April 1959
This novel attempts less and succeeds more; it is far the most balanced piece of work of the four (reviewed this week). Christopher Marshall is the younger son of an American millionaire who founded a vast business organisation. He has no ambition to emulate his father, and when the story opens is prepared to stooge in the set-up, provided he is not asked to do anything which interrupts his integrity. Eventually, by a number of ingeniously contrived events, he gets pushed into a position where he has to fight to preserve his integrity, and the struggle involves the breakdown of the bosses who have climbed to power via his father and who have always regarded him with contempt. Finally, he discovers that having opposed and exposed the people and system governing a vast business, he has set in motion a train of events about which he cannot remain detached - the focus of his integrity has, so to speak, shifted and continued action is not required of him.
The book is set in New York, London and Paris, and moves easily between the three places at a good, even pace. The characters, with the possible exception of Jane Lancing - the girl with whom Marshall falls in love - are well made (Jane is a little too precisely like life, which isn’t quite large enough for a main character in a novel). This is a kind of backbone of novel writing - basically readable and right, and as much drama has been displayed as the treatment of this theme can legitimately carry.