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Half the Day is Night by Maureen McHugh
reviewed by Helen Ryder
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 10, 1996
Maureen F. McHugh set almost impossible levels for herself in producing the superlative China Mountain Zhang as her first novel. Receiving almost universal plaudits, China Mountain Zhang explored the role of the non-conformist in an alternative society where such behaviour was extremely hazardous. Her second novel, Half the Day is Night, immerses the characters in a society that is almost totally alien, albeit on Earth. In fact the novel is set in an underwater nation in the Caribbean, Caribe. A 'benign' dictatorship, Caribe is run in the fashion of most dictatorships - superb facilities for those who can afford it but maintaininga desperate underclass .
David Dai arrives to take up his post as bodyguard to Mayla Ling, banker and heir to her grandfather's bank. Dai and Mayla get on well initially, but troubled by memories of his former employment as a mercenary in an African war Dai finds his position becoming no walkover as some of Mayla's colleagues and clients fall victim to a revolutionary terrorist group, La Mano di Dios. This is not the job he was contracted for and he finds himself increasingly unable to cope until finally he flees following a direct violent action against Mayla. This places him first in line as a suspect terrorist in the eyes of the local police force and he must find a way to escape from Caribe before he is framed for actions he did not commit.
The first comparison I made of this book was with the cinema film Total Recall. There too is the setting of a hostile external environment threatening internal inhabitants. The drive, the need to survive and to escape pervades the book first for Dai then soon for Mayla. Underworld criminals, corrupt police and overreaching bankers each pull Mayla and Dai further into the morass of intrigue.
The pace of the book is initially slow as it sets the scene and the characters, builds well into a middle section threatening to explode with a embarrassingly rich plot then - where is the ending? WHY the ending? Yes, there have been financial manipulations; yes, the criminal element affect the main characters in a major way; yes, the terrorists are central to the plot; yes, their method of escape is tense, gripping, terrifying but please, don't stop a book there. It is not enough to remove the main players from the site of a problem without at least rounding up a few loose ends from the major subplots. I was not satisfied when I closed this book. It potentially was one of the best novels I have read, but an incomplete conclusion has forced me to withdraw that accolade which, for the moment, is safe with China Mountain Zhang. It may be odd to say after such a review, but I would still recommend reading this book. I feel that on a second or third reading nuances may be revealed which render my objections happily obsolete.
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