We’re hard-wired to notice our status in any given organisation, social grouping or even a simple exchange. Resonant fiction often taps into this key psychological motivation; feeling implicated, we keep turning the page. Richard T Kelly’s fourth novel is absorbing because it stays attuned to its characters’ sense of striving, their meagreness in the face of peers’ achievements, or, occasionally, the jubilation of a hard-won triumph.
All the primary characters are Scottish males: there’s Aaron, an insecure yet gifted geologist who helps a US company find oil in the North Sea; his best friend Robbie, who Aaron hires to labour on the oil rig; there’s socialist journalist Mark, who harbours political ambitions in contrast to his investment banker schoolmate, the dandyish Ally; and finally, there’s Joe, whose father wants him to take over his fishing company, but Joe wants to avail of this oil rush.
The discovery of oil is the fulcrum of the novel, impacting everyone for good and for ill. Kelly takes many cues from history, but what’s most impressive about this assured, deeply researched novel is how it captures male friendship: its competitiveness; the undemonstrative, indirect ways men express fondness; as well as the grudging camaraderie among workmates, who might not connect otherwise.
With friendships forged at school, the characters can’t help but compare themselves to each other. Around the more upwardly mobile Ally, Mark feels himself “parochial, somehow cast as the dumb blonde in this relationship”.
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The novel is also compelling in its depiction of youthful ambition, the importance of taking a risk to improve your standing, and how playacting can be a necessary prerequisite to success.
Spanning from 1956 to 1982, the novel manages to be light on its feet, ripping along purposefully. At the start of each chapter, time hops forward, so we infer what’s happened in the intervening time.
Perhaps Joe and Aaron’s character arcs are too similar, and the novel feels rather overpopulated. Still, such is life, and its scope is commendable. You feel invested in these men, even when their actions are morally dubious. That you want Aaron to strike “black gold” is proof. Likewise, when long-foreshadowed tragedy occurs, you feel bereft along with the characters.
