A Pleasure and a Calling
Phil Hogan, 2014
Picador
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250060631
Summary
A deliciously unsettling tale of psychological suspense that delves into the mind of a man with a chilling double life.
Mr. Heming loves the leafy English village where he lives. As a local real estate agent, he knows every square inch of the town and sees himself as its protector, diligent in enforcing its quaint charm. Most people don't pay much attention to Mr. Heming; he is someone who fades easily into the background.
But Mr. Heming pays attention to them. You see, he has the keys to their homes. In fact, he has the keys to every home he's ever sold in town. Over the years, he has kept them all so that he can observe his neighbors, not just on the street, but behind locked doors.
Mr. Heming considers himself a connoisseur of the private lives of others. He is witness to the minutiae of their daily lives, the objects they care about, the secrets they keep. As details emerge about a troubled childhood, Mr. Heming's disturbing hobby begins to form a clear pattern, and the reasons behind it come into focus.
But when the quiet routine of the village is disrupted by strange occurrences, including a dead body found in the backyard of a client's home, Mr. Heming realizes it may only be a matter of time before his secrets are found out.
A brilliant portrait of one man's obsession, A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan is a darkly funny and utterly transfixing tale that will hold you under its spell. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Yorkshire, England, UK
• Education—Middlesex Polytechnic; M.A., Queen Mary College
• Currently—lives in Herferdshire, England
Phil Hogan was born in Yorkshire and now lives in Hertfordshire. He is married with four children and has been a journalist and columnist on The Observer for over 20 years. He is also the author of three previous novels and a book of collected columns about family life. (From the publisher .)
Book Reviews
The word "creepy" (attached to descriptive adverbs like "insanely" and "diabolically" or even "deliciously") immediately comes to mind after a quick dip into A Pleasure and a Calling.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
Hugely engrossing.... Hogan captures perfectly [Heming’s] mix of rationality and madness—the sense of logical means applied to deranged ends. The result is that we sympathize with Heming, embrace his plight—which only heightens our discomfort.
Guardian (UK)
William Heming is cut from the same cloth as Barbara Covett in Zoë Heller’s Notes On A Scandal, another unreliable narrator with whom we really should not be siding, but who proves so engaging that we can’t help but go along for the ride.... [A] gripping, thrilling novel.
Independent on Sunday (UK)
There is a delicious feeling of complicity in his misdemeanors. Heming gets inside your head as easily as he gets into his neighbors' houses. Indeed you cannot help asking as you finish this superbly plotted and genuinely creepy novel: wouldn't we all pry into our neighbors' lives like this if we could get away with it?
Sunday Express (UK)
A Pleasure and a Calling starts out slowly, meticulously building the first-person portrait of a sociopath. But, 70 pages in, the novel takes a sharp turn into Patricia Highsmith country, and the deliberately bland, purposely forgettable Heming stands revealed as Tom Ripley with a real estate license….This is [Phil Hogan’s] first book to be published in the United States. Here’s hoping for more to come.
Dallas Morning News
Hogan avoids cliches as he delivers one surprise after another. Heming at first seems harmless, but Hogan shows bit by bit how Heming has been scheming and diabolical, making this complex character both a villain and a hero. A Pleasure and a Calling brims with wry wit and taut tension, and will make readers think about changing the locks on their doors, just to be cautious.
Associated Press
How mesmerizing is this book? I started it at lunch one day and finished it after dinner the same night….Reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley books.
Charlotte Observer
Beware, readers. Heming descends from a long line of dangerously seductive, alienated narcissists that includes Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley and Charles Anthony-Strangers on a Train-Bruno.…Hogan is an especially agile storyteller, and he has assembled an admirably intricate back-story that explains (if not excuses) how Heming has come to be who he is. It’s an exhilarating performance. Plan on having your locks changed soon after you finish reading the book.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Engagingly written and compulsively readable…Readers will find themselves wondering just how secure their own homes are, and, at the same time, uncomfortably beguiled by the often charming Mr. Heming, whose heart is in the right place—except when it is decidedly not.
Columbus Dispatch
(Starred review.) A gripping psychological thriller that pegs out the creep-o-meter with its chilling, original plot…Hogan’s Mr. Heming is a monumentally diabolical character—the fact that he narrates the story further ups both the stakes and the tension. Readers won’t soon forget this first-rate, white-knuckle suspense novel.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Delicious and addicting. William Heming joins the ranks of unforgettable, unreliable narrators in this gloriously creepy novel of psychological suspense.
Booklist
In Heming's character, Hogan has created a memorably creepy sociopath.... Hogan skillfully builds a character...[with d]eft characterization, but reading about someone this relentlessly unconscionable will make most readers lunge for the shower as soon as they've reached the final page.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Did you think that Mr. Heming’s problems and decisions were believable or realistic?
2. Talk about the secondary characters. Were they important to the story? Did any stand out for you?
3. Do you think that the unsettling nature of this novel stems from the fact that the crimes and trickery take place in the home, so are more believable than an unfamiliar location?
4. Talk about the location. Was it important to the story? Was the author's description of the landscape/community a good one?
5. What events in the story stand out for you as memorable?
6. What was more important, the characters or the plot?
7. Did you ever sympathize with Mr. Heming?
8. Did anything make you laugh?
9. Do you feel Mr. Heming’s actions are justified revenge or just vindictive and malicious? Why?
10. Do you think A Pleasure and a Calling is a fitting title for the content of this novel?
11. Critics have said that A Pleasure and a Calling is reminiscent of Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley, do you agree?
12. What do you think about the female characters in this novel? Were they portrayed in a positive way?
13. The author used the structural device of flashbacks; how did this affect the story and your appreciation of the book?
14. Was the ending what you expected? Did you feel it tied up all the loose ends? Would you have changed anything?
15. Finally, what else struck you about the book as good or bad? Were you glad you read this book? Would you recommend it to a friend? Did this book make you want to read more work by this author?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)