The Traitor Game
by B R Collins
I should declare an interest here: B. R. Collins was a student on an Arvon course I tutored, where her exceptional gifts were obvious. Sadly, though, I canÕt claim to have had the slightest influence on The Traitor Game, which was already completed and ready to submit. Acceptance, not surprisingly, didnÕt take long.
The narrative is split between reality and fantasy and, as fantasy is never my first choice of reading, it says a great deal that both sections of the book kept me equally riveted. In the "realÓ story, weÕre at a private school in the company of fifteen-year-old Michael, whose mother has sent him there after vicious bullying at his state school. (This isn't a slur on state education: the bullying at St AnselmÕs appears to be even worse, with staff taking little notice of cigarette burns, bruises and other injuries the boys inflict on each other.) MichaelÕs close friendship with the clever, self-contained but vulnerable Francis centres around their creation of a secret, imaginary world, Evgard. Betrayal is the focus of both plots Š and the Traitor Game of the title, something like chess, is so ingenious that someone ought to patent it.
When he finds notes in his locker, Michael believes that Francis has betrayed him by joking to others about their private world; in return he betrays Francis to the schoolÕs most notorious bully. The anguish of this Š and in Bridget CollinsÕ hands it really is anguish, such is the passion and intensity of her writing Š is matched by fictitious events in Evgard, where Argent, a captive, proves to be doubly a traitor. ThereÕs implicit homoeroticism in both parts of the story and, although Michael claims not to be gay, the scenes between Argent and the DukeÕs son Columen, of which heÕs at least joint author, suggest otherwise. These fantasy scenes are wonderfully inventive, with details such as the Judas floor of the first Evgard episode, and the lightlead glass, described by Francis early on, which is put to decisive plot purpose later on at a stage when readers will almost have forgotten it.
The cleverness and virtuosity of the writing is matched by page-turning urgency, memorable characters and the acute sense of living vividly in the moment. B. R. Collins is a new writer of exhilarating talent, and IÕll be watching her progress with great interest.