Domino Island by Desmond Bagley

Domino Island by Desmond Bagley

Review of the novel Domino Island by Desmond Bagley

Published by HarperCollins

First Published: 9 May 2019

Dedication: For Tricia – Who else?

Cost: £14.99 (UK Hardback 2019)

ISBN: 978-0-00-8333301-0 (Hardback Edition - 299 pages)

Desmond Bagley died unexpectedly from a stroke in1983, aged 59yrs, nevertheless, two further novels were published after his death. His wife reviewed and completed the two stories and that was it. However, an unpublished first-draft manuscript entitled Because Salton Died was discovered among his papers at the Howard Gotleib Archival Research Centre in Boston, Massachusetts. When the manuscript was reviewed by HarperCollins, it was considered suitable for publication, and with an agreement with the trustees of the Desmond Bagley estate, it was presented to Michael Davies to review and complete a suitable manuscript for publication.

I was attending The Agatha Christie Festival, in September 2019, where Michael Davies was being interviewed on the topic of how he set about preparing the book for publication, and found it so fascinating I couldn’t wait to start reading the book.

Davies discussed how he had amended very little of the manuscript, but did amend some details to make them acceptable for today’s audience. It’s on record that Bagley was unhappy with the ending of the story and a few letters discussing possible changes passed between the publisher and himself. When Michael Davies read the story, he also felt there needed to be a few tie-ups to bring about a suitable ending. He developed one of the female characters and amended some of the text to make it suitable for fans and new readers. As we can see, the novel has a new title.

Domino Island

The island of Campanilla is an underdeveloped island in the Caribbean, where the locals live out a meagre existence, while those in power live a luxurious life, benefiting from the income generated by the presence of the island’s casinos. David Salton, a property magnate, had been trying to change that, developing affordable housing and supporting a small political party that wanted to change the tax system to make food more affordable for individuals that have little income.

When Salton dies in mysterious circumstances, Bill Kemp, an ex-serviceman working in London as an insurance investigator is invited into the office of the insurance company. The death of David Salton has resulted in a claim for £500,000. As it’s rather a large sum the insurance company want the death investigated further; the dead man was found on a yacht, which had been adrift for over four days. The deceased had lived on the small island of Campanilla in the Caribbean.

A map of the fictional island of Campanilla is provided at the beginning of the book and helps with the plot of the story as the characters travel from one place to another, which is significant in the unravelling tale. To the north of the main island is a small island called El Cerco, where the deceased lived with his wife Jill. To the south of the main island is the smaller Buqe Island, a haven for a unique casino, much visited by American holidaymakers.

Kemp travels out to the Caribbean with a representative of the insurance company, a man called Owen Ogilvie, but the business relationship makes Kemp his boss, and while Kemp travels first-class, Ogilvie is restricted by company policy to economy travel. 

My hotel in San Martin [the island’s capital], grandly called itself the Royal Caribbean. … The foyer was lined with one-arm bandits which, on inspection, provided to be fuelled by silver dollars. All around could be heard cadences of American speech from guests and the slurred English of the Campanillians who worked there.

When Kemp arrives on the island, it seems that everyone knows his business. He buys a newspaper to see if there is an article covering the news of Salton’s death, but it is a different piece that catches his eye. In it, Salton is criticising the local government for ‘licking the boots’ of foreigners and looking to make a personal profit and ignoring the locals who are finding living on the island very difficult. It is evident that an investigation into David Salton’s death is seen in different ways; those in power feel that an investigation, may lead back to themselves, particularly if it is a murder investigation. Kemp has an open mind regarding David Salton, feeling that he may have actually died from a heart attack, but there are questions about his death and the fact that no one went looking for him for four days, does sound suspicious. Before he starts to consider where his investigation should start, he is immediately warned off certain areas, by influential individuals.

The following morning after his arrival, Kemp hires a car and heads north to El Cerco island, the home of the deceased, David Salton. His journey takes him past many villages, where buildings have roofs of corrugated iron – a depressing sight.

David Salton’s property begins on the mainland, where there are a private aeroplane runway and a large building, with the grounds extending over the sea to a small island. The area is cordoned off by a strong mesh cyclone fence set on steel posts and has two guards at the gate. Driving through the gate Kemp soon has a view of the island ahead.

El Cerco was breathtaking. The natural coral formation was a perfect circle about three-quarters of a mile in diameter. Outside, the steady trade wind heaped up waves which crashed on to the coral, sending up spouts of foam, but inside that magic circle the water was smooth and calm.

Right in the centre was a small island, not more than a hundred yards across, and on it was a building, a many-planned structure that curved and nestled close to the ground on which it was built. It seemed as though David Salton had created his own Shangri-la.

At the water’s edge, by the huge boathouse, Kemp is met by one of the staff, who leads him to a fast motor launch and escorts him the short distance over the sea to the island. Here he meets Jill Salton, the widow of David Salton, for the first time.

She was less than thirty, long of limb and with flaming red hair, green eyes and the kind of perfect complexion that goes with that combination. She was not at all what I had imagined as the widow of David Salton, fifty-two-year-old building tycoon.

The conversation with Jill Salton does not go well, but she offers to help Kemp in his investigation. On the night her husband went missing, they had a rather bad quarrel, and he stormed out and went across to the main island where they keep a plane for personal use. She noticed that the plane took off shortly after her husband left her. Four days later Salton is found dead in his boat, floating at sea by a local fisherman. The post mortem states that David Salton died from a heart attack. Kemp asks himself if this is this all a deliberate smokescreen for an altogether more ambitious plot?

Salton’s political ambitions have made him a number of enemies and the few friends he had are slow to reveal themselves. Jill suggests that the owner of the local casino may be able to offer some insight into the business life of her husband and agrees to introduce him to Mr Negrini. Later that evening Kemp finds himself driving to the southern part of the main island and taking the ferry to the Blue Water Casino on Buque Island.

It is here that Mr Negrini explains the view from the islander’s point of view; a vast amount of US Dollars are coming into the island via tourism, but it's staying in the casinos, while the locals are banned from playing at the casinos or partaking in its benefits.

Over the next few days, Kemp continues to investigate the few leads he has about Salton’s death, but it results in him being shot at and attacked. Ogilvie is also attacked and dies from his injuries. Someone appears to be stirring up unrest within local political groups using David Salton’s death as the catalyst for the disruption to daily life.

Once again Kemp returns to the Blue Water Casino, this time to try and escape the turmoil and he persuades Mr Nigrini to take him to see Jill Salton on El Cerco island, a six-hour motor launch cruise. As the story reaches a climax, it’s here on the small island of El Cerco that a most unusual tale is told and Kemp discovers the truth behind Salton’s death.

I’m not going to spoil that twist in the story, which surprised me, but it’s a page-turner and a captivating reveal. Bagley brings together the conflict between those that have and those that have not. He describes the locations in clear visual language that the reader will enjoy.

Domino Island is a vintage tour de force by one of the world’s most successful thriller writers of his time and although this story is published almost forty years after his death, Desmond Bagley still has the ability to captivate his reader’s. I just wish there was a further story from this excellent author. My introduction to Desmond Bagley was the novel, Flyaway, which was published in 1978, and I followed this with the brilliant story The Golden Keel. After finishing this review, I went and found my copies of the two books and have started to read The Golden Keel again, it has strong memories of delight and was a page-turner at the time when I read it. Domino Island gets a Rating 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard

22 October 2019