The Resurrection of Charles Witchway

Some critic once said that a detective story or a thriller should contain nothing that distracts from the plot; that nothing should be included which doesn't further the story line. The Resurrection of Charles Witchway is a travelogue, a gastronomical guide, and a socio-political commentary; it also is a romance novel, a thriller, and a mystery; and it is, to some extent, autobiographical; but we should keep in mind that it is Pascal's first novel, and, as did Robert Graves in describing his first book, Goodbye to All That, Pascal says he wanted to "put a lot of interesting things into it, something for everyone." Of course, the reader may begin to wonder as he goes along if Witchway, ostensibly a man of action, paradoxically but eventually will talk his friend Somerville into a state of coma, or perhaps even to death (provided both men don't die sooner of cirrhosis of the liver from their excessively bibulous habits). But The Resurrection of Charles Witchway is not a wordy "pot-boiler," though a superficial reader might see it as that: a melodrama or thriller, with a lot of unnecessary dialogue and stream of consciousness engaged in by the principal character, which explains a good deal about Witchway's character, but doesn't "advance the action." All right; without those elements we'd have merely a small, good, fast-paced novel- but my God, what we'd be missing! A.J. Thorndyke, Chief Editor of Minerva Press (London), said: "[The Resurrection of Charles Witchway] resembles a properly planned and balanced four or five course meal, with a nice Chablis accompanying the fish and a rumbustious Burgundy to go with the meat, and a glass or two of crusted port afterwards, rather than an indiscriminate greedy feast....it is a complex tapestry...but the reader is in no danger of losing the thread of the 'story.' It has pace and wit, is stylishly written...the author has been able to mine a rich lode of invention...." Or as Winston Churchill might have described it: [This is] "a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma."