Colleen McCullough’s An Indecent Obsession is one heck of a plot twist roller coaster. Set during World War 2, the novel follows the life of one Sister Honour Langtry, and her battle fatigued army patients in Ward X. located in the Pacific, Ward X is the kind of place where army men have been sent for going “troppo” at a certain point of the war, but are not too critical to be admitted in a mental asylum. Sister Langtry, also called “Sis” by her patients, is, or was, a nurse on the battlefield, but has been repositioned to take charge of Ward X. Being the only one to take charge of the ward, without anyone to help her with her duties, the patients have, each, grown to be fond of Sister Langtry in his own way. Because it is her duty to take good and close care to her patients, each one of them has been attached to her in one way or the other. That is why when the last patient, Sergeant Michael Wilson, was admitted to the ward, about the same time the war was closing in on its end, the atmosphere in Ward X changed ad things twisted in tragic ends.
To be honest, when I first started reading the book, I was not that interested with going on further than the first five chapters. From the moment the reader is introduced to Sister Langtry, Ward X and the troppo patients –Luce, Neil, Nugget, Matt and Ben- to the point the reader is introduced to Michael, things aren’t very eventful. We do, however, get an insight into each character’s psyche and history.
Although the main character is, in fact, Sister Langtry, we still see things from the other patients’ points of view. Not only the major characters get to display their perspectives, but also the minor characters that have minor roles all through out the novel get their share of opinions.
What was really engaging was the author’s way of presenting pieces of the puzzle at the right time. McCullough didn’t drop each character’s life story and feelings at once. Everything was unraveled at different intervals of the plot. That’s why it makes the reader want to read on to find out why Ben was the most critical patient of all the men, or why Matt was worried about going home, why Luce acted the way he did, how strongly Neil felt about Sister Langtry, or why Nugget was always, and the biggest mystery of all, why Michael was sent to Ward X.
Far from the novel’s dull start, it turned out to be very eventful and full of a variety of insights. Just when you think things are settled and resolved, something suddenly happens.
While I was reading this fantastic novel, when a wild plot twist appears, I had to reread sentences to make sure that I have read them correctly. Or I would be shocked and would have to take a moment to fathom what I had just read. The plot twists hits you so hard, you cant believe yourself. That’s another aspect of McCulloughs style I was fascinated by, you’re constantly surprised by the information you find out bit by bit about the characters and the events, and by the constant plot twisting that catches you off guard. There’s also a constant thirst of wanting to know what’s the next surprise, and wondering when you’re going to find it.
I thought that McCullough’s novel would be another book about the war heroes and what not, but I was relieved to find out that it wasn’t at all. An Indecent Obsession is more about the inner battle within each character. But, it is mainly about the inner battle within Sister Langtry, torn between duty and love. It was also a relieve that the novel didn’t end up being another hopeless romance, or romance driven for that matter, the amount of love percentage within the plot was reasonable and wasn’t too much. It was mostly suspense, which was what made it interesting to read.
