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the complete review - fiction

I Was Jack Mortimer

by
Alexander Lernet-Holenia

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B : decent suspense

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Although this isn't, as transator Ignat Avsey claims, "the most magnificent thriller ever written", it is certainly a fascinating snapshot of Vienna between the wars, pacey and entertaining." - Laura Wilson, The Guardian
  
  
• "I Was Jack Mortimer reads as if it was written yesterday. Very few novels published in recent years match its daunting panache. The fast-moving, cleverly convoluted plot is brilliantly served by the sustained irony of Ignat Avsey’s witty translation. (...) The sequence in the hotel room is possibly the highlight of a terrific book, one to read and then urge everyone else to follow suit." - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       I Was Jack Mortimer only covers a few days, but in that time Ferdinand Sponer experiences considerably more than he could have ever bargained for. Sponer is a taxi driver in 1930s Vienna, and the novel begins with him becoming entranced by a fare -- so much so that he basically stalks her. Marisabelle von Raschitz is of a different social class and certainly not too excited about the attention she suddenly receives from this cabbie, but Sponer can't help himself. And this despite the fact that he has a longtime girlfriend, the devoted Marie Fiala.
       But it's another fare that turns Sponer's life upside down -- Jack Mortimer. Mortimer gets in Sponer's taxi at the train station, and asks to be taken to the Hotel Bristol (failing to specify whether he wants the Old or the New one); it's all downhill from there. Sponer's judgment isn't the best, and in his panic -- he has good reason to panic -- he takes some unfortunate steps (though admittedly even as he tries to do the right thing early on he is stymied by circumstances around him). Eventually he decides his best bet is to check into the Bristol as Jack Mortimer and play the role for a night, after which he thinks he can slip back into his old life, with no one the wiser.
       It doesn't work out that way, of course, as Mortimer also becomes: "the demon in Sponer's head". It turns out Mortimer comes with more baggage than just his suitcase, and no sooner has Sponer checked in than someone wants to arrange a meeting with the person they believe to be Mortimer -- and they won't take no for an answer. Mortimer's own backstory is eventually revealed, and it puts Sponer in what looks like a hopeless position. He turns to faithful Marie for help, and she is willing to do anything for him, but by that time the police are already circling and Sponer can feel the noose tightening.
       Things work out, in a way -- yet even when they do Sponer has to hear:

Yes. You’re now free, you say ! You’re no longer what you were !

Sponer hurried down Burggasse alongside the rumbling and clanking carts, then turned right onto Lastenstrasse, which was equally busy. Only at Karlsplatz did he turn off, and the clatter and rattle died away in the distance.

- M.A.Orthofer, 14 August 2013

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Links:

• Pushkin Press publicity page
• Adelphi Edizioni publicity page

• A Common Reader ...
• Il Foglio (Italian)
• Sergio Gambini (Italian)
• Meaghan Walsh Gerard
• The Guardian (scroll down for review)
• His Futile Preoccupations .....
• Irish Times
• Lesekost (German)
• Lizzy's Literary Life
• Pechorin’s Journal
• The Reading Life
• Riccardo Caldara's blog (Italian)
• Winstonsdad's Blog

• IMDb page - Ich war Jack Mortimer (1936)
• IMDb page - Stolen Identity (1953)

• Alexander Lernet-Holenia site

• Mona Lisa
• The Resurrection of Maltravers

• See Index of German-language literature
• See Index of Mysteries and Thrillers
• See Index of Books Written Between 1900 and 1945
• Other books from Pushkin Press under review

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About the Author:

       Austrian author Alexander Lernet-Holenia lived 1897 to 1976.

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© 2013-2021 the complete review

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