Pleasantly Disturbed by Lee Stuart Evans
Warm, funny novel of mystery, music and romance set in 1980s East Midlands
It’s the late 1980s and endearingly deluded wannabe pop star Robin is reluctantly working at the local garage until the world realises he’s clearly the next Jim Kerr1. He’s got all the moves, it’s just a shame he can’t sing. Meanwhile his girlfriend Fliss has enough musical talent to emulate her heroine, Kate Bush, if only she also had some confidence. The biggest worry in their lives is the audition for the TV talent show Fliss’s mum has signed her up for. Then Robin’s colleague Vern, who’s maybe read one too many Georges Simenon novels, ropes Robin into investigating the continuing theft of fast cars in the area. He’s sure something’s going on in a derelict railway station at the edge of Sherwood Forest, and Robin finds it mildly entertaining to humour him. Until someone dies, and it all gets a bit serious.
This is the second novel by BAFTA-nominated comedy writer Lee Stuart Evans, who is a friend of mine, as you may have picked up from previous posts. It’s always daunting reading a book by someone you know, even if you’ve never met them in real life and won’t have to worry about bumping into them in the supermarket. A few years ago I stopped mentioning when I’d bought a copy of any online acquaintances’ books, after one I couldn’t get to the end of. No doubt the author had forgotten I’d even got it, but I was convinced my silence about the book’s merits was painfully obvious. I felt I was on reasonably safe ground with Lee, having enjoyed his previous novel, Words Best Sung. Besides, he’d posted me a signed paperback himself.
I needn’t have worried — I absolutely loved this novel, it might even be the best I’ve read this year (certainly in my top 3). Unlike Words Best Sung, Pleasantly Disturbed does not use any dialect or accent-spelling so there was no adjustment period as I started to read. I laughed pretty solidly through the Prologue, which is mainly a cheeky teenager showing off and acts as a great introduction to the main character. As it settles down into the story it’s one of those comic novels that gives you a constant smile punctuated by regular chuckling, though it does get properly tense towards the end.
Robin and Fliss are the sort of fleshed-out characters you find yourself thinking about as you go about your day, and in the days after I’d got to the end of the novel I thought of them fondly and wondered about the things left unsaid. The teenaged pair are discovering themselves, each other, music, and all kinds of intimate shenanigans euphemistically referred to as ‘listening to records’ in Fliss’s bedroom. They’re clearly special to each other, but they’re also young and naive — are they special enough to overcome everything that happens? Robin’s a cheeky young sod but there’s no malice to it; he loves his girlfriend, he loves his mum, he’s even got a soft spot for old Vern. Vern also seemed like a real person with a life which existed beforehand and continued after the main events. Consequently, I cared what happened to them all.
Thefts of high performance or sportier model cars are of no particular interest to Robin, but accompanying Vern on reconnaissance missions gives him something to do when sixth-former Fliss has to go to bed early on a school night. Neither of them really intend it to turn into a full-on investigation. Once they start sneaking around and jotting down registration numbers they realise they’re putting themselves in danger.
Although it’s set in the 80s and there’s a lot about the cars and music of the time, it’s by no means a nostalgia trip. It turns out I know more Simple Minds songs than I would have said I did, and they echoed round my head as I read the book — delightfully there’s a Spotify playlist to accompany your reading, though I only found that later. However, even without sharing Robin’s musical taste (in fact, having more in common with his friend Ricky, whose denim jacket with its Rainbow and Deep Purple patches Robin sneers at) I understood the meaning it gives to his life, the obsession, the drive. The dressing-up. It’s ultimately all about how music can take you to another place.
There are shades of Billy Liar in Robin’s persistent fantasies of performing to stadium crowds but Robin is not an Angry Young Man, however eager he might be for a bigger and better life than the one the Stonebridge Motor Company has to offer. I found my time with Robin pretty uplifting so if you’re looking for a page-turning feelgood read of music, young love, and some prowling around boarded-up stations late at night, may I recommend you get Pleasantly Disturbed this summer.
Lead singer of Simple Minds, for those who know even less about the band than I do. Pleasantly Disturbed was the name of the first song he wrote for them.