Book Review: The Collector by John Fowles

First I should admit that this was the pick of my Book Club last month and not something I found myself or was recommended. The reason I mention this is that I experienced this book with no prior knowledge of the author or storyline and I didn't even take the time to look at the year it was published until well after I had finished reading.

Which brings me to my first point: this book was published in 1963. This impresses me because I am a big fan of the process of offender profiling which had been employed sporadically throughout the ages but wasn't established as a plausible science until 1972, meaning Mr Fowles was ahead of the times in writing such an accurate portrayal of the thought processes of a kidnapper.

Well now I've given that much away. The story centers on the kidnapping of a young woman, Miranda, by the lonely and estranged Frederick. The first half of the book is exclusively from Frederick's perspective as he fantasies, then plots, and then executes his plan to take Miranda captive. I must admit that around the halfway mark my interest was beginning to wane but then Fowles switches abruptly to Miranda's point of view which rekindled my interest.

Here was this character that we had so far only observed, and had observed her through a harrowing ordeal, knowing she must be frightened but not necessarily seeing it in her actions. Suddenly we see intimately her side of the story and her observations of Frederick. A wonderful twist in the writing. But I won't give any more away, you'll have to read it yourselves. This was Fowles' first novel and I expect his style only improved over the years as he is listed as one of England's 50 top authors of all time, but The Collector could have used some spit and polish. Somewhat clumsy, repetitive and drawn out, it is only the necessity of knowing Miranda’s fate that drives the reader on at times.

Nevertheless I am glad to have this book under my belt and fascinated by the many ideas, stories and events that it has spawned. After reading you may want to look into Fowles’ ideas of class separation which were the inspiration for this novel. Then there are the true crime stories where the perpetrator laid blame on having read The Collector and the numerous other books, TV series, movies, plays, and songs that this work has influenced. Enjoy!