Contact - Jonathan Buckley

Contact is written with such simplicity that you could be mistaken for imagining that a story like this almost writes itself, but there's much more going on beneath the surface than at first appears. On the surface the storyline appears quite straightforward. Dominic Pattison has a successful business in furniture manufacturing, an unexciting but relaxed and easy-going marriage to his wife Aileen, but then one day a young man called Sam turns up at his office showroom claiming he is the son from an affair Pattison had just before he got married.

Pattison isn't convinced - the young man has an appearance and a thuggish character that Dominic can't relate to, but Sam also has an engaging personality and persuasive manner that gives Dominic pause for thought, at least until he has time to consider the implications of what it would mean to his life should what the young man says turn out to be true. The longer that Dominic resists the idea however, the more frustrated Sam becomes with the man he believes is his father, the more unpredictable become his reactions and the more threatening the underlying hint of violence in his personality.

Buckley's manner of relating this is spare and powerful, the dialogue compelling and authentic, and Contact consequently exerts a hold over you in the same way that Sam holds sway over Pattison - through sheer force of personality. There is real skill in how the characters and their personalities are gradually revealed, how the balance of power switches, first one and then the other becoming more dominant, the other passively acceptant until his resistance reaches a breaking point. This creates an uneasy atmosphere that makes for compelling reading, the reader no more able than Pattison to resist the strange puzzle that Sam represents - and it's all the more impressive that Jonathan Buckley doesn't pull any overly dramatic confrontations or unlikely narrative twists to spice it all up.

The situation generates its own intrigue, and the author explores the impact they have on each of the characters with complete authenticity and truthfulness towards the personalities he has created, each of them acting fully in character, but being pushed to their limits. The back and forth tussle between Dominic and Sam alone is fascinating, but the author gradually draws in peripheral characters, reflecting the situation through them to masterfully add another dimension on parenthood and families that gives a wider perspective on their actions, both now and in the past. This is fine writing, creating a thoughtful and utterly compelling drama out of a simple situation, getting to the heart of the characters and how people relate to one another.