Felix In the Underworld

by John Mortimer

A successful and self-contained novelist, Felix Morsom suddenly gets thrust into the underworld of London's homeless, when a strange woman proclaims him the father of her son and he becomes a prime suspect in a murder case.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Humor

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

John Clifford Mortimer was a novelist, playwright and former practising barrister. Among his many publications are several volumes of Rumpole stories and a trilogy of political novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets, featuring Leslie Titmuss - a character as brilliant as Rumpole. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998.

Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Felix in the Underworld - entertaining, charming, compelling - and, in the end, a novel that's heartfelt and deeply moving.

Many readers on both sides of the pond are familiar with author John Mortimer's most famous creation: Horace Rumpole, bringing to mind actor Leo McKern's portrayal of the colorful old barrister in the long running British television series.

Quite unlike Rumpole, the hero of the book under review is Felix Morsom, a mild-mannered, self-effacing novelist living a quiet life in a quiet seaside village two hours' drive south of London. "Writing had never been the difficulty but stories now came to him as rarely and unexpectedly as sex." So muses Felix as he looks out the window from his writing desk at the choppy English Channel. And to think, he once wrote a novel that made it to the best seller list, he was nominated for the Brooker Prize and, something he's particularly proud, although never quite sure if the reviewer was entirely serious or simply joking, having been dubbed 'the Chekhov of Coldsands-on-Sea.'

Felix acknowledges his last round of real personal drama occurred some time back when his wife Anne told him directly she no longer loved him and was planning to go away with Huw Hotchkiss, head of Media Studies at the university where Felix taught English. However, three months following her announcement, Anne said she couldn't leave since a medical test told her she had little time left. "It wouldn't be fair on Huw" is how she put it and Felix looked after Anne faithfully until the day she died.

But Felix's life of quietude is about to end. On the novel's very first page, Felix listens to a tape recording as a male voice recounts time spent in a police cell - one telling detail: "It was while I was relieving myself that my cell mate approached, pulled down my clothing and bent me over the toilet. The next thing I was aware of was a sharp pain in my rear passage and a feeling of resentment." The voice concludes accusingly, "I just hope you will understand the responsibility you bear for all that happened to me."

The next morning Felix meets up with his publicist - beautiful Brenda Bodkin, the lady that has always set the agenda and accompanied Felix on his interviews, luncheons and book signing tours. Today Brenda joins Felix on Denny Densher's Good Morning, Thames Estuary, a lively call-in radio show. All goes as usual until Felix recognizes the voice of one caller as none other than the voice from the tape.

The man identifies himself as Gavin and proceeds to ask Felix why he doesn't write about those times in his own life centering on big, dramatic events, passion and losing self-control. Felix answers that when it comes to such, he writing style is to hint indirectly. Gavin snarls "Or do you rely on other people to have the big, dramatic moments for you?" to which Denny cuts him off.

That evening, during a book signing at a bookstore to launch his latest novel, Out of Season, guess who shows up? And Gavin not only speaks with Felix, Gavin introduces "the celebrity author" to a woman dressed as a cross between ragamuffin and shifting kaleidoscope, a woman by the name of Miriam.

And we're off, a rapid fire sequence of events: Miriam presents Felix with an envelope containing the photo of her son Ian, Miriam claims Felix is Ian's father, Felix received a formal government document demanding he pay twenty thousand pounds for the maintenance of Ian over the last ten years, Felix seeks legal advice, Felix meets with Miriam and Ian and, last but hardly least, Felix barges into Gavin's empty apartment, threatens Gavin in writing and shortly thereafter Gavin is found murdered.

Felix in the Underworld is a whopping good novel with a host of vivid, memorable characters from the world of publishing, the world of law and law courts, the underground world of the homeless, the grueling world of the poor and the world of prison (oh, yes, Felix spends time in prison).

As John Mortimer told an interviewer, what is fascinating about our modern urban society is, in truth, we are living in many separate societies, each one with its own unique language (the society of the law courts, for example). And as a writer, he has an opportunity to share his portrayal of a number of these societies.

Felix in the Underworld is John Mortimer's twenty-fourth novel, published in 1997 when the author was age seventy-four. And let me tell you folks, Sir John's wisdom is manifest in the ways in which he works the details of his story and the depiction of his men, women and children in all their humanity.

Yes, children - in particular, the character of Ian. Recall I said that Felix in the Underground is, in the end, a novel that's heartfelt and deeply moving. So deeply moving, I was in tears when I finished the concluding sentence and closed the book. You will have to read for yourself to appreciate what I'm alluding to here but I'll offer a hint. See the young man in the artwork I've included above. Well, shift the age a bit and that could be either Felix or Ian.

Thank you, John Mortimer. You are a supreme master of the craft.


British author most prolific John Mortimer, 1923-2009

"This high mood stayed with him as he started to undress. He emptied his pockets and found the brown envelope Miriam Bowker had given him and opened it, expecting a fan letter or a request for literary advice. What he found was the photograph of a child, a small boy, perhaps nine or ten years old. Felix had little experience of children. The boy in question was standing on a beach under a grey and threatening sky. If he was on holiday, the child didn't seem to be extracting much pleasure from it. He peered at the world from behind spectacles which were too large for his face and looked as though he had seen a great deal in his short life and didn't expect much good to come of it." -- John Mortimer, Felix in the Underworld

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the popularity of "Rumpole of the Bailey" on British TV a number of years ago, I am surprised that I have not until now ready anything by John Mortimer. I think I might have to look up more by Mortimer, since I really enjoyed this book.It's a whodunnit but also a gentle satire poking fun at the publishing industry. Felix Moresom, although once a Booker prize nominated author, is now only enjoying moderate success, and his life has become very ordinary. After being hit with a paternity suit, Felix finds himself in a far from ordinary situation; in fact it gets progressively worse. Even so, and despite the surrounding madness, Felix handles himself with grace, and manages to prove that "nice guys" can win in the end.Although I guessed the "twist" quite early on, it didn't spoil the story for me. I finished this feeling very uplifted.

[Pascale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice but the ending didn't quite make sense to me. Felix Morsom is a moderately successful writer with a crush on his publicist, the smart and gorgeous Brenda Bodkin. On a book tour, Felix is confronted by a guy named Gavin, who introduces him to Miriam, a thirty-year old with a ten-year old son. As it turns out, after accusing Gavin of being the father of her son Ian, Miriam now claims that Felix is the one who should pay for child support. Felix has no recollection of having met Miriam before, but there is a slight chance that he did sleep with her one during a boozy beach party when his marriage was unraveling. Still, Felix is unwilling to shoulder the responsibility of Ian without proof, and Gavin's meddling get on his nerves. When Gavin is found bashed to death in his van, Felix is assumed to be the murderer, and for a few days he goes into hiding among the colorful population of homeless people who have colonized various London landmarks such as the Embankment. Eventually he is hauled in and pretty much resigns himself to being condemned for a crime he didn't commit. That's counting without fair Brenda who manages to find the real murderer. Most characters in this book are cheap caricatures: the police officers are opinionated fools, the lawyers cynical and corrupt, publishers and writers vain and vindictive. Mortimer spends far too much time on the unconsummated idyl between Felix and Brenda, and I guessed very early on that the dead man wasn't Gavin at all, but Terry, another delinquent father who had raped Gavin when they were both in prison for failure to pay child support. While it is clear why Gavin would avenge himself, the author doesn't bother to explain why Felix was involved in the plan. Strangely enough, while Mortimer could quite easily tie all the loose ends, he misses his chance todo so, and presses on to a sentimental denouement where Felix decides to adopt Ian, although by then he knows for a fact that Ian is not his biological offspring. The issue of paternity obviously meant something to Mortimer, who had a love child while still married to his first wife Penelope Fletcher, but on the basis of this light-hearted book, you'd think he took everything for a joke.

[John Wiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Mortimer again at his best in this near murdery/on the run vagrant type story with intrigue and brushes with courtroom jocularity

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felix Morsom writes small stories about small lives, and makes a decent if unspectacular living doing so. He enjoys a quiet life, until he receives a letter from the Parental Rights and Obligations Department, which demands that he pay the mother of his now 10-year-old son, although Felix has no memory of this woman at all. He tries to fight back, but soon finds himself in an even worse spot, being accused of murder - even though he has seen the supposed victim wandering around very much alive! He must go underground, to join the homeless of London, in order to clear his name…. John Mortimer is best-known for his Rumpole of the Bailey series, and this stand-alone novel shares the same dark humour and satire that shows up frequently in Rumpole’s absurd adventures. Except Felix’s adventures are, if anything, even more absurd than Rumpole’s. A very pleasant light read for summer, and certainly be prepared for a few good laughs along the way; recommended!

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed John Mortimer's "Rumpole of the Bailey" series. His style is light and somewhat humorous. I didn't think that this novel was quite as good. I think it is because this character (Felix), though interesting, isn't quite as fascinating as Rumpole. Felix is a writer with a rather lackluster life. Things change when he is slapped with a paternity suit. There is no way that he is the father of this child, but things have to run their course before we find out what happens. This is a lighthearted story and it entertains as it spins out.

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This light hearted murder mystery and spoof of the publishing industry is generally entertaining and quite readable. But Mortimer so often overdoes the comic aspects that many minor characters end up appearing grotesque rather than amusing. Also, using a quote from the Aeneid as an epigraph and then later reciting lines from Tennyson's Ulysses is annoyingly pretentious, especially when neither is particularly relevant to the book's storyline. In the end, the novel struck me as a weak choice for a NY Times Notable Book of the Year.

[O Babs · Rating 4 out of 5]

So rich in imagery, language and hilarity that I had to ration my daily reading to make it last longer. I had a moment's doubt that the plot was going to be too predictable. Oh, was I wrong. Although written more than 20 years ago and a few details might make a difference today (mobile phones, for instance), this holds up extremely well.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of his best but still enjoyable.

[Jane E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated. Slight and an easy read.

[George M]

An author caught up in his own story...life.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read by Martin Jarvis. Unabridged. ~ 6 hours 30mins

blurb - A successful and self-contained novelist, Felix Morsom suddenly gets thrust into the underworld of London's homeless, when a strange woman proclaims him the father of her son and he becomes a prime suspect in a murder case.


As a gauge to the humour level, here is one of the opening lines where there is talk about the wireless set:

'He'd clearly got the wrong nipple and tuned into radio moanalot'.

Got as far as chapter five without liking anything much. Next!

[Georgina Ballantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio Book version, read by Martin Jarvis. I wavered between two and three stars for this novel. Parts of the story held my attention, some of the characters were intriguing at times but overall the plot did not hold together. It felt like a blend of literary fiction, observational humour and crime thriller that didn't quite mesh with an ending like a gradually deflating hot air balloon. The characters often made strange decisions with no clear motivation, or missed really obvious clues. On the plus side the humourous tone and style work well, especially with the idiosyncratic English setting, although I found it cliched at times. Overall a 2.5 star read.

[Phyllis · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Mortimer is the author of the "Rumpole of the Bailey"* books, which were made into a PBS series, so I thought I would enjoy this as much as the Rumpole stories. But the plot of this book was a little too convoluted for me. The main character is an author, who is accused by a woman he met ten years previously of being the father of her child. In order to get out from under her claim, and a claim by the child welfare agency for back support, he gets involved with many shady characters.


*(Rumpole always referred to his wife as "she who must be obeyed".)

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book ended up being a bathtub book - which means it was good enough to keep reading in small bits at a time, but I could easily put it down and walk away from it. It wasn't bad, but it flat-lined throughout most of the book. It was quite astonishing, really, that it managed to flat-line even through what should have been dramatic. There was a bit of brilliance here and there, and some funny bits. Maybe there were more funny bits I missed because I'm just not well-versed enough in modern British vernacular. I DID want to finish the book, so that's something.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Mortimer's Rumpole books, I thought I would give this novel a try. It was somewhat entertaining, but also puzzled and confused me by its plot, which did not hang together very cohesively. Mortimer's wry and biting dialogue is always delightful, but this book didn't altogether work for me.

[Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

- a pretty good mystery from the famed creator of "Rumpole Of The Bailey"
- the characters are more "charming" and "compassionate" than in many novels of this genre
- while I did laugh out loud a couple of times, and frequently smiled, I wouldn't classify this as one of the funniest books I've read
- let's call it amusing

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to figure out what was actually going on in the beginning. I am not up to date with all the Brittish terminology, but I enjoyed it once I got the hang of it. :)

[John Macenulty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only gave it the second star because I actually finished it. I was never really engaged with the book, and I actually could have set it down without a second glance.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not as good as a Rumpole at the Bailey.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see similarities with the author's Rumpole of the Bailey writings - humour, satire and a sharp turn of phrase.

[Pedro V Hernández Serrano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring with a pretty ending, basically...