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. 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 basically a political thriller about the amorality and deadly reactions of those in high government positions when confronted by seemingly trivial events that escalate 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.

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