‘Compulsion’ was published by Pan Books UK in 2002. At 497 pages it’s a thick chunk of a paperback, but the font is large, and the novel shorter in length than it would seem at first look.
I don’t usually review novels or short stories published after the late 1980s, but with ‘Compulsion’ I was interested to see what Shaun Hutson is doing with his post-horror / Paperbacks from Hell output. I found his 1993 serial killer novel ‘Deadhead’ to be reasonably entertaining, if not particularly imaginative, so let’s see what the case is with ‘Compulsion’……..
The novel is set in Kempston, 30 miles north of London:
With its estates of 1950s houses and flats, it was depressingly similar throughout its length and breadth. There had been the inevitable encroachment of Barrett homes in the early seventies and more modern houses had been erected for those who opted for the millstone of a mortgage. But for the most part, Kempston’s council residents dwelt in the same kind of accommodation their parents had known.
The antagonists are a trio of scummy juvenile delinquents: Carl Thompson, Graham Brown, and Donna Freeman. They lead a small group of juvies who delight in burglary, car theft, vandalism, and the occasional assault with an edged weapon. When not occupied with these pastimes, the juvies like to torture small animals. Brown is guilty of a number of violations carried out at the Howard Road Secondary School, but since he is a child, the School’s administrators are helpless to apply any sort of meaningful discipline.
The protagonists of ‘Compulsion’ are Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Porter, the administrator of Shelby House Residential Home, and its nine aged residents. At Shelby House life is reasonably pleasant, with staff handing out daily meds to the oldsters, while said oldsters are engaged in watching TV, doing crossword puzzles, listening to LPs from past eras, and playing parlor games.
When by chance Carl and Donna have a hot-n-heavy makeout session in the seat of a stolen car, whilst parked near Shelby House, Carl sees the Home and gets an idea: the residents “….must be fucking loaded.”
This observation sets in motion a campaign of terror, instigated by Thompson and his gang, against the tenants of Shelby House.
As the violence escalates the police are singularly ineffectual, as the vandals strike at night and even if identified, are shielded from prosecution due to their age. If Ronnie and the Shelby residents are not to be driven away from their home, they will need to mount a defense. A defense that will rely on payment in kind………
For me, ‘Compulsion’ was a less than engaging read. This mainly is due to the novel’s excessive length, padded as it is with labored exposition on the psychological and emotional states of the characters. As well, Hutson relies on a clipped prose style; chapters are only three or four pages in length.
And most of the prose is related using a single-sentence diction.
Like this.
Hutson intended this device to increase the novel’s suspenseful nature.
It might have worked in a short story.
But in a novel, it quickly becomes tedious.
Not until page 435 do the Shelby House oldsters settle on retribution and here Hutson does deliver some impactful splatterpunk. And the novel’s closing chapter ends things on an ambiguous note, one that avoids the traditional moral comforts one usually encounters in crime / suspense novels.
While ‘Compulsion’ has an interesting premise, I feel that dedicated crime / suspense authors (e.g., Max Allan Collins, Joe Lansdale, James Elroy, Ralph Dennis, etc.) could have done better with the premise. When all is said and done, I’m fine with giving ‘Compulsion’ a Two Star Rating.
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