Proof of My Innocence, a novel by Jonathan Coe

Decided to end 2024 by reading a popular comic novel for a change.  I had read Coe’s Middle England a few years ago without being impressed, but the reviews of his latest made it sound more interesting. 

The author himself has posted an explanation of the background to the novel.  He explains that he  wanted to try to write a story that was ‘real’, rather than wholly invented, in response to a not uncommonly held view that fiction is unreadable as it consists entirely of lies. He addresses this issue by setting the novel in real time against British political events which happen at various points, e.g. the election of Liz Truss, the resignation of Kwasi Kwarteng and the appointment of Rishi Sunak.  

Another string running through the book is a comment on easy-reading literature — the bland murder mystery. Coe always has some political references in his books and in this case the victim, Christopher Swann, is murdered in order to avoid his revealing the origins and activities of an extreme right-wing group that has well-hatched plans to dismantle and sell off the NHS.  The murder plot has all the characteristics of the popular fiction he tries sarcastically to emulate — suspects with identical initials, clues left behind by the victim, secret passages, etc.  

Overlying this is a case of identity theft and cover-up by the Old School/Cambridge University network. We have two amateur sleuths and we have a police detective with a comic name Pru Freeborn (Proof Reborn), and several other puns, including the name of the book itself, as ‘Proof’ also has the alternative meaning of proof, as in first draft of a novel. 

Some of these puns and cross-references are mildly amusing, but the book’s multiple themes don’t sit well together and I found that I wasn’t especially interested towards the end in finding out who the murderer was, or whether they were ever brought to justice. I needed to start looking for something better to read. 2*