A Test of Wills, the first novel in the Inspector Ian rutledge series by the mother-son duo Charles Todd, produced mixed feelings for me. The mystery was original, and the character of Ian Rutledge even more so. However, I’m not sure how much I enjoyed the tone and the pace of the story. I am going to try the second novel in the series because Rutledge is such an intriguing character.
Inspector Ian Rutledge, suffering from shell shock after the first World War, has started back his job at Scotland Yard after spending some time with the health services. He was injured immediately after he executed a treasonous Scotsman, Hamish, who remains alive and well inside of Rutledge’s mind. He commentates on Rutledge’s life, and, thus far, his cases as well. He’s derisive, insulting, and grumpy to boot – all that you would expect from Rutledge’s guilt-driven subconscious.
The first case that Rutledge is handed is one where a war hero (literally; he’s met the Queen) looks very good for a Colonel’s murder. His superior is hoping that because the main suspect is a war hero, Rutledge will be let go from the Yard because he must either arrest the man or the case goes unsolved. Lost, trying to collect his investigative skills from before the war, and experiencing very withholding townsfolk, Rutledge struggles to solve the Colonel’s murder before his career goes down the drain.
Reading Rutledge’s perspective and experience from the war was painful, to be honest. It was very difficult to witness him going about his life, trying to be normal, when he was so, very not. I was wishing for him to get help, get help, get help – but he did get help after he was injured and the best therapy they could give him was to live with Hamish in his head. Even though we don’t know all there is to know about PTSD now, we can confront it more honestly than they could in 1917 and recognize that “shell shock” is the mind damaging itself from trauma rather than an inconvenient moral weakness from someone who couldn’t handle war. The way the townsfolk treat the shell-shocked witness is appalling; they call him weak, cowardly, etc. and it’s very hard to read, especially from Rutledge’s perspective when he’s in a similar situation.
I didn’t mind learning more about Rutledge; his life and experiences are interesting. However, I felt that the investigative process progressed extremely slowly and it could be plodding at times. I think that is more realistic to how an investigation works, but there wasn’t any suspense that I think could have benefitted the reading a little bit. The characters could have also been more interesting; they were mostly as you’d expect, which, again, is more typical of a population than wacky characters. I just felt that some element was missing for me from this novel that prevented me from enjoying the mystery. It did not prevent me from finishing the book, though!
I am going to try the second novel in this series because I want to read more about Rutledge, and I want to make sure that he’s okay. He’s a good character, and I think he’s one that’s worthy of my respect. I’d like to watch him grow.
**Disclaimer: I wrote this review a while ago and have just finished book 23 of the Ian Rutledge series – it is fabulous and I am glad I kept going! However, I have left the review of the first book as it was at the time I wrote it to reflect my opinion when I read the novel.**