Stephanie Jones: Book Review - Hoodwinked by Ken Smith

Michael Kilmartin, the central character of Ken Smith’s novel Hoodwinked, is the victim of the titular act. A lawyer in his early 30s, Kilmartin, who hails from Ireland, practices within the criminal justice system in Durban. His clients range from heinous to stupid to generally unfortunate. Though crime is rife in the city, Michael and his friends hold a nonchalant view – he makes a living and knows better than to get too attached to his late-model Jaguar, which, while catnip to women, is likely to fall prey to a carjacker or other thief in due course.

In a flurry of court hearings that exhibit Michael’s skills and the banality of the legal process, one case stands out, that of a woman charged with stabbing another woman with a pair of scissors. On closer investigation, the barney appears to have been triggered by a man in whom they share an interest, and Michael’s deft defensive approach earns an acquittal.

At the end of a busy but unremarkable day, Michael meets an attractive American woman in a bar. She introduces herself as Claire Salthouse, a flight attendant who’s only in town for the evening: can he show her around? They pass an enjoyable evening driving around the city and stopping every so often to dance. The encounter is charming and chaste, and Michael is hooked. Claire promises to return in a fortnight or so.

At this point, thanks to the combination of Hoodwinked’s brevity (200 pages) and Smith’s direct style, it is clear that Claire is integral to whatever heist is about to be inflicted on Michael. The novel’s plausibility is rather sacrificed at the altar of an overly deliberate, literal style and clumsy foreshadowing, the latter largely in the form of repetitive allusions to a coming storm. Smith needn’t have resorted to telling instead of showing – there are such riches to work with in both the Durban setting and the unpredictability of Michael’s daily beat.

Michael is ultimately an endearing character, something of a common man in his yearning to forgo the workaday life, buy a yacht and head into open water. He sees Claire as the ideal companion, and his suspicions are only mildly aroused by her total amenability to everything he suggests. Even the most morally upright might be tempted to pull a fast one on such a ready sucker: when Claire introduces Michael to an associate who promises a 50% return on any cash investment in a week, the hook is baited.

Smith, who lives in New Zealand, is drawing from some of his own experience in Hoodwinked. Having been born in the United Kingdom and educated in South Africa, he practiced law in the latter for many years, and clearly understands the nuances and vagaries of the country’s legal and social milieu. What his story doesn’t possess is depth or energy. There is the kernel of an invigorating thriller inside Hoodwinked, but its lack of finesse stymies suspense.