I recently finished reading Geoffrey Household’s Hostage: London (1977), a slow-paced terrorism thriller that scratched some itches, and after putting it down, I longed for more. I scoured my paperback dealer and found two more novels that will keep me entertained, at least for a while. These are The Sending (1980) and this book, The Last Two Weeks of Georges Rivac (1978).
I’ve been a fan of Household for quite some time, and while I’ll likely someday reach the point where fugitive tales throughout the English countryside will seem same-old, same-old…but I’m not there yet. I remain fascinated by the private English farmers and their secrets, their thickets of briars that can hide an accused murderer and the thugs who really want him dead.
That’s what we get in Georges Rivac, but that’s not all. As the KGB hunts this French-Spanish-Englishman for the secrets they suppose he carries, they also seek the life his new Hungarian friend, Zia. Together, these two must untangle the international web of intrigue that’s caught them up and help preserve the lives of the folk they meet along the way.
When together, Georges and Zia enjoy the sparks that fly between them, and their daring keeps the story lively. When apart, their stories run parallel courses, each needing to be told in turn, until their timelines crash back together in some dangerous, bloody way. It’s a unique twist on Household’s “normal” fare (as least as far as I can tell: I’ve only read like six of his books!).
Communism once again plays a heavy role in this novel, which is fitting for its era. There’s just something about those Cold War era thrillers.
As usual, I like to end my review with a few lines from Household that I appreciated. Some lines contained the nuggets of wisdom that he often peppers throughout his stories, whiles others were just clever twists of the English language.
“Accounts bored him; they measured success but had nothing to do with it.” (3)
“He opened a cupboard full of bottles and looked a question. Rivac, lost and unhappy, replied that he would like a whiskey and soda.” (9) I love this break from proper grammar, using a direct object with this intransitive verb. I was there in the room with them because of it!
“He gathered her waistless rotundity into his arms.” (60) In two words, he captures the look of this old woman better than a photograph could.
“Laughter was safety. Laughter was the eternal present that would become a future.” (220)
©2022 E.T.
Read More from Geoffrey Household:
- The Third Hour (1937)
- Rogue Male (1939)
- A Rough Shoot (1951)
- Fellow Passenger (1955)
- The Brides of Solomon and Other Stories (1958)
- Watcher in the Shadows (1960)
- Olura (1965)
- Hostage: London (1977)
- The Last Two Hours of Georges Rivac (1978)