Ben Elton writes The First Casualty as a curious blend of British detective fiction and war novel. Protagonist Douglas Kingsley, a Scotland Yard inspector, refuses to join the military during WWI and is sent to prison. Everyone believes he's a traitor, including his wife. By the time the Home Office bursts into his cell to rescue him and fakes his death, Kingsley has survived several months of violent assault. Officers of law are not often received well by the people they send to prison. The Home Office sends Kingsley on a secret mission to Flanders, to investigate the assassination of poet and war hero Viscount Abercrombie during his convalescence. In the end Kinglsey discovers the Viscount had begun writing anti-war poetry which inspired the murderer to violence.
Kingsley's narrative is a beautiful picture of redemption. He chooses to stand for his beliefs by refusing to join the war, for which he is punished, but Kingsley is acting on behalf of his convictions. After enduring the many acts of violence and threats in prison, he is suddenly rescued by a rival agency. They reveal that his imprisonment was all part of the plan, a scheme to fake his death and assign him this top secret mission, so Kingsley is forced to re-frame his recent history. He was made to endure a lot of emotional and physical suffering -- including losing his wife's respect -- in order to receive an unknown reward. Eager for the chance to prove his worthiness, Kingsley conducts himself with the gravity of just having humbled himself nearly to death in prison.
