Criminal Record: Themes & Subtext

I've just rereleased my first bodyswap novel, Criminal Record, with a smartened up cover.  To celebrate, I thought I’d share a communication I had with someone who read the book and liked it.

She posed me a series of questions and it struck me that my answers might be interesting to others.

So if you haven’t read Criminal Record yet then click on the link to the right and get to it before you go on reading. There will be spoilers below.

If you’ve already read Criminal Record then sit back and enjoy.  

AMY:

Emma, I loved this book and have now posted a review on Amazon.  You are a very entertaining writer. I have some questions that are generally about how the dichotomy of good and evil pans out in the book.  So Sadie (Sadist?) and Holly (Holy?!) are essentially and on a basic level drawn as BAD and GOOD. Are these names a happy accident?

EMMA:

Thank you for enjoying it. I’m glad you did. Sadie and Holly aren’t named because of Sadist and Holy, though I did choose the name to be more sleazy and prim respectively. I wish I had been that cunning but sadly... I wasn’t.

AMY:

How come they both end up doing BAD things?  It’s not like Holly manages to retain her virtue when she’s transformed into Sadie’s body. She’s fully complicit in crime and sex.  Yet Sadie brings her naughtiness along with her into Holly’s body.  Is it intended that they both wind up being more like Sadie?

EMMA:

I thought about this question as I was rereading the book this week and the text does explain it as it goes along but I guess you didn’t pick up on it.
Basically, Holly feels constrained by her posh upbringing and deep down wishes she could be slutty and vulgar. It is she who precipitates the original transformation with this subconscious desire. When she becomes Sadie she allows herself to slip into it subconsciously because that is what she has always wanted: to cut loose! Also, the body and brain she is in are having an effect on her and she is doing it to some extent so that Mik doesn’t spot her as a fraud.
The original Sadie meanwhile has a far more limited desire to be “stuck up” so resists, even though the body is working on her. She is tempted to become Holly in totality but fights against it, ultimately callously murdering the teddy bear (something the real Holly would never do) as a statement of intent – to stick to her dark side. This statement helps her to fight the programming.
There is an underlying theme in more of my stories than this as to whether the life one would generally assume is better is actually worse. Does the maid have a simpler life filled with purpose? Is the whore happier, not having to live in a world ruled by principles? Is Burt happier than Lady Ann? And so on…

AMY:

At the end Holly acknowledges that Sadie doesn’t have the capacity to be good and she does have it in herself to be very bad. Why aren’t they both capable of being the good girl, but they are both capable of being the bad girl? To what extent does this effect a portrayal of human nature as essentially or predominantly BAD?

EMMA:

When the real Holly tells Sadie that she is incapable of good she’s angry and being a bit harsh. Sadie is generally amoral (judging by the casual theft and rudeness she perpetrates) but is still unwilling to go to the lengths part of her would like to. Although she plans the murder at the end, she can’t ultimately go through with it. She doesn’t see anything wrong with what she does. She just does it. She’s not evil in the fiendish sense of the word. But she isn’t a one dimensional character. She does have friends and a boyfriend she cares about. She just doesn’t rate strangers as people who matter.

Thematically, it does explore the principle that being bad is easier or more fun as opposed to the pressure and responsibility to do good.

AMY:

How come Sadie can’t have sex with Jonathon in the car?  She doesn’t hold back from shredding a teddy or stealing a gun – why is this one thing an issue?

EMMA:

The sex scene comes before the crucial teddy bear scene (where she breaks off from becoming Holly). At that earlier point in the book she is still battling against the instincts of her new body as well as her own doubts about taking advantage of the clean slate she’s been given. It’s ultimately a book about the choice to be bad, and the original Sadie ultimately chooses bad over good (though is left changed by the climax – witnessing the love of Holly’s father and not being able to kill). I feel that she isn’t so bad by the end of it.
The original Holly on the other hand ends up treading a more central path. Notice that she has taken on the mode of speech of Sadie at the end. This is suggestive of also taking on some of her dark side as well. She will swear a lot more and wear more revealing clothes. She’ll worry less about pleasing people all the time. She will forge the path she wants rather than the one expected of her. And she has designs on going out with Mik which is a pretty monumental change to her life up to now.
Both girls have learned from their experiences and have taken on aspects of the other girl that they liked. And I wish them both a happy future.
Though it will be interesting to see which of them manages to snare Mik. I’ve always wanted to do a sequel!

AMY:

It was a very entertaining story.  I quite like the concept that the change just happens without rhyme or reason, though I get the impression this is part of a bigger picture with the golden gloom motif.  That way we get on with the business of them being transformed with no preamble – sorry if I sound impatient but that’s the fun part! Is that the plan?

EMMA:

The Golden Gloom is indeed part of the on-going mysteries of Nockton Vale and further glimpses will be revealed in future releases. If you read A New You, my latest batch of short stories, there is an unprecedented glimpse behind the curtain of what is REALLY going on in Nockton Vale.

AMY:

I like it so much that there are heroes in Criminal Record.  Get the Dad in this book!?  He is awesome!  Plus Mik might be a Paki-beating thug but he’s kind of heroic in his own way, and actually cares about Sadie, helping her to get away, etc.  He has his redeeming features. Did you plot it that way?

EMMA:

I also really like Mik. And Sadie. They are irredeemable bastards but they do love one another. I always want my characters to be likeable, or at least magnetic, but they generally come alive in ways I didn’t expect. That’s what’s so rewarding about being a writer.

AMY:

Sorry if that’s too many questions but it’s a book that is pretty thought provoking. By the way, I LOVE the bit where Sadie wonders if she’s “one of those dyslexic cripples.” Classic phrasing!” You’re bloody hilarious!

EMMA:

Thanks Amy! Let me know what you think of the next book when you read it!