The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills
Having previously read many of Magnus Mills' books, the first thing that strikes this reader when going back to his first novel from 1998, The Restraint of Beasts is that while it is very recognisably a Mills situation involving men in a Sisyphean task or mundane employment that has strict rules, his first novel is slightly different in style and how it approaches its subject. It is however quintessentially Mills, hugely entertaining and opens up all kinds of consideration of society, people and the rules they live by. What is perhaps different, certainly to anyone coming back to this debut having read the other books, is that subsequent books become more refined, laid back and surreal in situations, while The Restraint of Beasts , …well …the beasts are rather less restrained, if I can put it that way. Which isn't surprising since that is the situation posed at the start of the novel. Mr McCrindle's high-tensile fence has gone slack. Tam and Richie have only just put it u...