CONEXUS: CRIME FICTION AND THE STATE OF THE NATION DUNCAN DICKS A thesis submitted to the University of Gloucestershire in accordance with the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education and Humanities July 2019 i ABSTRACT Conexus: Crime Fiction and the State of the Nation consists of two parts. The first section is the novel, Conexus, which is a practice-based exploration and illustration of crime fiction as state-of-the-nation social commentary. The second is a critical discussion of the requirements of a state-of-the-nation novel that reflects the contemporary, globalised word, and how crime fiction contends with these needs. Conexus follows a range of characters in parallel threads that converge onto a single physical location in Gloucestershire. Ainsley Griffin, a technology journalist, his partner, Chelsey, his grandson, Sundance, and a range of other characters gradually become aware of each other through their use of IT as they investigate a series of undiscovered murders that began with a sophisticated network of paedophiles in the 1990s. The murderer chooses each new victim through the random last act of communication of the last victim, and controls their lives through surveillance hacking before murdering them. The critical underpinning of the thesis discusses the concepts, theories and controversies surrounding the concept of a nation (for example, following the legacy of Gellner’s work, Hroch, and the explorations of Bhabha), emphasising the importance of state control through jurisprudence, of communication technology, and of physical locations and boundaries over the past two hundred years. The relative importance and impact of these concepts is seen to have changed dramatically with the rapid explosion of information technology in the twenty-first-century, requiring a very different approach to literary explorations of a nation. A number of crime novels from the past 25 years are analysed in conjunction with Conexus. The locations and boundaries are discussed with reference to the uncanny implications of the physical as discussed by Freud. Approaches to the incorporation of information technology into crime fiction are explored, and the success of this integration is compared to other literary works. In summary, the suitability of the crime novel as portrayal and summary of the culturally and socially significant trends of the time is assessed. Keywords: Crime fiction, state-of-the-nation, Information Technology, IT, communication, localisation, boundaries, jurisprudence, social commentary, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Stav Sherez, Matthew Blakstad, William Hertling, Jeffrey Deaver ii Author Declaration I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the University of Gloucestershire and is original except where indicated by specific reference in the text. No part of the thesis has been submitted as part of any other academic award. The thesis has not been presented to any other education institution in the United Kingdom or overseas. Any views expressed in the thesis are those of the author and in no way represent those of the University. Signed …………………….. Date ……8th July 2019……. Doi: 10.46289/EDHU2098 iii Acknowledgements Thank you, above all, to my supervisors, Dr Martin Randall and Dr Michael Johnstone, for challenging, supporting, and inspiring me over the last few years. Not only have you helped enormously in the development of this project, but you’ve made my time studying and working at the university incredibly enjoyable (may it long continue). I’d also like to give special thanks to Senja Andrejevic-Bullock for being a true friend over this period, for her imaginative and creative conversation, and for her emotional support. Kayleigh Moore has been another great friend and support, and our writing sessions helped me both to understand other ways of creating fiction, and to shape my own novel. Of the current post-graduate research community at Francis Close Hall I should especially single out Melanie Clemmey and Larry Cotterell for sharing, and for caring about the community as a whole, and I’d like to thank all those in the community who I’ve talked to and shared ideas with over the past seven years. When I first took up writing I was fortunate enough to fall in with a group of Open University students who have stuck together and supported each other through social media, more as friends now than writers, in the fifteen years or so since. I can’t mention them all, but Annie Smith has been a constant encouragement during this time. When writing crime fiction, practical knowledge is very important, and I owe much to Gloucestershire Police for their excellent, inclusive, and informative Open Days over the years, and to many friends for sharing their knowledge and understanding of some of the issues discussed in this thesis. In particular, thank you to Katherine for taking the time to discuss her incredible work as social worker. Harriet, you are in this novel. You picked me up when I was down. I know I’m not beaten. Finally, and most importantly of all, thank you to my family—to Catharine, Dominic, and Patrick—for supporting me through the years of study. You’re always in my thoughts. iv Conexus Contents #1 Killing Helen .............................................................................................................................. 1 Zero ............................................................................................................................................... 4 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 9 #2 Raymond ................................................................................................................................. 37 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 39 #3 Joyce ....................................................................................................................................... 56 3 ............................................................................................................................................. 59 #4 Tony Kwok .............................................................................................................................. 72 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 74 #5 Steve Long and Kelly ............................................................................................................... 89 5 ............................................................................................................................................. 95 #6 Basement .............................................................................................................................. 111 6 ........................................................................................................................................... 113 #7 Zikri Raja ............................................................................................................................... 127 7 ........................................................................................................................................... 130 #8 Komal Kumari ....................................................................................................................... 149 8 ........................................................................................................................................... 152 #9 Kavya Ganguly ...................................................................................................................... 166 9 ........................................................................................................................................... 171 #10 Toma Kasun ........................................................................................................................ 186 10 ........................................................................................................................................... 192 #11 Chloe Huppert .................................................................................................................... 202 11 ........................................................................................................................................... 206 #12 Tanya Wilson ...................................................................................................................... 218 12 ........................................................................................................................................... 222 #13 Micky Wilson ...................................................................................................................... 243 13 ........................................................................................................................................... 245 #14 Ricky and Simon .................................................................................................................. 260 14 ........................................................................................................................................... 263 #15 Emily ..................................................................................................................................