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Rumpole and the Reign of Terror

Author: John Mortimer
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

8 reviews
Sales Rank: 71259

Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6

ISBN: 0141025700
EAN: 9780141025704
ASIN: 0141025700

Publication Date: July 5, 2007
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Condition: New

Also Available In:

•	Audio CD - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
•	Paperback - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
•	Hardcover - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
•	Hardcover - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
•	Hardcover - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (Center Point Premier Mystery (Lage Print))
•	Hardcover - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (Rumpole Novels)

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Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Running out of steam April 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I agree with a previous poster that this is no longer vintage Mortimer. The role in which Rumpole's wife is cast is out of character. In the audio version her voice is not even right: she sounds much too young and not enough like the elderly female bully she is supposed to be. The plot is not a bad one but to Rumpole fans it will sound like a rehash of previous Rumpole plots. What remains of course is a very laudable critic of Today's war on terrorism. Timothy West is the best reader of Rumpole ever: if he reads earlier Rumpole stories in unabridged version I'll be the first to buy.

5 out of 5 stars

Rumpole fights on October 13, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Horace Rumpole is to me a familiar friend of many years standing, news of whose exploits I eagely await. This familiarity is re-inforced by the book cover's caricature drawing of Leo Mckern's TV portrayal. This is a typical Rumpole tale used to great effect by Mortimer to take a side swipe at not only the reactionary policies of a reactionary government, but also to remind the bleeding heart liberals that in truth there really are some very bad people out there. Horace Rumpole of course is gifted with the all knowing eye so that under the withering gaze of old fashioned forensic advocacy, the truth will out and the innocent are saved. There is also a nice coup de plume as Rumpole's memoirs are intertwined with the memoirs of Mrs Rumpole. I do not know if the book has enough substance to win new fans, but there is plenty here to satisfy the existing ones and on that basis I give it top marks.

5 out of 5 stars

An Old Story in New Clothes June 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Since his inaugural case in the 1970's Rumpole has busily defended one or another of the Timson clan (a large and industrious family of South London thieves) on various charges. More than one of the cases Rumpole has previously chronicled involves a Timson unwisely befriending, trusting, and being betrayed by a Molloy (another large and industrious family of South London thieves). Rumpole brilliantly wins each case by convincing the jury that the Timsons and Molloys are like the Hatfields and McCoys, and that the conniving Molloy has framed the hapless Timson.

This case serves up a slight twist on that old plot, with Rumpole defending a Timson who unwisely befriended another Molloy, and at the same time defending a Pakistani doctor who married a Timson and whose affairs also cross paths with the Molloys. Besides bringing Rumpole, the Timsons, and the Molloys into the 21st Century, Mortimer also manages to mix in huge doses of critique of anti-terrorism laws. He's not too heavy-handed with his criticism, and the political commentary does not detract from the story.

The first Rumpole stories were complex pieces of work, with numerous subplots involving Rumpole's colleagues swirling around the main mystery. Mortimer's later efforts have been less complex, with Rumpole's chamber-mates at Number 4 Equity Court receding to the background as Rumpole's relationship with his wife Hilda (She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) receives more attention. The trend continues in this latest effort, with Soapy Sam Ballard, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Claude Erskine-Brown, Hoskins, and Henry the clerk receding into cardboard figures with little depth. Still, "The Reign of Terror" was so engaging that I read it in one sitting.

3 out of 5 stars

Time for retirement? March 16, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

For thirty years and over seventy tales John Mortimer has kept readers entertained and enlightened with his stories of the crusty old barrister, Horace Rumpole, and his dedication to the finest principles of British law. In doing so he has maintained for so long an astonishingly high level of imagination and invention, but to judge from the latest offering it may at last be time to put the warhorse out to grass.
'Rumpole and the Reign of Terror' tells an unlikely story drawn out to book length of a Pakistani doctor framed on terrorist charges, a victim of the government's abolition of normal procedures of justice in its fight against the forces of terror. In fact the book seems little more than a pretext for Mortimer to sound off against current abuses of law.
Few of Rumpole's familiar and endearing character traits emerge here, the plot creaks and improbabilities abound: Rumpole's formidable wife is even made to write her own memoirs on a laptop in the boxroom of their Gloucester Road mansion flat and conduct a half-clandestine romance with Rumpole's arch-foe, the 'Mad Bull' Judge Bullingham.
Rumpole fans will still want to read this and enjoy it, but maybe, Sir John, it is time for you and Rumpole to rest on your laurels? You have given us much delight and we cannot reasonably expect more.

5 out of 5 stars

THE RULES OF THE GAME ARE CHANGING December 18, 2006
20 out of 51 found this review helpful

`Let nobody be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing' quoth Mr T Blair a couple of months ago. I know what I thought about that, I would have expected John Mortimer to think much the same, and thankfully he is still around to put the issue across far better than I could. Readers of his other work, not only the Rumpole stories but also, say, Dunster, will know what world-view to expect from him by now - justice and fairness are very little better than a lottery but the fight for them must and will go on. Mortimer is a novelist of course, not an essayist, but the pamphleteering element is perhaps the most important ingredient in his novels, as it might be thought to be in those of Dickens.

Mortimer's much-loved anti-hero Horace Rumpole, an undistinguished but astute and sharp-tongued lawyer, is here again, this time to take part in Mr Blair's game whose rules are changing. Blair (himself a lawyer and whose wife is an advocate of the greatest distinction in the field of - human rights, wouldn't you believe) never tackles the issue head-on, and small wonder. We can follow the changes he is making (or trying to make) but we get only evasions from him when we try to ascertain just how these changes impinge on the fundamental rights enshrined in the Magna Charta, particularly of course the entitlement of Habeas Corpus. We all know that we face a new type of threat, we all know that national security is paramount, we all have a general idea of the particular culture the threat comes from, we all know that detection and obtaining evidence are vital to thwarting terrorist outrages, we all know that secrecy is vital to the security services, but these generalities - disputed by nobody - are all that Tony will tell us. When misgivings are expressed about extending the period over which suspects can be detained with being charged, when clarification is sought of such a novel legal concept as `glorifying' terrorism, when it is proposed to withdraw the right of trial in open court, when the fundamental entitlement to a presumption of innocence until proved otherwise looks itself to be under attack from new legislation, he just reiterates that we face a new type of threat, that national security is paramount and so on and so on. What exactly the `game' is I'm not fully clear, but the rules of the debate seem to involve going round in circles while the general direction of travel ought to give rise to general alarm.

Hang the issue around Rumpole and we have a very entertaining narrative as usual, given a new spice from the contributions of She, who is writing Her memoirs too. She still doesn't purport to be much more than a caricature, and it's probably fair to say the same of the other participants in the story except of course Rumpole. I'm sure a certain amount of drawing from life has gone on, but I can only partly appreciate it. I'm in no doubt that the name Lamorna Cove refers to a certain famous advocate, but I'm missing the point of the allusion through not being myself a lawyer. Again, there have been four Home Secretaries in Blair's government, I'd be surprised if the fictional Home Secretary here is not modelled to some extent on these but I'm not sure what parallels Mortimer is really drawing. And of course I cannot even imagine which Lord Chancellor he had in mind when he makes one of his characters say `The Lord Chancellor doesn't get drunk.' I like to think, or at least to hope, that there is an element of exaggeration in this tale of ego-trippers, placemen, amorous judges, conservative prejudices, playing to the gallery, second-guessing public reactions, political pressures and improper influence masquerading as the administration of English justice. I take some comfort from the thought that there is a strong parodistic strain in the narrative, and that some of the main turns of events, such as the Perry-Mason-style denouement in court are pantomime scenarios rather than real life. However even if so I'm uncomfortably aware that it's only exaggeration, not outright invention. In the last resort Mortimer knows the courts and I don't.

We all love Rumpole, and I'm sure it gave his creator pleasure to trundle him out again on his Rosinante of stubborn and cynical opposition to the forces of sheer irrationality that seem to be inherent in the culture of all large organisations and of the law in particular. However at age 83 and in frail health Sir John is not likely to have written this novel just as a labour of love. This book is a pamphlet in narrative garb, created out of an urgent sense of alarm. I quite concede that Mortimer's advocacy is one-sided, but that's advocacy. After all, there are real problems for the police in obtaining evidence within the timeframe permitted under the current law. There are issues outside of Britain's control in obtaining international co-operation from states whose libertarian characteristics leave something to be desired and there are pressures on Britain from quarters which claim to be libertarian by some species of definition, appearances often strongly to the contrary. It will undoubtedly make life easier in Britain to return certain foreign residents to countries of origin where their likely treatment does not bear much imagining. All this is true, but the question does not end there, and although the challenge is enormous it will not do to pretend, as Blair seems to pretend, that it does end there or that the perceptions of totalitarian drift are unreal or unimportant. Taking the line of least resistance and relying on public apathy and prejudice may end with the hard-won achievements of 1215 rendered null by 2015, we can't blame it on the politicians if we sit idly by, and it needs to bring out the Rumpole that is hopefully latent in each of us.