

(CC) Photo: Jerry Bauer
Michael Gilbert on the back cover of Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens, 1982

Flash Point is a 1974 novel by the British author Michael Gilbert published in England by Hodder and Stoughton and in the United States by Harper & Row. It was Gilbert's 17th novel and undoubtedly written during the last days of the American Watergate scandal; although none of the events in book directly parallel those of Watergate, it begins with a banal legal matter and escalates into a government cover-up and national scandal. The American edition has an apparent subtitle shown only on the copyright page: "A Harper Novel of Law and Lawlessness". Like a number of other works by Gilbert and his near contemporaries Victor Canning and Ross Thomas, it is a political thriller about the amorality and even deadly reactions of those in the highest government positions when confronted by seemingly trivial events that have blossomed uncontrollably into perceived challenges to their positions.

As one of Gilbert's editors said after his death in 2006, "He's not a hard-boiled writer in the classic sense, but there is a hard edge to him, a feeling within his work that not all of society is rational, that virtue is not always rewarded.". Such is the case here.

Plot

As usual with most of Gilbert's novels, the events mostly take place in and around London: in sundry law offices, courts, government offices, and gentlemen's clubs. Gilbert himself was a most Establishment figure, frequently writing about other Establishment figures, and usually firmly on the side of England's police forces and shadowy (and lethal) Intelligent agencies. But perhaps because of his many years of legal practice, he was also equally at home in filling his narratives with other types of characters: sleazy strip-club owners, tough and semi-crooked policemen, hard-bitten union officials, factory workers, relentless and unscrupulous Intelligent agents, and a wide variety of gangsters and crooks from small-time burglars and con men to gangster chieftains.

Reception and/or Appraisal

Newgate Callendar, the mystery critic of the New York Times, gave it a very favorable review, saying that:

Michael Gilbert's FLASH POINT (Harper & Row, $6.95) examines certain aspects of the British Parliamentary system and does not like what it sees. Gilbert, himself a lawyer, works up a situation where, in an effort to stop a legal case, the British Government steps in and subverts the basic rights of citizens. Gilbert poses big questions that carry the ethical problems straight up to the Prime Minister. The analogy to certain doings in the United States Government of recent vintage is not once mentioned, but obviously Gilbert had it on his mind. The ending of “Flash Point,” however, is a bit weak. It is as though Gilbert did not know exactly how to resolve the plot, and there is the sudden, unconvincing reversal of character of several key figures. Nevertheless a strong, well‐written book.

See also

• Crime fiction/Catalog of prominent writers