Temporary Kings - post IV

The book ends with confusion about the exact fate of Pamela Widmerpool but her death occurs after some sort of overdose. The painting described in the first third of the book with the King viewing his wife as she makes love to her lover is a theme of Pamela and Widmerpool's sex life.

he is the voyeur and she seems, and I might be wrong here, to love but also hate that fact.

But the final third of the book is saved by the reappearance of Moreland who is sadly dying. He reminds the reader of the power of nostalgia as characters of the past breeze through the pages and memories of those that have gone before reappear. Among the memories there is a sad reminder of Stringham's death in a Japanese POW camp.

By the close of the book Widmerpool has managed to save himself from a spying charge and although he is now without mother and wife his quest for power, which has defined him from the start, is now the only thing keeping him going.

Roll on the last book.

A review will follow soon...