Daphne Du Maurier – The Breakthrough – Review

Du Maurier's short story, The Breakthrough, was published in 1966. This edition is part of Penguin Modern collection of fantastic short tales in literature. 50 little books range from Franz Kafka's Investigations of a Dog, Italo Calvino's The Distance of the Moon, to John Steinbeck's The Vigilante. In The Breakthrough, Du Maurier writes in a new genre for her, and for many, that of Science fiction/Religion. It is a disturbing story that brings up many issues, including science experimentation and its ethical boundaries.

Our protagonist, Stephen, is an electrical engineer whose boss asks to assist a leading scientist in his work. He is reluctant to go because this leading scientist is well known for his eccentricities and somewhat dubious pursuits. Nevertheless, Stephen agrees to go and discovers that the doctor's experiments are way outside the perimeters of conventional science. He decides to leave the next day but is caught up in the computing electronics that is his specialty. He will soon realize this decision to remain was a big mistake.

The eccentric scientist explains that he believes that pure electrical energy is released from the body once a person dies. For reasons not entirely specified, capturing this energy would lead science in whole new directions. MacLean is a craggy old fifty-something, dressed in the obligatory academic garb of baggy corduroys and a turtle neck sweater. But, like many of his kind, he's a single-minded, no-nonsense facts man.

Stephen meets the rest of the crew. One group member is a young 19 year old who is dying of Leukaemia. Ken is the main "guinea pig," for he will die soon, enabling MacLean to capture his energy in one of his machines. This is the plan.

I found it disturbing about the whole exercise that a young child, an intellectually disabled child, is a big part of the experiment. There is danger involved in the investigation. To include a disabled child reminded me of the Nazi scientists experimenting on children in the death camps during WWII. Overall, this puts a nasty taste in my mouth as the reader. Anyone's guess is why the author used a child in this macabre story. This may have been used to enforce a debate on science and ethics. It could have been done differently.

Ken is close to dying and is immediately laid on a surgical table and hooked up to the necessary machines. Without going into too much technical detail, the little girl is hooked up as well, used as a type of conduit between Ken and the devices. Ken suddenly dies, and after some technical drama, the machine reveals that Ken's "energy" has been captured. The girl remaining in a hypnotic state begins to scream: "Let them go...let them go...let them go."

There is something more involved in death than just pure energy.

Once again, I am continually impressed by Daphne Du Maurier's genius as a thriller writer. 

The Breakthrough is worth a read.