The Game

People who have been engaged in the habit, hobby, and joy of reading since they were very young often find it a pleasant shock when one book references something they have read before. Whether it is a beautifully constructed allusion to a work already read, or favorite characters borrowed from one novel and then put into another, the web of references and allusions created is a joy to construct, and can only grow stronger and wider as one keeps on reading. Add to this the fact that nowadays, many novels reference not only other books, but history and popular culture as well, and the web seems almost mind-boggling in its enormity.

In many ways, the Mary Russell series is one such set of novels. After all, is it not a continuation of the famous Doyle stories, featuring in a most prominent position that most quintessential of detectives, Sherlock Holmes? But it is more than just King continuing where Doyle left off: there are also other, wider references at work here, most of them rooted in history. For instance, in A Letter of Mary, the third book in the series, there is brief mention made of Tolkien - a reference sure to thrill any fan of the Middle-Earth legendarium. Sabine Baring-Gould, who was a real person, is a central character in the fourth book, The Moor. King also makes use of historical political events, often using them as a backdrop for her stories: in O Jerusalem, for instance, the political situation of the Middle East during and immediately after the First World War is absolutely crucial - and the frequent references to Lawrence of Arabia (though he plays no major role) will certainly please anyone who likes reading about him.

In The Game, the seventh novel in the Mary Russell series, Mycroft asks a special favor of his brother and sister-in-law, sending them to India to look for one of Britain's most valuable spies: Kimball O'Hara, the main character of Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim. This is the second time that Holmes and Russell have left England behind, departing for India, the crown jewel of Britain's colonial crown - a country which had only barely recovered from the bloody Indian Rebellion of 1857. Tensions are rising all over the place as India struggles to free itself from the hold of its colonial master, and these tensions are only made worse by the rise of the Labor Party in Britain, and the corresponding rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia. The Game that Kim (and Holmes, for a while) played so well must be played again by its most famous and most knowledgeable player - except that player has been missing for the last three years.

It is easy to draw similarities between this novel and O Jerusalem, which was the first novel detailing Holmes and Russell's adventures outside of England, also while undertaking a task for Mycroft, though they were on the run at the time. However, they are on their own this time around, with no figures similar to the Hazrs to help them move around. They are forced to make do with what they have in order to get the job done, and that includes cultivating a friendship with Tommy Goodheart, an American Communist who is bringing his mother and sister, Sunny, with him to India on the invitation of his friend Jumalpandra (or just “Jimmy”), maharaja of Khampur. When information from Geoffrey Nesbit, the current head of Intelligence in India, indicates that Kim was lost in the vicinity of Khampur, Russell and Holmes split up in order to find Kim, and figure out the mystery of Jimmy, Tommy Goodheart, and Kim's disappearance.

While the Goodhearts are intriguing, not the least because of the suspicions Holmes and Russell have regarding their motives (and the difficulty Russell has in reading Tommy Goodheart's expression), they are not nearly as interesting - or as creepy - as Tommy's friend the maharaja. As the reader gets to know more about him, it is difficult to tamp down the distinct feeling of unease he creates. He is charming, true, and it does seem he goes out of his way for the comfort of his guests - but reading more creates the feeling that his guests aren't quite guests, any more than the animals in his zoo are guests. His propensity for collecting unusual things, unusual animals and, more recently, unusual people, is juxtaposed with the activities of pig-sticking and tiger-sticking - something which, towards the end of the novel, evolves into the terrible concept of human-sticking.

Chilling though Jimmy might be, he does offer some fascinating insight into the way India is transforming during this crucial period of their history. In the early portion of the novel, Russell brings up the possibility that, in light of recent events on the subcontinent, Kim - who never identified as "white" - might have chosen to abandon, even betray Britain, in favor of fighting for the land that embraced and nurtured him all his life. The discussion, as it occurs between Russell, Holmes, and Nesbit, is a fascinating look at not only Kipling's character, but also the idea of how a person is not born with loyalties to one particular nation, but constructs and creates those loyalties. One is not loyal to the country from whence one's blood came from, but to the country one is nurtured and grows up in. This anti-British sentiment takes on a more violent, bloody turn in Jimmy. It is first displayed in startling clarity when, while discussing the rules of pig-sticking with Russell, he states that the British will always win in any game they choose to play in India, because they will always change the rules to suit them. Other events will clarify and sharpen further this deep anti-British sentiment for both Russell and the reader, but it does display the tensions already building within the native Indian populace, and how that found expression in various ways, both peaceful and bloody, further down the line until India's declaration of independence.

Just like in O Jerusalem, Russell's commentary on the country and people of India is an interesting read, though her voice seems more detached than before. I attribute this to the fact that India really holds no special attachment for her, not like Palestine. The first portion of the novel is interesting if only for Nesbit and Bindra, the Indian urchin who accompanies Russell and Holmes for the first leg of their journey to the border, but as soon as Russell gets to Khampur the novel's pace picks up again, especially when she begins observing and commenting on the maharaja's other guests, and on the maharaja himself.

After the relatively quiet events of Justice Hall, I find this novel a refreshing change of pace, something a little less quiet and a lot more dangerous than trying to track down a new heir, or solving the mysterious execution of a young soldier. Kim's involvement aside, this particular novel reads more like a Kipling novel than anything else: espionage, disguises, exotic landscapes, and all the pageantry and color of India as it attempts to free itself from British control. An enjoyable tale, but not quite as fun, in my opinion, as O Jerusalem.