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Never Come Back
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 2, 2016
‘Never Come Back’ by John Mair was the author’s first and last novel. The book was written at the start of World War 2, as John Mair waited to be called up. Mair subsequently joined the RAF but was killed in a training accident in 1942.
A desperate man is pursued by the shadowy ‘International Opposition’ who will stop at nothing to obtain what they want. The intrigue, palpable sense of paranoia, casual violence, a pervasive fatalism, and, somewhat predictably a few inappropriate racial and national stereotypes, all powerfully evoke the early years of World War 2, the era of the so-called Phoney War.
George Orwell, reviewing it for the New Statesman in 1941, described ‘Never Come Back’ as “an amusing book. I hope it will prove to be the starting point of a new kind of thriller”. I agree. Desmond Thane, the central character, is a callous, amoral, self absorbed, fantasist and yet, for all his shortcomings, I wanted him to survive. I suspect this is exactly as John Mair intended. ‘Never Come Back’ is a stylish, amusing, well written, wartime page turner, with some great set pieces and narrated by a memorable anti-hero. Wonderful.
A desperate man is pursued by the shadowy ‘International Opposition’ who will stop at nothing to obtain what they want. The intrigue, palpable sense of paranoia, casual violence, a pervasive fatalism, and, somewhat predictably a few inappropriate racial and national stereotypes, all powerfully evoke the early years of World War 2, the era of the so-called Phoney War.
George Orwell, reviewing it for the New Statesman in 1941, described ‘Never Come Back’ as “an amusing book. I hope it will prove to be the starting point of a new kind of thriller”. I agree. Desmond Thane, the central character, is a callous, amoral, self absorbed, fantasist and yet, for all his shortcomings, I wanted him to survive. I suspect this is exactly as John Mair intended. ‘Never Come Back’ is a stylish, amusing, well written, wartime page turner, with some great set pieces and narrated by a memorable anti-hero. Wonderful.
January 17, 2023
Firstly thank you Nigey B for bringing this book to my attention, it's a corker.
Desmond Thane, the lead character really is a stinker, and a pathological liar too. Not only that but his mind drifts to sex at the most inopportune moments (obviously he's not alone here but...) His lying is so spectacular as to add a certain black comedy to proceedings, he couldn't stop himself from adding that extra little lie that would dig him in ever deeper and add further twists to the tale.
This was actually a pretty simple story with the "shadowy political organization" being little more than a MacGuffin enabling our (anti) hero to escape and evade in thrilling ways. It's plotted so brilliantly that the sequence of outlandish events is never less than believable in the moment.
There are touches of Ambler and the Graham Greene of Ministry of Fear maybe even a hint of Rogue Male. If I had to pick a fault it would be the hospital amnesia scene which edges almost to outright comedy but it's a minor quibble in a very fine and, for the time, unusual thriller.
Just as good the second time round.
Desmond Thane, the lead character really is a stinker, and a pathological liar too. Not only that but his mind drifts to sex at the most inopportune moments (obviously he's not alone here but...) His lying is so spectacular as to add a certain black comedy to proceedings, he couldn't stop himself from adding that extra little lie that would dig him in ever deeper and add further twists to the tale.
This was actually a pretty simple story with the "shadowy political organization" being little more than a MacGuffin enabling our (anti) hero to escape and evade in thrilling ways. It's plotted so brilliantly that the sequence of outlandish events is never less than believable in the moment.
There are touches of Ambler and the Graham Greene of Ministry of Fear maybe even a hint of Rogue Male. If I had to pick a fault it would be the hospital amnesia scene which edges almost to outright comedy but it's a minor quibble in a very fine and, for the time, unusual thriller.
Just as good the second time round.
Want to Read
November 10, 2019Synopsis: the misadventures of an urbane feature writer who falls for a femme fatale and then is pursued by a shadowy group. Pub. 1941.
February 23, 2017
“I have a good public character and a respectable position in society. I live by myself, and for years past have given no-one any account of my movements; I am quick-witted and ready for nearly anything; I think I have little personal or social conscience. Above all, I am a murderer…”
So speaks Desmond Thane, the leading figure of the sole novel published by John Mair (he died in 1942 while training to be an RAF pilot). Thane is one of the most extravagantly larger-than-life characters it has ever been my pleasure to encounter in the pages of a work of fiction. This story would be next to nothing without him: he picks it up by the scruff of its neck and carries us along, helpless yet enthralled, in his wake.
The book opens with an account of an unsatisfactory romantic liaison between Desmond, a journalist working for a London newspaper syndicate, and the cold, dark, mysterious Anna Raven during the ‘Phoney War’ of 1940/41. Desmond picks Anna up in the Café Royal, is initially intrigued by her but then quickly becomes totally besotted. Anna remains largely indifferent to Desmond’s advances, to his fury. One evening, the couple quarrel at Anna’s flat when Desmond attempts to read the contents of her diary. A struggle ensues and Desmond, who we have earlier been informed possesses the strength to have “appreciably bent a quite formidable poker”, experiences no difficulty at all in strangling Anna. He is frightened of what might befall him having murdered his lover but is a long way from being racked with guilt: “He felt no sort of conscience or pity for Anna—as he had imagined, death had killed his interest in her…” He therefore pockets Anna’s diary and removes himself promptly from the scene of the crime.
Three days later, Desmond is apprehended by two men. Having informed him that “We are police officers”, they bundle him into a car and drive their captive to a large, isolated house in Hertfordshire. Here Desmond is detained for several days before being alternately questioned and tortured by a man named Foster and two accomplices. Far from being a policeman, Foster is in fact a representative of ‘The International Opposition’, an organization described in the book as being “a Federal Union of the dispossessed” who “represent all the great ideological minorities of Europe” that are currently out of power. The avowed aim of I.O. is to bring about “simultaneous coups in all the capitals that shall give us power—and revenge—in our separate countries”.
The diary that Desmond had stolen from Anna, an I.O. agent, is actually a ‘Contact List’, a coded notebook containing details of British members of I.O. together with a statement of the organization’s aims. The shadowy I.O. ‘Committee’, whose members are only ever identified by a single initial in the very entertaining minutes of their meetings that are threaded through the narrative, view the loss of this artefact as a grave emergency, and its retrieval as a matter of the utmost importance.
Aided significantly by his ignorance of the true nature of Anna’s diary, Desmond holds out under torture and gives little away that could be of use to Foster. Then, by removing the blackout in his cell, he succeeds in summoning the local bobby to the house. In the confusion that ensues, Desmond escapes the clutches of Foster and his men.
The absorbing (and occasionally exhilarating) middle section of Never Come Back is a sort of compendium of well-worn thriller tropes: a cross-country chase; thuggish, ruthless henchmen; cold-blooded murder; mistaken identity; suspicion and paranoia; attempts at code-breaking; and a creepy doctor who is not at all what he seems. Despite their familiarity, there is nothing stale or second-hand about these elements and the novel is written with such brio and bravado that it is easy to overlook its rare failings.
In his introduction to this O.U.P. edition, crime thriller guru Julian Symons claims that Mair “had obviously read Eric Ambler, who seems responsible for a touch here or there”. As a confirmed devotee of Ambler’s fiction, I would concur with that. Desmond, instead of being a true anti-hero as Symons suggests, actually has more in common with the protagonists of early Ambler thrillers such as Uncommon Danger and Journey into Fear, innocent professional men such as journalists or engineers who find themselves caught up in life-threatening political shenanigans that are beyond their comprehension and largely outside their control. Desmond of course can hardly be described as “innocent” having murdered his girlfriend but the rest of the comparison holds true. Whilst on the subject of progenitors, I would not be at all surprised to learn that Mair had read (and admired) the likes of The Thirty-Nine Steps, early Graham Greene ‘entertainments’ such as A Gun for Sale and The Confidential Agent and Geoffrey Household’s novel of pursuit nonpareil Rogue Male, which was published just a year before Mair began writing his magnum opus.
As Symons also notes, some of the material to be found in the middle of this book should perhaps have been excised (and perhaps would have been by a more experienced author) because “such passages don’t marry easily with the international conspiracy which is the core of the story”. In particular, an acutely embarrassing episode in which Desmond feigns amnesia and explains his recent absence from London by telling a friend a cock-and-bull story about having had an affair with the bored, lustful wife of one of his directors could happily have hit the cutting-room floor. But, as Symons also observes, “This is a young man’s book, erratic in tone and flavour” and so it would perhaps be appropriate to judge it in a juvenile court and to forgive the occasional infelicity or misstep.
The story regains its momentum when Foster recaptures his escaped prisoner and at last learns the whereabouts of his precious Contact List. Desmond is rewarded for his disclosure by being sentenced to death by Foster but I won’t give away the denouement. I will just say here that the finale borders on brilliance, and that Mair provides a chilling twist at the end of his tale.
Never Come Back is a very unusual novel, a real one-off in fact. It is by no means perfect but I would urge all those who have not yet experienced its tantalising melange of thrills, comedy, wartime atmosphere, power politics, philosophy and witty repartee to dive in headfirst and sample it for themselves. You won’t regret it.
So speaks Desmond Thane, the leading figure of the sole novel published by John Mair (he died in 1942 while training to be an RAF pilot). Thane is one of the most extravagantly larger-than-life characters it has ever been my pleasure to encounter in the pages of a work of fiction. This story would be next to nothing without him: he picks it up by the scruff of its neck and carries us along, helpless yet enthralled, in his wake.
The book opens with an account of an unsatisfactory romantic liaison between Desmond, a journalist working for a London newspaper syndicate, and the cold, dark, mysterious Anna Raven during the ‘Phoney War’ of 1940/41. Desmond picks Anna up in the Café Royal, is initially intrigued by her but then quickly becomes totally besotted. Anna remains largely indifferent to Desmond’s advances, to his fury. One evening, the couple quarrel at Anna’s flat when Desmond attempts to read the contents of her diary. A struggle ensues and Desmond, who we have earlier been informed possesses the strength to have “appreciably bent a quite formidable poker”, experiences no difficulty at all in strangling Anna. He is frightened of what might befall him having murdered his lover but is a long way from being racked with guilt: “He felt no sort of conscience or pity for Anna—as he had imagined, death had killed his interest in her…” He therefore pockets Anna’s diary and removes himself promptly from the scene of the crime.
Three days later, Desmond is apprehended by two men. Having informed him that “We are police officers”, they bundle him into a car and drive their captive to a large, isolated house in Hertfordshire. Here Desmond is detained for several days before being alternately questioned and tortured by a man named Foster and two accomplices. Far from being a policeman, Foster is in fact a representative of ‘The International Opposition’, an organization described in the book as being “a Federal Union of the dispossessed” who “represent all the great ideological minorities of Europe” that are currently out of power. The avowed aim of I.O. is to bring about “simultaneous coups in all the capitals that shall give us power—and revenge—in our separate countries”.
The diary that Desmond had stolen from Anna, an I.O. agent, is actually a ‘Contact List’, a coded notebook containing details of British members of I.O. together with a statement of the organization’s aims. The shadowy I.O. ‘Committee’, whose members are only ever identified by a single initial in the very entertaining minutes of their meetings that are threaded through the narrative, view the loss of this artefact as a grave emergency, and its retrieval as a matter of the utmost importance.
Aided significantly by his ignorance of the true nature of Anna’s diary, Desmond holds out under torture and gives little away that could be of use to Foster. Then, by removing the blackout in his cell, he succeeds in summoning the local bobby to the house. In the confusion that ensues, Desmond escapes the clutches of Foster and his men.
The absorbing (and occasionally exhilarating) middle section of Never Come Back is a sort of compendium of well-worn thriller tropes: a cross-country chase; thuggish, ruthless henchmen; cold-blooded murder; mistaken identity; suspicion and paranoia; attempts at code-breaking; and a creepy doctor who is not at all what he seems. Despite their familiarity, there is nothing stale or second-hand about these elements and the novel is written with such brio and bravado that it is easy to overlook its rare failings.
In his introduction to this O.U.P. edition, crime thriller guru Julian Symons claims that Mair “had obviously read Eric Ambler, who seems responsible for a touch here or there”. As a confirmed devotee of Ambler’s fiction, I would concur with that. Desmond, instead of being a true anti-hero as Symons suggests, actually has more in common with the protagonists of early Ambler thrillers such as Uncommon Danger and Journey into Fear, innocent professional men such as journalists or engineers who find themselves caught up in life-threatening political shenanigans that are beyond their comprehension and largely outside their control. Desmond of course can hardly be described as “innocent” having murdered his girlfriend but the rest of the comparison holds true. Whilst on the subject of progenitors, I would not be at all surprised to learn that Mair had read (and admired) the likes of The Thirty-Nine Steps, early Graham Greene ‘entertainments’ such as A Gun for Sale and The Confidential Agent and Geoffrey Household’s novel of pursuit nonpareil Rogue Male, which was published just a year before Mair began writing his magnum opus.
As Symons also notes, some of the material to be found in the middle of this book should perhaps have been excised (and perhaps would have been by a more experienced author) because “such passages don’t marry easily with the international conspiracy which is the core of the story”. In particular, an acutely embarrassing episode in which Desmond feigns amnesia and explains his recent absence from London by telling a friend a cock-and-bull story about having had an affair with the bored, lustful wife of one of his directors could happily have hit the cutting-room floor. But, as Symons also observes, “This is a young man’s book, erratic in tone and flavour” and so it would perhaps be appropriate to judge it in a juvenile court and to forgive the occasional infelicity or misstep.
The story regains its momentum when Foster recaptures his escaped prisoner and at last learns the whereabouts of his precious Contact List. Desmond is rewarded for his disclosure by being sentenced to death by Foster but I won’t give away the denouement. I will just say here that the finale borders on brilliance, and that Mair provides a chilling twist at the end of his tale.
Never Come Back is a very unusual novel, a real one-off in fact. It is by no means perfect but I would urge all those who have not yet experienced its tantalising melange of thrills, comedy, wartime atmosphere, power politics, philosophy and witty repartee to dive in headfirst and sample it for themselves. You won’t regret it.
April 20, 2022
"Amusing thriller" isn't a common description on Goodreads but this book is both in equal measure. It's not laugh out loud, roll on the floor amusing but the whole tone is one laced with irony and dry wit which carries the story along despite some torrid scenes of cruelty and torture. I had a sense of Trollope describing pompous church figures but with actual and threatened violence mixed in. I read this book in one sitting which showed that it grabbed my attention. It's sad to think that this was the author's one and only novel, a writing career cut short by a wartime flying accident.
The book tackles issues such as sex, the cruelty of those in power, the need for the powerful to control the thoughts of ordinary people and alludes to forms of government built on intellectual and social elites rather than on democracy. Having just read H G Wells's "New Machiavelli" which has some similar themes and is all very worthy but couched in such wordy, convoluted language as to bore the pants off me I was very grateful to John Mair for this straight forwardly written page turner containing some serious things to think about.
The story itself is an improbable one of the protagonist Desmond Thane a young journalist who gets mixed up with the secretive Anna Raven and then with her connections in the International Opposition leading to a mounting body count, kidnap, escape, tables being turned and re-turned, codes being broken, deals being done, deception, betrayal and finally a form of escape. Whilst feigning amnesia Thane comes up against the wife he is trying to divorce resulting in one of the most amusing scenes in the book as he desperately tries to revise his lies so avoid her forcing him into a reconciliation. Lies and deceptions are layered on lies and deceptions with amusing results yet with an underlying sense of threat throughout.
This is another book that George Orwell read and which influenced his later writing. He certainly wrote a positive review but two specifics stand out. One of the characters is named O'Brien the same name as Winston Smith's torturer in 1984 (although in Never Come Back O'Brien is not a torturer the use of the name seems more than coincidence) and the descriptions of torture and interrogation in Never Come Back have definite resonances with those in 1984 (level of pain, increasing severity of pain, fainting etc) and there is something about the relationship between Desmond and his torturer that reminds one of the relationship between Winston and O'Brien in 1984.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading and thinking about this book sitting in my garden on a beautiful sunny Easter Monday!
The book tackles issues such as sex, the cruelty of those in power, the need for the powerful to control the thoughts of ordinary people and alludes to forms of government built on intellectual and social elites rather than on democracy. Having just read H G Wells's "New Machiavelli" which has some similar themes and is all very worthy but couched in such wordy, convoluted language as to bore the pants off me I was very grateful to John Mair for this straight forwardly written page turner containing some serious things to think about.
The story itself is an improbable one of the protagonist Desmond Thane a young journalist who gets mixed up with the secretive Anna Raven and then with her connections in the International Opposition leading to a mounting body count, kidnap, escape, tables being turned and re-turned, codes being broken, deals being done, deception, betrayal and finally a form of escape. Whilst feigning amnesia Thane comes up against the wife he is trying to divorce resulting in one of the most amusing scenes in the book as he desperately tries to revise his lies so avoid her forcing him into a reconciliation. Lies and deceptions are layered on lies and deceptions with amusing results yet with an underlying sense of threat throughout.
This is another book that George Orwell read and which influenced his later writing. He certainly wrote a positive review but two specifics stand out. One of the characters is named O'Brien the same name as Winston Smith's torturer in 1984 (although in Never Come Back O'Brien is not a torturer the use of the name seems more than coincidence) and the descriptions of torture and interrogation in Never Come Back have definite resonances with those in 1984 (level of pain, increasing severity of pain, fainting etc) and there is something about the relationship between Desmond and his torturer that reminds one of the relationship between Winston and O'Brien in 1984.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading and thinking about this book sitting in my garden on a beautiful sunny Easter Monday!
March 21, 2019
This is a real pageturner. This is how thrillers should be written. Unfortunatly this is the only book John Mair has ever written.
December 23, 2022
I have a vague feeling I once tried to read The 39 Steps, but gave up because there was a lot of running around and very little else.
Never Come Back is cut from similar cloth – shadowy evil organization pursues man - and, despite its minor cult status (mainly down to George Orwell liking it), is not hugely better.
Amoral protagonist Desmond Thane is potentially more interesting than Richard Hannay, but spends too much time embroiled in the ludicrous plot. An occasional sally hits the mark, but overall the writing – enlivened by minutes of the shadowy evil organization’s meetings – is not good. The dialogue - he said, speaking with a lisping, foreign intonation - is double not good.
There’s not much left to like. Sadly, even the cover is bad...
Never Come Back is cut from similar cloth – shadowy evil organization pursues man - and, despite its minor cult status (mainly down to George Orwell liking it), is not hugely better.
Amoral protagonist Desmond Thane is potentially more interesting than Richard Hannay, but spends too much time embroiled in the ludicrous plot. An occasional sally hits the mark, but overall the writing – enlivened by minutes of the shadowy evil organization’s meetings – is not good. The dialogue - he said, speaking with a lisping, foreign intonation - is double not good.
There’s not much left to like. Sadly, even the cover is bad...
September 11, 2012
Picked this up because I saw a British tv version of the story, and I like a good noir novel. This was interesting, as it takes place in Britain during World War II (and that's when it was written) but the story was only so-so, and the protagonist was a little more interesting/likeable in the filmed version. But an interesting period piece, so not a waste of time.
March 30, 2013
One of my favorite spy novels. Up there with Ambler and Buchan's best.
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