Europe in Autumn
Dave Hutchinson
Oxford: Solaris Books, 2014
ISBN: 9-781781-081952
317 pp.
It is a little way into the future and Europe is disintegrating. The EU appears to have failed and, in its place, numerous small states have begun to emerge and old enmities are flourishing. Crossing borders has become problematic once more and, where there are barriers to entry, inevitably there are incentives for people to explore the limits of the laws. So it is with our protagonist, Rudi (an early protagonist, as subsequently introduced characters also have their chance to take the spotlight). Rudi is a chef but finds his life in the kitchen starts to take a less important role as he is brought into the world of the coureurs, people who are paid to deliver items across borders or bring them back in the other direction. The items are frequently people who have found themselves in a place that for some reason they would like to leave but find that inconvenient. From this basic premise, a well-resourced organization has come into being to support the coureurs, by cleaning up messy operations when necessary and creating legends (i.e. false identities with fabricated credentials).
All of this would probably have been enough for another author to have created a series of novels linked in plot and characters. However, Dave Hutchinson wants to go further and the plot of this first novel soon begin to complexify and become stranger. Without giving away any spoilers, I can mention – because it is revealed on the back cover – that Rudi becomes involved with The Line, which is an independent state based on a trans-European railway line and then in a world in which maps somehow manage to keep changing. This is all a lot of fun and is intelligently imagined (it is similar, in this sense, to the Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross). The transitions between different stages of understanding of the (real) world can be quite abrupt but that is not a bad thing. He also does a good line in what H.P. Lovecraft might have called ‘terrible old men.’
The setting changes from Krakov to London, in stages. The first half or more of the book is set in what we British consider to be Eastern Europe and this is a relatively unexplored location in the literature I find I have read (although I am reasonably familiar with the Czechia of Kundera, Skvorecky and, of course, Kafka). The heavies come from Hungary and are suitably intimidating and preposterous in equal parts. The sense of history and its menace bubbles up occasionally and with a chilling effect towards the end which is rather nicely done. Subsequently, the action moves, a mentioned, to the UK, which is more familiar of course but is nevertheless shown to be quite strange when witnessed by an outsider such as Rudi.
This is the first of a four book sequence of novels and I am looking forward to reading the remaining ones. Hutchinson writes well: I could not say that his language or vocabulary are particularly noteworthy but his style is sufficient to ensure that it does not interpose itself between the reader and the reading experience. One aspect I particularly enjoyed (and which I frequently mention during reviews) is that the characters have some kind of intellectual hinterland – this is not over-stated but it is evident that they have other things on their mind than what they may currently be talking about or addressing in some other way. It’s good stuff.
John Walsh, Krirk University
Ladprao 64 