Those of us who knew David Wight at school (Head Boy, JH & Mertens 1967-76), and are familiar with the literary role models of Ardingly in the 1970s, will be gripped, impressed, and at times amused by his accomplished debut novel, Hound Bay, a historical maritime thriller. Back in the day, Alistair MacLean’s wartime blockbusters were dormitory classics, as were John le Carré’s spy epics.
Hound Bay has all the hallmarks of MacLean’s turbo-charged story-telling, and a similar penchant for icy seascapes and international conspiracies, but with strains of le Carré’s world-weariness, where quiet conversations carry as much tension as chilling acts of violence.
On Christmas Eve 1981, forensic investigator Leyla Scott receives a photograph of seven murdered servicemen, drawing her into an investigation that leads from London to South Georgia and into the shadowy world of MI6 on the eve of the Falklands War. As she uncovers a plot grounded in Nazi subterfuge and British political intrigue, Leyla must decide whom she can trust before the truth costs her everything.
Like most first novels, Hound Bay is the child of the writer’s early life. Wight starred in “Blunderball” a yet-to-be-uncovered spoof James Bond film (circa 1976) with cameo roles from Ian Hislop (JH, Mertens) and Adam Blackwood (JH, Warren). After Cambridge, he entered the Royal Navy, winning a sword for outstanding performance at Dartmouth. Then disaster: he was forced to resign his commission after the naval authorities discovered he was gay. The thirty-year-old quickly reinvented himself as a film exec, rising through the ranks of the independent cinema scene, ultimately becoming Group Property Director at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios. Fittingly, Hound Bay is cinematic in scope and filmic in exposition, while retaining a director’s forensic gaze.
“It’s been a long journey from South School to South Georgia”, says Wight, “but in spite of the best efforts of Ardingly’s career counsellors, at last I’ve found my vocation at the age of 67. Hound Bay Two, the sequel is on its way”.
Written by Chris Gunness (JH & Warren 1969-77), BBC journalist for over twenty years and now Executive Director of human rights organization the Myanmar Accountability Project
