[Annerton Pit] is Peter Dickinson rather below par, with a trendy plot showing the terrible brittleness of the ultra-contemporary. The theme may be eternal—do ends justify means?—but the militant conservationists who blow up motorways and plan to take over an oil rig are a dismally catchpenny collection…. [These] conspirators are a weak pastiche of newspaper realities…. Peter Dickinson has at hand a [rich] and … subtle substructure. The book is masterly in its presentation of the thirteen-year-old Jake, whose consciousness carries the narrative. Jake is blind, and the modulation of experience through heightened senses other than sight, the acceptance of blindness as normality, and the deep rapport with and respect for Jake which are built up, are very impressive indeed. Interpersonal relationships really mean something—especially between Jake and his impetuous but very caring elder brother. Equally, the ghostly terrors of the abandoned coal-mine, Annerton pit itself, and Jake's final encounter with the terrors in his own mind, all evolve, are all integral with the pervasive sightlessness. It is only the slackness of the central incidents, and the unnecessary striving for "excitement" and "significance" which undercut the real potential of the book. (p. 358)
Peter Hunt, in The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London) 1977; reproduced from The Times Literary Supplement by permission), March 25, 1977.
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