When we talk of crime fiction we often talk of fiction that deals with crime in two main guises. Violence in extremis like murder, rape, assault or schemes of theft like robberies, B&E’s, bank robberies. These extreme acts of crime lend themselves to a certain level of escapism. We are not murderers, or thieves; we are not mafia dons, meth dealers, bikers or bank robbers; we are not the detectives that bring them down. What we are, mostly, are middle class visitors. We step into shoes and get something in return. A glimpse, a thrill. Maybe we learn something new, maybe we gain some insight, maybe we just reinforce what we already believe.
But there are a whole host of other crimes that get dismissed. Small crimes, “victimless” crimes, consensual crimes.
After the event last year Jeff VanderMeer said something that I think was interesting. That fantasy is largely an upper middle class/upper class genre and that crime fiction is largely a working class, blue collar genre. This crystallized at least part of the appeal of crime fiction for me over the years. As a son of an electrician and a nurse I was never going to be the chosen one who would rise to power and rule the kingdom but I might be a cop or a detective or a lawyer. I might even be a thief. It would be hard for me to think of a vampire being such a badass when I had gone to school with two murderers.
The simple truth of the matter is that the greatest crime that you and I have the possibility of facing today is getting cut off in traffic. Our lives are generally safe.
There are some who wouldn’t think to classify Await Your Reply as crime fiction because it isn’t ready made to fit into either of those modes but I maintain that it is crime fiction. The crime in question, and that is central to Await Your Reply, is identity theft. The crime in question, is largely a middle class one.
It’s a small crime: a number on a computer somewhere is stolen. It a page from the Robin Hood playbook it’s percieved as a victimless crime because the individual person affected is hundreds or thousands of miles away and it’s really the corporations who will have to pay out in the long run. Right?
Part of the appeal of Await Your Reply and part of what makes it different is that it is a middle class novel that tries to convince you that the crime perpetrated has no victim.
