Five Roundabouts to Heaven by John Bingham
Review by Matt (BuffaloSavage)
John Bingham (1908 – 1988) worked in British counter-intelligence. He was also a writer of crime novels, spy novels and mysteries. Readers that like novels by John LeCarre, William Haggard, Patricia Highsmith, or Ruth Rendell’s Barbara Vine novels will like Bingham’s psychological realism and unflinching view of fallible human beings. In this novel, also known as ‘The Tender Poisoner,’ the characters feel driven to adultery. This leads to lying, scheming to steal the GF’s of other guys, and plotting murder for tender and compassionate reasons.
Definitely not escapist fiction, but a solid crime story. Not a mystery, but rather an exploration of the psychology that could prompt an average person to contemplate murder, and ultimately to be able to commit murder.
