Puzzling Mix of Friendship, Teen-Age Love and Treason

Fell by M. E. Kerr (Harper & Row: $11.95; 165 pages.)

The cover picture of “Fell” shows a surrealistic, desolate landscape on which stand seven 7s and over which a young man in formal attire floats, one foot entangled in the green stem of a flower. Is this a fantasy, I wondered? But no. The flap copy calls it a love story/suspense novel, first in a series. As a longtime Kerr fan I could hardly wait to open the book and find out what those symbols represented.

“On the night of the Senior Prom,” the first sentence reads, “I was stood up by Helen J. Keating--’Keats’ they called her in Seaville, New York.” A promising, simple opening--I like the main character already--but soon, the plot becomes as complex as a Chinese puzzle. Not unusual for a Kerr novel, but this time I think she’s gone too far.

John Fell, the “I” of the story, is 17 years old, a gourmet cook, pretty self-assured, with a nice sense of humor. He’s working part-time and living with his widowed mother in affluent Seaville, N.Y., after his father’s death. Much against Mr. Keating’s wishes, he’s dating Keats and making out nicely with her.

A Fateful Collision

But the story really isn’t about them. It’s about a family named Pingree, whom “Fell” literally “bumps into” when his car collides with Mr. Pingree’s the night he’s stood up. The Pingrees consist of Woodrow, a nuclear physicist; Fern, his wife and co-worker at a nearby think tank, and their rather unpopular and unattractive son, Ping. There’s an aura of mystery about them from the first because the Pingrees keep to themselves, unlike Keats’ nouveau riche parents, and Fern is something of an artist though her paintings invariably depict desolate scenes.

As we follow Fell’s romance with manipulative Keats we also learn of the unlikely interest taken in Fell by Woodrow Pingree.

At this point I found myself asking “why?,” and where is this story going? In most young adult novels, including mysteries, the story question appears within the first chapter or two so that the reader can know what to hope for in the plot. But a third of the way through this book, the only question I could find was, “Will Fell give up Keats, who is using him, despite the fact that she’s his only friend?”

Enter a new character, Delia Trimble. She’s a servant working for a Seaville family, almost 10 years Fell’s senior, though he doesn’t know it at first. Delia, unlike Keats, is honest and insightful; Fell is strongly attracted to her, as she is to him. At this point, Woodrow Pingree makes Fell a strange offer. He will finance Fell’s education at Gardner, a fine private school where Pingrees have gone for generations, and even give him $10,000 for each of the two years he attends--with conditions.

Assumes New Identity

Fell must assume Ping’s identity during the two years at the school, and not tell anyone, especially Fern, who insists Ping attend Gardner. Ping, meanwhile, would then be free to attend a private school abroad where he is eager to go. Fell accepts Pingree’s offer--and the new story question appears to be, “Why is Pingree so friendly and generous?”

What this love story/suspense novel is finally about is espionage, possible murder and even suicide, though we’re deceived by Kerr’s sprightly style and dialogue, which belie the seriousness of the issues. It seems the Pingrees have been selling classified documents and the “switch” of Fell for Ping was to eliminate the chance that Fern would abduct Ping in order to stop Pingree from spilling all to the FBI.

If you’re confused by the complex story line, so was I, at first. To Kerr’s credit, clues are dropped throughout the book, though readers might not catch them on one reading. However, the story strains credulity and the Sevens plot complications seem largely to introduce the suicide, which one supposes will be the subject of the next book in the series.

Kerr fans will enjoy this book despite my criticisms because the cast of characters is interesting, Fell is very likable, and the dialogue is plentiful, bright, and often witty.