Review Archive for author's that start with ... B
Review Archive for author's that start with ... B
Reviewed on this page:The Chinese Girl (John Baker). White Skin Man (John Baker), The Meanest Flood (John Baker), Meltdown (Martin Baker), Hour Game (David Baldacci), The Camel Club (David Baldacci), The Collectors (David Baldacci), Simple Genius (David Baldacci), Stone Cold (David Baldacci), Divine Justice (David Baldacci), First Family (Davids Baldacci), Sleep Before Evening (Magdalena Ball), The Caller (Alex Barclay), The Virgin (Erik Barmack), Baggage (Emily Barr), Leaving Bondi (Robert G Barrett), The Lace Reader (Brunonia Barry), Murphy's Law (Colin Bateman), The Cleaner (Brett Battles),Undertow (Sydney Bauer), Gospel (Sydney Bauer), Alibi (Sydney Bauer), Move to Strike (Sydney Bauer), Death of a Dentist (M.C. Beaton), Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist ( M.C. Beaton), Beneath The Dark Ice (Greig Beck),The Chemistry Of Death (Simon Beckett), Written In Bone (Simon Beckett), Whispers of the Dead (Simon Beckett), Stacking in Rivertown (Barbara Bell), Isabella Moon (Laura Benedict), The Uncommon Reader (Alan Bennett), Havoc In Its Third Year (Ronan Bennett), The Faithful Spy (Alex Berenson), The Third Secret (Steve Berry), The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry), One Night at the Call Centre (Chetan Bhagat), Without Warning (John Birmingham), The Silver Swan (Benjamin Black), The Lemur (Benjamin Black), Tithe (Holly Black), Bloodless Shadow (Victoria Blake), Darkness Peering ( Alice Blanchard), Hope to Die (Lawrence Block), Hit List (Lawrence Block), The Burglar On The Prowl (Lawrence Block), All The Flowers Are Dying ( Lawrence Block), , Hit Parade (Lawrence Block), The Fields of Grief (Giles Blunt), Death By Hollywood (Steven Bochco), Awakening (S J Bolton), The Last Testament (Sam Bourne), Blue Heaven (C J Box), Restless (William Boyd), Talk Talk (T C Boyle), The Sleep Of The Dead (Tom Bradby), The Master of Rain (Tom Bradby), Bleedout (Joan Brady), The New Glucose Revolution. What Makes My Blood Glucose Go Up And Down? (Brand-Miller, Foster-Powell, Mendosa),The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Lillian Jackson Braun), The Cat Who Went Up The Creek (Lilian Jackson Braun), Tallow (Karen Brooks), Digital Fortress (Dan Brown), The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), The Switch (Sandra Brown), Rendezvous At Kamakura Inn (Marshall Browne), Inspector Anders and the Blood Vendetta (Marshall Browne), The Eye Of The Abyss (Marshall Browne), The Iron Heart (Marshall Browne), Priest (Ken Bruen), Cross (Ken Bruen), The Prosecution (D. W. Buffa), The Judgment (D.W. Buffa), The Legacy (D.W. Buffa), Star Witness (D.W. Buffa), Breach Of Trust (D.W. Buffa), Trial By Fire ( D. W. Buffa), The Evangeline (D W Buffa), Bangkok 8 (John Burdett), Bangkok Tattoo (John Burdett)Clare's War (Anita Burgh), Judgment Calls (Alafair Burke), Missing Justice (Alafair Burke), The Best of Robicheaux (James Lee Burke) , Bitterroot (James Lee Burke) Purple Cane Road (James Lee Burke), Last Car to Elysian Fields (James Lee Burke), White Doves At Morning( James Lee Burke),In The Moon Of Red Ponies (James Lee Burke), Crusader's Cross (James Lee Burke), Pegasus Descending (James Lee Burke), The Red Cardigan (J.C. Burke), Frozen (Richard Burke), Redemption (Richard Burke), Legends of the Baggy Green (Alexander Buzo), The Sacred Bones (Michael Byrnes),
THE CHINESE GIRL
by John Baker
Orion
ISBN 0-75284-373-7
$17.95
August 3 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
John Baker grew up in Hull which is the location for The Chinese Girl. His first novel, Poet in the Gutter featured Sam Turner and was the foundation for the series. Walking with Ghosts, King of the Streets and Death Minus Zero were written after Baker turned to full time writing. Shooting in the Dark, which is not yet published, will continue the Turner series unlike The Chinese Girl, whose hero/anti-hero is ex-convict Stone Lewis. Baker's books have been translated into French and German.
The author has been quoted as saying that he seeks the perfect sentence on which to build his books. Certainly, the section and chapter headings seem to have a lot of thought put into them. In order to reproduce what Baker considers his perfect sentence I suppose it is necessary, then, to say that the first sentence of Chapter One, A Bundle Of Old Clothes, in Section One, Too Many Movies, is "Stone Lewis left the bar of the Minerva three minutes after the landlord called time."
When Lewis arrives back at his basement flat he discovers what initially appears to be a bundle of old clothes in the entrance. Then he perceives it is a Chinese girl who has been severely beaten. Stone takes the girl inside, cleans her up and puts her in his own bed. Going through her possessions, he finds that her name is Virginia Bradshaw. He reads letters that have been sent to her from her friend Juliet. He further discovers that Ginny has come back to Hull, where she previously shared a flat with Juliet, from L.A. Ginny, on awakening, tells Stone that Juliet has disappeared and she has returned to Hull in order to look for her. Stone decides to help her.
Stone is a convicted murderer who has not long been released from prison and is now trying to make a life for himself. He is keeping an eye on his mother, Sally, and his aunt, Nell. When in prison, Lewis was brutalised and tattooed at the behest of Shooter Wilde, the former lover of Stone's mother Sally. When Sally had displeased Shooter he had slashed her face with a razor.
It soon becomes evident that Shooter is somehow responsible for Juliet's disappearance and Stone's family plus his Aunt Nell's new boyfriend Heartbreak, decide they have been victimised by Shooter for too long and are tired of it. They resolve to help Shooter and Ginny.
It is very obvious that a great deal of care has gone into the writing
of this novel. A lot of thought has been put into the actual use of
words. For that alone it would deserve to be read, but the story itself
is also rewarding. The characterisation is good and the pace fast.
It must also be said that Baker has a good eye for irony. It is, however,
only fair to warn the prospective reader, that there are some exceptionally
grisly scenes and concepts. Corrupt police and the drug trade are the least
off-putting of these. And the overall verdict? Well worth reading.
WHITE SKIN MAN
by John Baker
ISBN 075284749X
245 pages
Orion
May 7 2004
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 7 2004
Writer John Baker has. as he has ably demonstrated in previous novels, a highly developed social conscience. Given the quantity of wrongs that need to be righted in the climate of today, he must be frustrated in only being able to tackle bite sized pieces at a time in each of his Sam Turner and Stone Lewis series.
Convicted murderer and ex-con, Stone Lewis, is happily resident in Hull where both his mother, Sally, and his aunt Nell live. He works at an Internet cafe for Eve Caldwell and has been living with Vietnamese Ginny Bradshaw (from The Chinese Girl) for more than a year. At present Ginny is in the United States so Stone is, perhaps, more receptive to the plight of Katy Madika than he would normally have been. Photographer Katy is experimenting with her new digital camera. As she is snapping subjects almost at random, she is horrified to discover she has witnessed a murder. She has captured the images of both victim and (less clearly) murderer, then has to surrender her camera to the murderer. Unbeknownst to the latter, she has removed the Flash card from the camera. Terrified and intimidated she goes to Eve to confide the awful thing she has seen. Stone takes an interest and, in Ginny's absence, recognises the attraction Katy has for him.
Mort, Gaz and Ginner are white supremacists. Not recognising the irony in their ill educated selves despising foreign, well educated blacks, they have vowed to destroy such people. For sport, they terrify a young black man, Chaz, attributing to him (mistakenly, since the lad is gay) a liaison with the white teacher for whom he babysits. Chaz's family is friendly with Heartbreak, Stone's aunt Nell's lover, so when Mort and his cohorts are approached by Omega, the man ultimately responsible for the murder witnessed by Katy Madika, the two main threads of the novel become intertwined.
Pale skinned Katy is married to a black doctor, Daniel. Had she not witnessed the murder it seems almost inevitable that she would have eventually come to Omega's notice but he has a double reason now to intimidate her. There has been no body reported to police so Katy is beset by doubts about what she really did witness. The doubt is soon removed when her own safety and that of her husband and baby are threatened.
There are some unpleasant concepts and scenes dealt with in this very
well told and thoughtful tale. One possible criticism is that perhaps the
author has dwelt over-long on philosophical musings. Baker has, over several
novels, crafted intriguing and likable characters - not the least Stone
himself as well as his erratic mother Sally, his more conscientious aunt
Nell and her whimsical boyfriend Heartbreak. The plight of racial minorities
within Britain has been tackled in this novel and some of the abuses to
which they are routinely subjected examined. The plotting is good, the
characters believable and some of the situations humorous. John Baker does
not disappoint his readers with this episode in the life of Stone Lewis.
THE MEANEST FLOOD
by John Baker
ISBN 0752856626
313 pages
Orion
May 2 2003
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 21 2005
Sam Turner, John Baker's private investigator protagonist, is once more in dire peril in his sixth outing, THE MEANEST FLOOD. He has been established, in preceding books, such as POET IN THE GUTTER and WALKING WITH GHOSTS as someone who, like his creator, has a strong social conscience and moral ethic. While homelessness scarcely rates a mention in this book, Geordie, whom Sam rescued from homelessness in a previous novel, plays a key role in helping his former saviour.
Diamond Danny Mann, a magician, picks a woman from his Nottingham audience to help with one of his illusions - or did she somehow pick him? Marilyn Eccles takes an unusually close interest in Danny's activities both during and subsequent to the magic act, to her mother's dismay. Sam Turner is also in Nottingham as is, unbeknownst to him, his ex-wife Katherine. Not that that knowledge would have done him any good had he wished to make use of it for during the night in which Sam is in Nottingham, Katherine (or Kitty, as her current lover Ruben Parkins prefers to call her) is murdered in a particularly gory and distinctive manner. Sam is questioned by the police but denies he was present in Nottingham. Later, he is unable to deny being in Leeds when another of his wives one who, like her predecessor in death had been lost to him because of his alcoholism, is murdered. Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure that people are well aware of Sam's presence in the vicinity of the Leeds killing.
Sam realises that he is being set up by the murderer but is somewhat bruised in more than spirit to find a stranger is interested in having Sam's face on film. Discretion being a recognisable part of valour, Sam flees to Oslo, a city well known to John Baker, but is Sam safe even there? For that matter, are Sam's former wives all in need of protection?
Baker has a talent for creating attractive characters. For all his jagged edges, Sam is a masterpiece. I was particularly taken, too, by Ruben, who, to my mind at least, shares some qualities with another of Baker's people, Stone Lewis. There are some very flawed personalities in this tale but the author always provides reasons for their behaviour, the mix seasoned with a goodly portion of compassion. Invariably, too, Baker instills a certain amount of wry humour into the story but, overall, the narrative plumbs some very dark and unpleasant crevices of human nature including some heartbreaking glimpses into the minds of the psychologically disturbed.
Despite THE MEANEST FLOOD being part of a series, it holds up
well as a stand alone. If readers haven't before come across this writer's
truly addictive work, they could do far worse than to begin here.
MELTDOWN
by Martin Baker
ISBN 9780230703971
390 pages
Macmillan
February 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 14 2008
For those of us who are labouring under the impression that money is dull, Martin Baker will cheerfully rip the shade of deception from our eyes and show how truly exciting the Market can be. Perhaps Real Life would not hold quite as many dangers for earnest young academics as those inflicted on Samuel Spendlove, but the reader is certainly made aware of possibilities.
Samuel (not Sam) Spendlove is an Oxford don possessed of an eidetic memory. He is also just emerging from a failed marriage when he is approached by one of two large, rival publishers and asked to go undercover to work as a research analyst/assistant to a financier in Paris, a city beloved by Spendlove. That organisation is effectively owned by the second publisher.The academic assents then must break the news to his mentor, Peter Kempis, a man who has been a friend to three generations of Spendloves at Oxford. Like so many in the tale, Kempis is not quite as he seems on the surface.
Samuel travels to Paris to take up his employment as a trainee assisting Khan, a mysterious but successful figure in finance. He makes a good impression on the trading floor but then strikes up a rather warm acquaintance with Kaz, a colleague with whom he wishes to become even better friends because he feels she might be able to gain him access to secrets he would need to penetrate in order to promote the downfall of Khan. Then Kaz disappears.
Spendlove has already seen that Kaz is very close to another woman, Lauren. She is a beautiful creature, a lawyer, but someone who, quite possibly, would be a rival to Samuel for Kaz's affections.
The narrative is certainly absorbing and I found it far more exciting than some other books falling into the genre of "thriller". Just what percentage of the tale might accurately reflect publishing and finance in the Real World is possibly a different matter but it gave me more of an idea than I'd previously had of the possibilities inherent in the murky world of high finance.
Just how much influence sex has in driving money is a moot point. Nevertheless, the author has incorporated hefty chunks of that motivator in with all the other adventures that befall the hapless Spendlove.
The characterisation is, to my mind, very well done. Samuel's suffering as a betrayed husband, his willingness to take on a new employment and his excellent ability in the world of finance, given his trick of memory, is completely credible. The women, too, are painted beautifully and one could imagine meeting them -- should the reader mix in such circles -- in the real world. Perhaps the publishers, with their limitless ambitions and view of the business world as a game, might seem a little exaggerated, but then what, in high finance, does seem plausible to those of us with limited knowledge of the world of money.
Baker is the author of non-fiction as well as fiction. He has, however, promised two more books in a series featuring Samuel Spendlove. I trust the reading public doesn't have to wait too long for a sequel to this financial thriller.
HOUR GAME
by David Baldacci
ISBN 033041173X
723 pages
Pan Books
September 3 2005
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 30 2005
David Baldacci is another of the formidable array of lawyers who have found their way into the realms of (official) fiction in order to instill excitement into their lives and provide bread for their table. A best-selling author, he has also written screenplays and had his novels turned into fodder for the cinema. He is one of those writers who provides a puzzle at every turn, if HOUR GAME is a representative sample of his work.
There is a killer on the loose, one who is mimicking the chefs d'oeuvres of serial killers of yesteryear. Strangely, this man has a conscience. He apologises to the first corpse for whose slaughter he is responsible, telling her she is "all I had" and reassuring her that she did not "die in vain". I suppose that depends on one's viewpoint. A quick prayer, an exhaustive cleanup and the killer bustles off, leaving a watch on the hand of the dead woman, set to 1.01. Former Secret Service agents, Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, the latter being an 'attorney' (as the Americans have it) have set up their own investigation agency. Their fame from the adventures detailed in SPLIT SECOND ensures them a healthy clientele. A less healthy indirect client is the murder victim in the woods, upon whom Michelle stumbles. Maxwell and King are drawn into the investigation while at the same time being hired by a lawyer friend to try to prove the innocence of one Junior Deaver, a man accused of stealing from former employers. King is interested in the female Medical Examiner who doubles as a town physician and both he and Maxwell invigilate upon post mortems to do with their commission.
This is a very exciting tale. I was quite on edge when reading the car chase involving Sean, Michelle and someone who wished them nothing good. Corpses, complete with cryptic clues, adorn the landscape but Mr. Baldacci is most generous in that he also provides a multiplicity of murderers, so much so that between the corpses and the corpse makers, I found myself becoming giddy. Threats, both veiled and naked, lie in wait for all the characters of the story, both the rich and privileged and the poor and wanting, not to mention the police, FBI and Maxwell and King. A nice glimpse into how the ultra-wealthy disport themselves is given while something sinister steals through the shadows attempting to assassinate its several targets.
Perhaps the cornucopia of mayhem and murder is a trifle overfull. While
the thrills are certainly there, a reader can be calloused if there is
too much of a bad thing. The killing logic is reasonable, when explained
but the characters leave a little something to be desired. Perhaps there
should be more emphasis on the detail of the characters than on the bloodied
guts and gory brains. This having been said, it is a good read and one
which would encourage its audience to watch for the next in the series.
THE CAMEL CLUB
by David Baldacci
ISBN 033044123X
638 pages
PAN BOOKS
September 3 2006
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 8 2007
Now here is a bargain for the budget minded. For a modest sum you are rewarded by an exceedingly fat volume containing the FBI, CIA and Secret Service, a revolutionary idea on how to conduct war, an insight into the training of an assassin who used to murder in the name of patriotism, a brief look at psychiatric conditions, and some notions of the Islamic religion.
Known terrorists are being 'assassinated' yet somehow revivified into new personae, while their previous history is wiped from official records. But how is this possible? Surely the American authorities would be on their guard against such fraud? Well, ordinarily they would be, but not if one of their own is involved in the scam -- but what happens if the perpetrator is then murdered?
Oliver Stone, formerly a hit man with a different name working for the American authorities, is having a meeting with his friends Milton, Reuben and Caleb, misfits all, who comprise the Camel Club. Unfortunately, the meeting is on Theodore Roosevelt Island, the place selected by Secret Service men Reinke and Peters to assassinate their former computer analyst colleague, the man responsible for falsifying official files. He has become unreliable so must be eliminated. Unfortunately, the Camel Club witnesses the killing and are now the targets of the killers. Since the predators are in possession of all professional tools for identification, the fingerprint of one of Stone's little gathering is sufficient to set the hounds baying after them.
Secret Service Agent Alex Ford becomes interested in the murder but a lapse causes him to be reassigned to a menial job as one of the President's guards. Unfortunately, when President Brennan is kidnapped in his home town, which has recently been renamed in his honour, Alex is on duty and is seen to have been derelict in his duty in permitting the President to be snatched.
This is surely the result of an Islamist terrorist plot but there are wheels within wheels, and the mastermind is not actually a man of the Middle East. There are, too, certain aspects of the plot which are wildly at variance with the normal modus operandi of such an affair.
Mr. Baldacci is certainly a master at plotting on a grand scale. The research he has undertaken in order to produce this enthralling work must have been immense. While the chief interest in the tale is the action, the author has come up with as interesting an eclectic selection of characters as one could imagine. His idea for a terrorist plot is innovative, to say the least, but I felt that the mode of that particular action might have been the weak link in the plot so far as conviction goes. A shame I can't expand further on this but I wouldn't wish to give away a key portion of the book.
The author has, obviously, managed to gain an insight into the thoughts and motives of people of the Islamic world so that they are portrayed in a manner sympathetic in this tale. The politicians seem to be the ones catching stick in the narrative.
Baldacci has, of course, already written a sequel, THE COLLECTORS, which provided a plot hook for future additions to the series. I must admit that I found the first book the most entertaining, although the second was far from dull. Perhaps readers can hope for a further adventure for the Camel Club this year.
THE COLLECTORS
by David Baldacci
437 pages
ISBN 1405090111
MACMILLAN
November 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 14 2006
What do you do if you were formerly a CIA operative specialising in assassinations then come to the termination of that career? What sort of retirement would you seek? Different folk come up with different solutions. Roger Seagraves, amiable and physically attractive, falls back into the role of a not very well paid public servant. He maintains a business on the side to augment his income to an acceptable standard. He enables the dissemination of American secrets throughout the world, helping countries with less brainpower to equivalent scientific achievement. Occasionally Seagraves must call into use his previous expertise since not everyone makes his path easy; thus, at the beginning of THE COLLECTORS, the mild mannered official exercises well honed skills in order to assassinate the Speaker of the House.
Life is never simple for a conscientious worker and before too long Seagraves must arrange for the demise of another victim. Jonathan DeHaven, a collector of rare books, is the Director of the Rare Books Division of the Library of Congress. He meets his fate, seemingly a victim of heart disease, in the vault housing the nation's treasures. He has appointed Caleb Shaw, notable coward and member of the Camel Club, his literary executor. Oliver Stone, who sees himself as a collector of hopeless cases, feels the death is a probable murder and sets out to help his friend, together with the other members of the Camel Club.
"Stone", in his previous incarnation of John Carr, was another CIA assassin. Stone is an idealist determined to try to keep the American government accountable to its people, hence his formation of the Camel Club as a watchdog group. The idiosyncratic crew proves an interesting resource.
DeHaven's death catches the attention of his former wife, Annabelle Conroy, now a con artist par excellence. She has undertaken "two short and one long" cons, the latter designed to bring down the man responsible for the murder of her mother many years ago. He is casino owner and all round bad guy Jerry Bagger. Having exacted her revenge, Annabelle is about to take herself beyond his reach but makes a detour in order to attend DeHaven's funeral. Learning that the man was murdered, she allies herself with the Camel Club in order to aid their investigation.
Seagraves is a collector, although his collection, unlike that of DeHaven, which includes a very valuable volume, the Bay Psalm Book, doesn't have much monetary value. Seagraves is fanatical about snaffling items belonging to each of his victims and his collection brings him as much pleasure as any other collector is likely to glean from more orthodox assemblies.
As one would expect of a work by David Baldacci, THE COLLECTORS is chock full of incident. To my mind, the author has excelled himself in his invention of the scams perpetrated by Annabelle -- I rejoice in the fact that I rarely use an ATM, given his description of possible fraud. The long con provides an all too obvious hook for a future novel featuring the artist perpetrating it. While the treason, murders and other assorted adventures provide excitement, the invention of the scams displays the author's ingenuity to its best effect. Another example of Baldacci's inventiveness is the method by which he disposes of DeHaven. I can't say I have ever seen that particular lethal approach employed in fiction before.
The characters comprising the Camel Club appear somewhat muted in this outing -- well, they are not the main focus of the novel. Annabelle Conroy, on the other hand, is a striking creation whose future appearances will be welcome.
Without being able to pin down exactly why the book conveyed this impression,
I felt there was an air of Boys' Own Adventure about the work. Nevertheless,
this may not always be seen as a disadvantage . Certainly, the eccentricities
of the individual members of the Camel Club have never been seen in more
junior protagonists of such works. In fact, it is delightful to read a
work in which both heroes and villains tend toward the more mature.
SIMPLE GENIUS
by David Baldacci
ISBN 9780230017788
421 pages
MACMILLAN
June 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 31 2007
Lawyer Sean King and his partner in investigations, Michelle Maxwell, the former Secret Service agents who starred in Baldacci's HOUR GAME are back again to work their considerable magic in an even more complex case than their previous.
Michelle is bedevilled by demons from her past. Presumably operating on the same principle that forces unhappy people to inflict physical harm on themselves, she goes into a bar which the bravest of white men would think twice about entering, then picks on the largest and meanest looking man there. While she inflicts considerable damage on the fellow, she is far from unharmed. Sean is appalled by her actions and persuades her to enter a private psychiatric institution run by a psychiatrist friend of his, Horatio Barnes.
Sean 's generous action provides the entrée for the pair into the chief mystery of the piece: just what is going on at the CIA facility of Camp Peary. Sean needs money to pay for Michelle's confinement and his only means of obtaining it is to look to his former lover, Joan Dillinger, and apply to her for employment. She tells him of the death of mathematician Monk Turing. He was employed at Babbage Town yet found dead, an apparent suicide, at Camp Peary. The FBI are happy with the suicide theory but someone in Babbage Town thinks it was a cleverly executed murder.
King starts his investigation but Maxwell, not happy with the notion that she is psychiatrically challenged, uncovers some baddies within the institution and sails off to Babbage Town to aid King. Horatio Barnes, appalled at Michelle's defection when she is so psychologically frail, follows her and himself becomes enmeshed in the case.
There are quite a few intriguing sub-plots in this outing, not the least involving Viggie, the mathematical genius savant, daughter of the murdered man but a child exhibiting symptoms of autism. She has a lot in common with Michelle, to whom she takes an instantaneous liking.
Sophisticated computers, secret codes, repressed memories, drug smuggling, even hidden rooms are all grist for Mr. Baldacci's very talented mill. His main characters, not excluding Horatio Barnes, are beautifully drawn while his plot, although complex, is quite credible.
This is one book which can truthfully be described as gripping, containing
characters who are completely credible, faults and all. While the
maths may be beyond most of us, the plot is one which will doubtless stay
with any reader for quite some time.
STONE COLD
by David Baldacci
ISBN 9780230017795
388 pages
Macmillan
November 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 7 2007
I have to confess that the motley and ill-assorted collection of characters comprising David Baldacci's Camel Club are particular favourites of mine. The combination of brain, cowardice, bravery and brawn makes an endearing mix.
Annabelle Conroy returns in this adventure. In the previous outing, The Collectors, Annabelle had conned Jerry Bagger, the casino owner who had murdered her mother, out of forty million dollars. She has always carried a grudge against her father, Paddy, for not protecting her mother but Paddy makes an appearance in this tale and an uneasy truce is established.
Oliver Stone's alter ego, John Carr, assassin for the government elite's Triple Six outfit, is also disinterred and plays a major part in the adventure. This time, he becomes the target of another killer, Harry Finn, son of Rayfield and Lesya Solomon. Rayfield had been assassinated by John Carr, thinking he was under orders from the government. Lesya remains alive but determined to avenge the murder of her husband.
Annabelle knows she must be on her guard against Bagger but the Camel Club are still doing their best to protect her. She is not terribly interested in the forty million odd dollars out of which she conned Bagger but is reasonably convinced he will eventually catch and kill her. Bagger never lets any money out of his grasp when he is unwilling to do so
Oliver Stone is far from being a cute and cuddly character. He possesses abilities to kill that, at times, seem almost supernormal. He is motivated to assassinate by way of revenge against the people who killed his wife. His daughter is lost to him but not through death -- she has been brought up by one of his most loathed enemies.
Annabelle, for all she is a female character created by a male author, is a credible person (given her profession, she needs to be). Her ability as a con artist is admired even by her reprobate father, Paddy.
Reuben, the Vietnam Vet, complete with killing skills that could rival John Carr's own, is surprisingly vulnerable. Caleb Shaw, the rare books expert and coward extraordinaire, is very endearing in his cowardice but Milton Farb, the genius, is difficult to differentiate from his fellow Camel Club member, Caleb. Alex Ford, an honorary member of the Club and also of the Secret Service has, fortunately, been stripped of the love interest he acquired in the previous adventure and so is available as a potential interest for Annabelle.
The reader must, naturally enough, suspend a certain amount of disbelief for the story to work -- but then, given the machinations we so frequently read about in the popular press, perhaps that is not too hard. The plot is excellently constructed and not always predictable.
As previously mentioned, the Camel Club trilogy comprise my favourites
of Baldacci's work so I trust, most sincerely, that he doesn't make this
the final volume in the series.
DIVINE JUSTICE
by David Baldacci
ISBN 9780230706088
387 pages
MACMILLAN
November 3 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 13 2008
We are told that all good things must come to an end and it looks as though DIVINE JUSTICE is the finale for the Camel Club. A shame, but I suppose it is better than stretching out a series until everyone (including, probably, the author) is thoroughly sick of it.
The previous adventure of the Camel Club saw charming, inoffensive Milton Farbís demise. I suppose that would have tipped off the perceptive that the series might not continue for much longer. Given the conclusion of this episode, it is unlikely Baldacci has left any loophole through which a further adventure might see the light of day.
The book opens with the man who was once Americaís most feared assassin, John Carr, now known as Oliver Stone, diving from an unenviable height into hostile waters. Stone has, in fact, just assassinated two of Americaís most important men (baddies, of course). In the face of an interrogation by law enforcement officers, he is able to take refuge in the identity of a halfwit, an identity he has carefully set up during the preceding months.
Moving on, Stone catches a train, any train, but t happens to be one heading for New Orleans.
Joe Knox is on Oliver Stoneís trail. He is not happy about it. He would rather be at home, reading a novel and drinking Glenlivet, but Important People get themselves killed and it is Knoxís duty to go after the killer.
Stone has been unfortunate in his choice of transport. A boy, outnumbered three to on, is being beaten up on the train Stone has caught and he intervenes. Unfortunately, that draws attention to himself and he finds it preferable to get off the train, together with the lad he protected. They make their way to a mining town named Divine, whose description would not include anything like the town name.
The adventure is, as always, rather over the top, but very enjoyable nonetheless.Drugs form a central part of the puzzle so there is a nasty enough element in place, even without taking into account the various baddie law enforcement types on Stoneís tail.
The Camel Club members are as endearing as ever and it is a shame the reader doesnít see more of them. Of course, the loss of Milton Farb leaves a big gap in the membership, but Caleb, Reuben, Annabelle and Alex remain steadfastly together as they seek out their erstwhile leader Oliver.
As previously indicated, I am sorry to see the last of the Camel Club.
It was a good series but I suppose I can understand Baldacci leaving his
audience wanting more. His is a very inventive brain and I canít wait to
see what replacement he will dream up.
FIRST FAMILY
by David Baldacci
9780230736948
452 pages
MACMILLAN
June 1 2009
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 5 2009
David Baldacci never seems content with simple plots and this outing, which contains two central mysteries, is no exception to that rule.
At the beginning of the book, there is a birthday party for the pre-teen First Niece, Willa Dutton. Willaís aunt, Jane Cox, the First Lady, has arranged the party which is held at Camp David. The rejoicing is all too short-lived, however, since before the day is over, Willa has been kidnapped and her mother killed, albeit accidentally. The reader is given to understand that the man who organised the kidnapping, Sam Quarry, is not really a bad man, so it is obvious that the reason for him to organise such a terrible crime must be overpowering.
Jane Cox contacts Sean King, with whom she has had dealings before her husband became President, and arranges for him and his business partner, Michelle Maxwell, to take on the task of investigating the kidnapping and recovering Willa.
This is not the only mystery in the book, however. Michelleís mother is murdered, so of course Michelle wishes to investigate that crime.
There is an election coming up. Jane is determined that her husband, the President, be reelected. It almost seems that the election could overshadow her concern for her niece. It seems, too, that other actions of her family should be kept secret from the general public in order to preserve the status of her husband.
Willa was not the only person to be kidnapped by Quarry. A woman going by the name of Diane Wohl has also been captured. She and Willa are kept in separate cells but Willa seems remarkably bolder than Diane and far more resourceful, as well.
As is usually the case in thrillers, victims always seem to keep secrets from investigators, and this mystery is no exception.
I felt that the characterisation in this piece is a little patchy. Yes, Quarryís motivations ring true and Willa is a determined and admirable child, but the true baddies are more caricatures than characters. Maxwell and King are believable but the peripheral characters are less so.
While I was very caught up with the action as I wass reading the book,
when I took a break and thought back over the narrative, I decided there
were a few too many inconsistencies. Nonetheless, while I was reading,
I admired the ìunputtdownableî factor in Baldacciís prose which never
seems to lose its grip.
SLEEP BEFORE EVENING
by Magdalena Ball
ISBN 9781904492962
296 pages
BeWrite Books
July 24 2007
UK£8.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 21 2008
SLEEP BEFORE EVENING is described, by the author, as a ìbildungsromanî. My Oxford English dictionary defines that as a novel dealing with someone's early life and development while my Oxford Düden claims it is a novel of character development. Be either as it may, the book deals with the decrepitation of the character of Marianne Cotton subsequent to the death of her beloved grandfather, Eric Cotton.
Marianne's grandmother has died recently, leaving Eric alone but then Eric's dies suddenly. He and Marianne play chess every Friday but a stroke curtails the game and Eric is taken to hospital in an ambulance. Marianne's mother Lily and her stepfather Russell are given the option of prolonging Eric's life, in a vegetative state, or switching off the life support. They decide, without consulting Marianne, on the latter course - a cause for much resentment and confusion on Marianne's part as she is convinced her grandfather's life could have been saved.
Lily is a self-absorbed artist: gifted but with a talent that, while it appeals to the critics, does not seem to have much commercial potential. The women are fortunate -- up until that time-in that they can rely on Russell to earn their keep. Russell, however, is a womaniser and one fight too many sees him desert the Cottons. This double bereavement is particularly traumatising for Marianne who had never known her real father and has always regarded Russell as her father.
Lily seems to rely a lot on Astrology so certainly Marianne does not have much of a steadying influence at home.
Perhaps to compensate, Marianne has lots of conversations with her dead grandfather. These go nowhere to make up for his absence.
Academically as well as musically gifted, previously a model student, Marianne begins cutting class. During one of her illicit excursions, she encounters a busker in Washington Square Park. Miles works with a musical group and hopes they will be able to form a successful band one day.
Her encounter with Miles gives solid impetus to Marianne's downward spiral. He uses drugs, to which he introduces Marianne and gradually she become more and more needful of the high and warmth she can obtain from them. She becomes completely alienated from her old life and doesn't even bother attending school any more.
The narrative gives form to every conscientious parent's nebulous fears for his or her child. One wonders how the author performed such meticulous research on drug addicts as to be able to produce such horrifying scenarios as she depicts in the book.
The author is obviously well read, given the amount of poetry which she has Marianne quoting in every situation into which she falls. Inevitably, this annoys Miles and his friends but Marianne is oblivious of this as she continues to seek some anchor in her new, unstable life.
The characterisation is well done. Marianne is entirely credible, as are Lily and, unfortunately, Miles. Eric is, perhaps, a trifle too good to be true but he is seen, for the most part, through the eyes of his adoring granddaughter so that some idealisation is forgivable.
Some of the author's uses of words are not quite what I'd consider completely accurate, for example on p. 89 where she has Miles blowing ìalternatively into the harmonicasî. I couldn't help wondering if it was simply an idiosyncrasy of the author or a slip of the keyboard as I did pick up on several such oddities throughout the text. Of course, it could also be the changing of the English language, or else a difference between American and Australian usage.
The novel is, on the whole, a very impressive debut. While it may not
be precisely enjoyable it certainly demonstrates a remarkable understanding
of the depths to which traumatic events can plunge a young and impressionable
teenager.
THE CALLER
by Alex Barclay
ISBN 9780007195350
336 pages
HarperCollins
April 1 2007
$19.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 14 2007
The prologue introduces the reader to the murderer. The killer is in his basement -- which apparently serves as his bedroom and workroom. He plays with a model of human teeth which the reader is led to believe is of the mouth of one of the victims.
Detective Joe Lucchesi is visiting the dentist. He is in pain but the mental pain is greater than the physical: he has just taken a call from Duke Rawlins the man who, when Joe and his family were in Ireland, had been responsible for the death of the girlfriend of Joe's son Shaun. Now Duke is threatening to kill Anna, Joe's wife.
The tragedy in Ireland took its toll of Joe's family. Shaun, mourning his loss, is having difficulty relating to his peers at school while Anna is withdrawn, working from home and unable to cope when she tries to go outside.
There is a serial killer plying his trade in New York. At least two victims have let a killer into their homes and had their trust repaid by having their faces beaten to a pulp during their murder. Both victims had made a telephone call not long prior to their death. Joe learns that a third victim is apparently the prey of the serial killer.
The cops receive mysterious letters which could have been written by someone with an inside knowledge of the violent deaths so Joe and his partner Danny track down the writer.
The mystery of the murders seems almost at times to be secondary to the problems suffered by Joe Lucchesi. Given all the worries about his wife and his son, not to mention the pain he is suffering, it is a wonder he manages to concentrate long enough to try to track down the killer.
The path leading to the killer is rather a convoluted one. Joe and Danny must both deal with domestic problems at the same time as solving the mystery of the horrible murders.
The characterisation in this work is well done. The atmosphere evoked is suitably grisly and the worries of both detectives made convincingly real. The motivation driving the killer is perhaps not quite as believable.
To my mind, since so much of the present story is rooted in the previous
adventure, not enough space is given to a reprise of that adventure. Perhaps
the author could, in future narratives, devote a little more time to establishing
the past. Regardless, she displays a great deal of promise and it is very
likely that future books will be even more polished. Ms. Barclay has certainly
left plenty of scope for future tales, given the number of plot hooks left
in place.
THE VIRGIN
by Erik Barmack
ISBN 1863255788
244 pages
Bantam
February 1 2005
$22.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 25 2005
Have you, Dear Reader, been tempted by some of the soi-disant 'reality TV' shows which have proliferated on the small screen in recent times? Have you switched channels just to see what they are like, disdainfully curled your lip, flared and raised a supercilious nostril and hurriedly turned back to an equally manipulated 'current affairs' program? Or have you sunk back in your chair, remote in hand (just in case) and attempted to suspend disbelief for long enough to become enmeshed in the savage attempts to remove contestants from some unlikely scenario? Whatever, Erik Barmack may have beaten you to it.
The narrative is detailed in several methods. Joseph Erin Braun, Jewish boy who never had a bar mitzvah (now that is a thread that might have been followed but wasn't) has been unemployed for eleven months. The story is told mainly in the first person from his point of view. Then there is the series of e-mails told between the titular Virgin and her best friend Mitch. If that were not enough, there's a viewer's eye perspective of the program, told as a commentary by a female aficionado of the program.
Joseph, a finalist in the series, with the aid of his friend Allison has created a character, Jeb Brown, whom the duo feel could well capture the heart and hymen of Madison, the Virgin. Madison is, with the unstated aid of the producers of the show, offering up her virginity as a prize (have any of the less fictional reality shows actually sunk to that depth of tackiness?) to the fortunate one of twenty contestants on the show. At the end of every installment, the happy few are awarded a tulip while the unsuccessful are banished to 'Purgatory', where they must remain, in order to preserve the secrets of the ongoing action. As said action progresses, the enigma of the actual personality of the personalities is solved and almost all is laid bare. Madison even has to meet the families (or are they?) of the contestants before the final deflowering occurs - and just how has a woman in her twenties retained her hymen for such a long time?
From the egregious Dodge, the presenter, through all the mediocre aspirants for the hand (or other parts) of the Virgin as well as the manipulative Andrea who choreographs the show up until the last surprise twist, readers will find aspects of the novel that resonate with what is available in their own living rooms. Barmack has interviewed many people on both sides of the game in order to produce this cruelly funny account of the horrors now besieging the public if they are sufficiently unwise to become enmeshed in the alternative fictitious and factitious lives of the offerings presented to them.
This is a debut novel but Barmack has previously created short stories
as well as articles. It will be interesting to see if his next offering
can reach the high standard of his virginal attempt at longer fiction.
BAGGAGE
by Emily Barr
ISBN 0-7472-7061-9
$29.95
346 pages
April 11 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
Former journalist, now full-time writer, Emily Barr had, until now, only one novel, Backpack to her credit. She had given up her job as a journalist in order to travel around the world for a year, filing stories at regular intervals about her journey. Along the way she met her future husband and when they returned, jobless, to the U.K., Barr was able to turn her hand to a novel that used the places the author had travelled as its location.
Baggage is told in the first person present from two points of view: Lina Pritchett, whom the reader later discovers to be runaway English girl Daisy Fraser, and a truly revolting journalist, Lawrence Golchin. There are quite a few books currently around written in the first person present and usually I find the technique most annoying; not this time, however. It works admirably.
Lina, as Daisy, had been attending ballet school for years and had become something of a rebel. She and her then best friend Leila had run with a wild crowd which regularly indulged in drug parties. One fateful night it had been Daisy's turn to get the drugs, which she had done, and they were shared around. One batch was poisonous and all the friends but Daisy and Leila died. Since Daisy had procured the drugs, she was held responsible and would have to stand trial. Determined to begin a new life, Daisy faked her suicide then travelled to India where she said she adopted a young Caucasian baby, Red. She eventually travelled to Australia where she met and married Tony Pritchett and went to live in Craggy Rock, an opal mining town near Coober Pedy in the north of South Australia. The action of the book begins when Lina, now a schoolteacher in Craggy Rock, discovers she is pregnant.
Daisy's former best friend Sophie, from when they were both prepubescent, is backpacking around Australia, and comes to Craggy Rock. She encounters and recognises Lina, who denies her identity. Sophie returns to England and confides in her boyfriend Lawrence. Lawrence swears not to write a story on Daisy and takes Sophie back to Australia to search for her one-time friend, but he has every intention of breaking the story, and does so, to disastrous effect on the Pritchett family as well as on his own relationship with Sophie.
I enjoyed Barr's description of the fictional Craggy Rock, capturing, as it did, the authentic atmosphere of a town like Coober Pedy (although there was not much reference to opal). Her characterisations were excellent, most convincing, with never any jarring note in her portrayal of Australians. I would think Barr had harboured some not-so-secret animosity toward some of her former journalistic colleagues, however, from the descriptions and characterisations of the press corps that harassed the reincarnated Daisy. While the book could only loosely be described as belonging to the mystery fiction genre, the plot was well contrived although somewhat predictable and the action fair galloped along. The writing itself was excellent although the ending was rather weak unless Barr intends hanging a sequel on the numerous available hooks. There was plenty of humour in a tale well told.
Leaving Bondi
by Robert G. Barrett
Harper Collins
ISBN 0-7322-6871-0
$24.95
October 2000
reviewed by Denise Wels
Let me say at the outset that Leaving Bondi is not a book for the squeamish. Let me add that I am a notorious squeam.
Robert G. Barrett is, according to the biographical notes, a former script writer, columnist, author of feature articles and now novelist. His original trade, prior to an accident that robbed the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney of one of its resources, was that of butchery, which could account for the ease with which he produces words strung together to produce large amounts of gore and other offputting bodily substances. He did time as an actor in movies, which, of course, would have given him some background material for this novel; he also worked as a DJ and a barman... all valuable reservoirs of reference material on which he could draw for the adventures of his (very) ocker anti-hero, Les Norton.
Like his protagonist, the prose of the narrative is determinedly ocker, so much so that this fair dinkum Aussie had some difficulty in translation: but then, I am only a poor weak sheila. Non-Aussie readers might find themselves a trifle bushed by some sentences, or even paragraphs, but on the whole, the text is self explanatory.
Les Norton, large, sometime Queenslander, now living in Bondi but working at the Cross, invests $50,000 in a movie entitled Leaving Bondi. The plot is somewhat convoluted and improbable (who, after all, would want to leave Bondi?) but Norton wanted to impress his drinking mates, so he anted up the cash. It was not as though he had anything to lose: the means through which he had come by the money were somewhat shonky.
Barrett's book could well serve as a street map. He goes into great detail about just how Norton makes his way through Bondi (and later through other places) in order to get to Bondi Public School where the movie is being put together. There Les and his cobber Eddie observe the chef responsible for the catering for the film, Albert Knox, put something disgusting in the food. Norton and Eddie decide to get revenge on the chef by manufacturing a cracker cake comprising even more disgusting ingredients than those employed by the chef. The cake is rigged so that when the chef opens the box, the bomb cake will go off, showering him with the loathsome contents. At least, that is the plan. As it happens, someone else with a grudge against Knox manufactures a real bomb that goes off almost simultaneously with the prank explosion, killing Albert Knox.
Les has been captured on the security cameras with the suspect box and is also identified by people working on the set. He is picked up for questioning by the police and decides he must solve the mystery in order to exonerate his large and not very law abiding self.
Norton's search leads him to Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains, where he seduces a would-be poetess who thinks he is a publisher about to buy her book of pretentious and unintelligible verse, while he waits to break into the house formerly belonging to Knox.
Les is a violent person, frequently outside the law in the exercise of his nature. He displays this violence before discovering a vital photograph in the Medlow Bath house. This clue leads him to Sunny South Australia, and the breaking of his bail conditions.
Perhaps it was Barrett's apostrophising Adelaide as a creepy city that put me offside with his book: more likely it was the violence and grue pervading it, as well as his misogyny. (Mind you, he was kind enough to solve our notorious Family murders.) There was a great deal of humour in the narrative, which I really appreciated.... at first. The antics of the Avis Navigator really turned me on. I just wish Barrett had reined in the yukkier characteristics of Norton. I doubt they would appeal to a female audience, but then, this is obviously a man's book for male chauvinists. (The blurb accompanying the book makes it clear Barrett is very anti-political correctness: but so am I).
In summary, if you are an action male with a strong stomach and few sensibilities as well as an aficionado of graphic sex as opposed to romantic love, this tale is probably for you.
THE LACE READER
by Brunonia Barry
ISBN 9780007287093
384 pages
WILLIAM MORROW
September 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 18 2008
Sophya Whitney, or Towner, as she prefers to be known, warns that the reader must never believe her, as she lies all the time. Unfortunately, having no other reference point, the reader must, perforce, believe some of what Towner relates.
Towner explains how her family has managed to profit by their quirks, turning them into industries in their own right. May, Townerís mother, for example, has resurrected the lace making industry. May is an agoraphobe, but has, nevertheless, gained widespread fame because of her lace and also because of the refuge she has set up for abused women. Not only that, Towner explains that when May was delivered of twins, she kept Towner and gave away Townerís twin, Lyndley, to her barren sister Emma.
When her great aunt Eva dies, Towner must return to Salem, whence she had fled some time previously. She had stuffed the lacemakerís pillow, which Eva had sent her, into a plain pillowslip, lest she inadvertently look at the lace and read her fortune, for the women of Townerís family have the ability to read the future in lace.
Lyndley, meanwhile, has drowned, a central point of the tale and one which affects Towner greatly. When Towner returns to Salem, after Evaís death, it is to a place resonating with the history of both twins, with many sad overtones of the joint history.
A cult dubbed the Calvinists, because of the name of their leader, a relative of Townerís, has formed and thrives in Salem. It is an ominous body preaching fire and brimstone, despite the leaderís obvious lack of sexual morals and self control.
There are spooky overtones to this story. There are also psychological truths which must be confronted by both the reader and Towner. I donít know about other readers, but to me the resolution of the tale was a surprise-- well, perhaps not completely a surprise, but surprising in bits.
The characters of Towner and Calvin as well (thankfully) as Rafferty, a relative newcomer to Salem and a law enforcement officer, are carefully constructed. Eva herself, although referred to only in flashback, is the pivotal person of the work and, for me at least, the most impressive.
The book is a mystery thriller with supernatural attributes which are
not overdone. I found it enthralling and was very pleased to hear it is
the first in a trilogy. No doubt I shanít be the only reader anxious to
see the remaining books.
MURPHY'S LAW
by Colin Bateman
ISBN 0755312435
345 pages
Headline
January 2003
$18.95
reviewed by Denise Wels
August 2003
Former journalist Colin Bateman has proved to be a prolific writer. He was born and lives in Northern Ireland and formerly wrote a column for the Co, Down Spectator. Incredible though it may seem he can probably claim the crown for being the only journalist ever to be sued by the Boys' Brigade - and that for an innocent, joking remark he made to introduce a travel piece in his column. His bibliography includes Best In The Business, Wild About Harry, Mohammed Maguire, Shooting Sean ,Turbulent Priests , Maid of the Mist, Empire State, Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men, Cycle of Violence, Divorcing Jack (in reverse order of writing.) Divorcing Jack won the Betty Trask award. He has also won the Northern Ireland Press Award and a Journalist's Fellowship to Oxford University. Add to this the fact that he has written successful screenplays for his own books and you will begin to comprehend the talent of the man. Amazingly, for years he was convinced he would never be able to write a novel so confined himself to short stories. Besides his writing, he also managed punk bands and his interest in music is reflected in his prose.
I was unable to determine if Murphy's Law, the book, was written before the TV series of the same name. Bateman has been quoted as saying that he feels he was able to put a good deal more of Murphy's background into the book than he was able to do with the TV series. In the TV series, Murphy bears a different given name - Tommy - while he answers to Martin in the book. Another difference I couldn't understand is that in the book, the undercover cop has lost a son while the television version sees him bereaved of a daughter.
The tale is set in London. Murphy has come to live here in an attempt to escape his past. It was his work in Ireland that saw the death of his son. Sadly reflecting the lot of so many couples who have had a child die, Murphy and his wife have divorced. Murphy is unable to accept that he is permanently parted from Lianne and causes her severe embarrassment because of his turning up at unexpected times at her house - usually drunk.
The narrative begins with Murphy being summoned to New Scotland Yard. While he wants to go back to his work as an undercover police officer he does not wish to cooperate with the psychiatrist who is attempting - clumsily - to rehabilitate him. He shows her that he has more idea of her difficulties than she has of his. He is reinstated.
Martin is set to try to trap a dodgy funeral director - well, plastic coffins are hardly best recommended business practice - and his undertaking accomplices who use the funeral home as cover for their more nefarious activities - carrying out diamond heists then using the proceeds to purchase heroin. Hatcher has contrived a plan whereby he convinces heads of security for diamond companies that he has kidnapped their loved ones and is about to kill them unless the protectors rob their own firms of the diamonds. It proves a very successful scam indeed.
Murphy manages to have himself hired in one of the nightclubs owned by entrepreneurial Hatcher - Murphy is a talented singer/composer - and from there worms himself into the dark side of the gang despite managing to alienate all the members other than the boss. He is amazed to run into his former best friend, now a priest, who has also migrated to London. Their friendship plays a pivotal part in the action.
Bateman has created some nasty villains. Black humour abounds in a plot about funeral directors that fair begs for comic asides. Hatcher is totally immoral and sadistic finding entertainment in the troubles of others whilst displaying the most amazing filial affection for his own deplorable parent who is on the verge of death.
The narrative is in the present tense, fast and grisly, albeit able to
generate laughs from the reader. Bateman's series about journalist
Dan Starkey has proven popular and it is highly likely that a series of
which Murphy's Law is the first book will prove equally popular.
It is incredible that someone writing such black prose should have signed
up to write children's books, but Bateman has done just this. Still the
topic is violence - teenage gangs. One supposes that the title of the first
of these -Reservoir Pups - might just give a hint as to the
nature of the content.
THE CLEANER
by Brett Battles
ISBN 9781848090064
353 pages
Preface
December 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 23 2007
Debutant Brett Battles seems poised to clean up with his high tech blood and plots espionage yarn. Here he introduces super cleaner John Quinn, the man that goes into crime scenes messes caused by spies from his employers, to keep uncomfortable solutions from legal authorities not in the know.
The reader understands (if he hasn't already read the publicity hoo ha) in Chapter One that Jonathan Quinn is mixed up in something suss. When he gets off the plane in Denver, instead of getting outside as quickly as possible, catching a cab and going to the most comfortable possible place where he can relax, Quinn sits on the wrong side of the barriers and finishes the book he was reading on the plane. Eventually, he rings his boss, Peter, to get instructions on how to find the car which he will use. That car contains two men and an envelope in which are Quinn's orders -- but he mustn't open it until the two men leave his presence. All very cagey stuff.
Quinn must investigate a fire to see if it is arson -- a fire in which the body of a man known as Taggert iss killed. He contacts the police chief, only to discover he is not the sole investigator pursuing enquiries.
At the site of the fire, Quinn encounters his apprentice, Nate. That over enthusiastic young man has, as he subsequently does too frequently throughout the tale, disobeyed his orders by being there. Quinn is not pleased.
The narrative scoots around the globe. Quinn and Nate go to Vietnam, where they are joined by beautiful Oriental woman Orlando but also spend a large chunk of time in Germany. It's very pleasant to walk (or run) through the streets of a reunited Berlin even though the author doesn't spend much time describing the surroundings.
I have my usual quibbles with the wounds inflicted upon the heroes. It never fails to inspire me with tremendous awe that they can receive an injury that would lay me up in hospital for months, yet sprint away with barely a limp.
The characterisation is interesting. Certainly, Nate is Quinn's apprentice but I can't help but wonder how much patience a real person amidst the adventures visited upon the Office men, would display. Nate's puppy-like eagerness and enthusiasm, not to mention his downright disobedience, would try the most stoical master. At times, however, Nate does display a competence that verges on excellence.
As to the narrative itself, I can see why such a tidying up of threads would be necessary but couldn't help wondering at it.
If there is a sequel, I do so hope Nate will have matured somewhat.
UNDERTOW
by Sydney Bauer
425 pages
ISBN 9781405037112
MACMILLAN
September 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 30 2006
UNDERTOW is the debut novel of, we are told, a Sydney based TV executive and journalist. Those who wish to know more about her will no doubt be frustrated in that it is impossible, on the Net, to discover more than that she is working on a second novel, GOSPEL. Anyone reading this review will not be surprised to learn that I, for one, will be looking forward to the publication of GOSPEL with a great deal of pleasurable anticipation.
The prologue depicts a scene between lawyer David Cavanaugh and Judge Isaac Stein, wherein the latter warns the former that the father of a dead girl is very powerful so David would do well to be wary.
Three days preceding the warning, Christina Haynes surprises her best friend, Teesha Martin (and Teesha's mother Rayna) by arriving rather late for Teesha's birthday celebration. Rayna is uneasy in that the boat she has hired for the occasion has an outboard, which the girls will launch, that can officially only accommodate three. Christina had previously been unable to accept the invitation because she had been instructed to accompany her mother on a shopping expedition to buy a dress to wear to a dinner celebrating her father's fifty years in politics. She has, however, defied her parents and happily embarks on the boating expedition.
When the girls are safely out of sight of Rayna Martin, one of their number produces a bottle of Moët, which the quartet sets about demolishing. Not long thereafter, their outboard capsizes, one of the girls appears to be in trouble and Christina swims back to Rayna to ask her help in rescuing them. Rayna wants to haul Christina on board but the girl declines, saying Rayna should first rescue the others as she, Christina, is a strong swimmer and the others are in more immediate danger.
Rayna successfully rescues the three girls but when they arrive back to where Christina was, they are horrified to find she has drowned and all efforts to revive her are fruitless: Christina is dead.
In an horrific series of events, Rayna, a black woman, is committed for trial on a charge of Murder Two. The reason given for the serious charge is that Rayna rescued the three black girls in preference to the white in an attempt to avenge blacks on whites, thereby perpetrating a hate crime. David Cavanaugh and an associate of lawyer Rayna, Sara Davis, are engaged in the defence in opposition to District Attorney Loretta Scaturro together with her rather nasty ADA, Roger Katz.
Ambitious Katz is very anxious to cooperate with Senator Rudolph Haynes, the powerful father of the dead girl, seeing his future inextricably linked with his ability to win the case against Martin.
This is an excellently written courtroom drama on a par with anything written by more seasoned authors. Bauer has ably demonstrated an ability to create believable characters and hazardous calamities to bedevil the goodies.
Perhaps it is because of my own lack of familiarity with American society that I experienced some shakiness in my suspension of disbelief with regard the possible motive for the central crime. Is racial prejudice so blatant in the US that a hate crime based on discrimination could be considered credible? Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I read the unfolding narrative with increasing absorption.
The author's acknowledgments bear testimony to the amount of research that went into the book. The entirety is so polished (barring the occasional technical error) that one could assume far more seasoned writers would be glad to have it in their list of works.
Since the author did such a tremendous job of a tale set in Boston,
would it be too much to hope that one day she might set a future narrative
in Australia?
GOSPEL
by Sydney Bauer
ISBN 9781405038027
487 pages
MACMILLAN
July 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 14 2007
One of the perks of being a book reviewer is that frequently one gets to discover the work of new authors before much of the reading public. Of course, that could include some turkeys but best not to explore that aspect. One very good but obviously underrated (her work hasn't been snapped up by Amazon) author is Sydney Bauer. Her debut novel, UNDERTOW, made quite an impression on me and I was eager to read her second work, GOSPEL, when it arrived on my desk. Bauer's protagonist, lawyer David Cavanaugh, as well as another character from the previous work, love interest Sara Davis, makes a welcome reappearance in this tale of high intrigue.
The prologue deals with a meeting of the Gospel Four, Matthew, Mark, Luke and their mysterious leader John. Luke is obviously dissenting from the majority and is, unlike the majority trio, named. The culmination of the meeting is with Luke succumbing and assenting to the murder of a very powerful man.
US Vice-President, Tom Bradshaw, is hosting a campaign dinner at a Boston hotel -- or rather, he is meant to do so. Unfortunately, something happens to the VP which prevents the dinner and soon afterward, the death of Tom Bradshaw is announced to a stunned nation, an apparent suicide.
Professor Stuart Montgomery is not only physician to Tom Bradshaw but also is the scoundrel who stole David's wife Karin from the marital home more than a decade previously. David despises and hates the man and is dumbfounded when Karin approaches him to defend her husband, newly accused of the assassination.
The ensuing tale is one comprising dangers, dastardly plots, drug addiction, drug peddling, detection and sublime misdirection. There is a satisfying number of twists and turns guaranteed to keep readers hooked as well as the protagonist guessing. There is a hint of the ongoing rivalry between FBI and CIA as well as tribute paid to the DEA.
The characterisation of the main characters (and some of the minor ones) is very well done. The reader can agonise with David as he fights his hatred of the man who fascinated Karin. Sara Davis is also beautifully drawn as she battles with ambivalent emotions -- with dislike predominating -- towards David's former wife.
I do have a single criticism. I know fiction is always about suspending
disbelief but one can only tighten the suspension to a certain degree.
This tale came just a bit too close to exceeding Hooke's law for me. Regardless,
I thoroughly enjoyed the work. Mind, I have to confess I did manage to
spot the ultimate baddie, but not too far from the conclusion.
ALIBI
by Sydney Bauer
ISBN 9781405038485
504 pages
MACMILLAN
April 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 24 2008
Sydney Bauerís first two books, UNDERTOW and GOSPEL were very, very good and I was prepared to encounter the same standard in ALIBI. Perhaps I am too demanding, but I felt that Bauerís third outing was not quite on the same level as her previous works. One annoying thing, which I can really only categorise as belonging to the class of ìnit pickingî is what I feel is the gratuitous use of quotation marks. For example, does one really need to qualify ìdo goodî in such a manner? And that is just one of many instances, a usage which a quick skim of Bauerís previous books did not disclose. A new editor, or subeditor , perhaps?
The body of Jessica Nagoshi, daughter of exceptionally successful businessman John Nagoshi and sister of potentially as successful a businessman, Peter Nagoshi, is discovered in the greenhouse of the Nagoshi Boston home. Her body is arranged in such a manner as to suggest the murderer is familiar with certain aspects of Japanese lore.
Unknown to their contemporaries, Jessica is the lover of fellow law student, James Matheson. It doesnít take much digging for the police to decide that James is the logical suspect, so he is arrested. Naturally enough, David Cavanaugh and his girlfriend Sara Davis line up on his defence team.
Jessica and James are students at the prestigious Deane law school. This is an institute of learning confined to the best and brightest of the children of the most affluent people so it is almost a given that David and Sara encounter some extremely obnoxious and egotistical, not to mention snobbish, people around.
Suspects are not in short supply. ADA, the abominable Roger Katz, is quite certain that Matheson did the foul deed, and even if he didnít, Katz will make him the scapegoat. After all, Matheson is the client of his deadly enemy, Cavanaugh.
Sydney Bauerís novels always follow a circuitous path, with quite a few of the twists and turns being shocking to the reader. ALIBI does not prove the exception to this rule. Mind, the author plays fair with the reader, scattering clues-- albeit a minimum of them--to the identity of the murderer. I am not absolutely certain that all of the zigzagging was completely necessary, however, but the nett effect is a rollicking good tale.
As always, the back story provides a picture of the developing relationship between David and Sara so it will be interesting to see how the future pans out for them. It might prove necessary for the author to introduce more characters to provide a future love interest.
Interesting though the setting of Boston is to readers, as I have remarked
in previous reviews, I do wish the author might consider setting one of
her future books in Australia.
MOVE TO STRIKE
by Sydney Bauer
ISBN 9781405039079
477 pages
MACMILLAN
March 1 2009
$25.00
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 26 2009
I make no bones about declaring that Sydney Bauer is one of my favourite Australian writers. She has a distinct flair for plotting, a convincing series hero as well as realistic people in addition to the protagonist and a good command of the English language. This outing serves only to reinforce my positive impression of her.
Lawyer David Cavanaugh and his friend, Lieutenant Joe Mannix, are at a ball when David encounters Stephanie Tyler, a friend with whom he attended college. He is horrified at the change he sees in her. She had been a vibrant, lively person but is now a pale shadow of the woman he used to know. She is married to a famous television personality, a psychologist fixer upper of peopleís relationships, the much loved Doctor Jeff Logan.
The next Joe sees of Stephanie is at her house, when he learns he must investigate her murder. All the evidence points to her thirteen year-old (or is he fourteen years old?) son JT as the killer but the noble Doctor Jeff, in an apparent attempt to exonerate his son, claims he was the killer, that his son is innocent. Needless to say, Loganís confession is not believed and JT is imprisoned.
David is, first of all, hired to defend Logan but, after the case against the psychologist falls apart, becomes the defence counsel for JT and, later, his sister , sixteen year-old Chelsea. Initially, Logan depicts himself and his children as sufferers of abuse administered by a scheming, manipulative mother, but it doesnít take long for it to become apparent that the scheming manipulator is, in fact, Logan himself. As the man is adored by millions, it seems impossible that David and his colleagues could get JT and Chelsea found innocent of the charges.
David has children on his mind from every direction, for not only is he to defend children, his girlfriend, Sara, is pregnant with his child.
For one who has not officially studied law, Sydney Bauer always does wonderful research to present seemingly faultless legal cases in her books. Her characterisation is impeccable and the dilemma presented to Loganís son and daughter is well done. They have a secret which they must not disclose yet how can they protect themselves from the machinations of the evil, gun obsessed man who sired them?
As always, the author presents people to her readers, people about whose fate the reader cares. She is not above twisting her story in ways the reader will find it difficult to anticipate.
Cavanaugh, of course, always bears in mind possible reflections of childish behaviour in the person who is about to be born to him and Sara.
This is another opus from an Australian author who is well worth reading.
Death of a Dentist
Warner Books
copyright 1997
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist
St Martin's Paperback
copyright 1997
both by M.C. Beaton
Perhaps I should have waited until he had finished the polishing. Still, no one has ever accused me of having overmuch tact... or common sense, for that matter. I should have guessed, when I saw the muscles in his hand stand out as I made my first statement, but no...'I've just finished reading a book called Death of a Dentist' quoth I brightly. His face darkened markedly as his grip on the stainless steel probe became noticeably tighter. I was then treated to a short lecture on how there is too much written and broadcast about violence in our society. Nothing deterred, I went on (somewhat maliciously I must admit) 'The murderer drilled holes in all of the dentist's teeth.' It does not pay to try to be funny at one's dentist's expense. 'Ow! That hurt!'. 'That's because as you get old the gums shrink and the roots become exposed. That's what happened then.' Touché.
M.C. Beaton is one of the pseudonyms of Marion Chesney who also writes under the names of Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Charlotte Ward and Helen Crampton. Where do these ultra-prolific authors find first, their inspiration and second, their time to write? Not to mention their noms-de-plume. Her mystery writing pseudonym is Beaton and under the other noms-de-plume she writes historical romances. The only bio I have been able to discover says that she was born in Scotland and lives with her husband in the Cotswolds: not very informative.
Enthused by what she has written as Beaton I did once order two of her romances. One arrived, and I found it insipid ... but then, I am not a romance aficionado ...and the other never arrived. I am, however, an ardent fan of Hamish Macbeth.
If one is a TV watcher and has seen the televised Hamish, as played by Robert Carlyle, and his Lochdubh, it is necessary to forget about him when reading the novelised exploits. There is very little similarity between the two characters. I like them both, although my preference is for the Hamish of the books. (Any reader who wishes to gauge Beaton's feelings on the topic of what TV makers do to the work of novelists should read her Death of a Scriptwriter.)
I can never understand why TV producers have to change characters as radically as they do from those appearing in books. Even Hamish's dog, Towser (the late lamented) is, in the TV series, known as Jock. Why? Just to make him sound more Scottish? None of the other characters in television's Lochdubh share names, or personalities, with those peopling Beaton's books.
Indolent, unambitious Hamish is smitten with a toothache and has to seek out the dentist Frederick Gilchrist who practises in the neighbouring small town of Braikie. To Hamish's dismay, he discovers the dentist is unable to help since he no longer has sufficient life to be of much use to anyone, to the delight of many people.
Macbeth is always excluded from the official investigations conducted by his superiors at Strathbane because he turned down promotion. He does have a perfect record at solving mysteries, and invariably has to practise subterfuge in order to uncover murderers since he has no authorised access to official records. In earlier books he is able to further his investigations by talking things over with his sometime girl-friend, later fiancee and now former fiancee, Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. In Death of a Dentist Priscilla's place is taken by her computer hacking southern friend Sarah.
Parallel to the murder investigation is Hamish's attempt to discover who robbed a local pub of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, in cash. This was to be the prize at a Bingo night and mysteriously disappeared from the hotel safe (unsafe?) ... which had a wooden back.
There is the usual assortment of odd characters in this book as many people seem to be anxious to end Hamish's life. I think Ms. Chesney must have been watching television's Hamish since in this novel, unlike most of the previous, Hamish manages to bed a beautiful girl.
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist shares a place in the humorous mystery genre with Hamish Macbeth.
Agatha's character is totally different from Hamish's. She is abrasive where he is charming. She blunders, he is frequently sly in his investigations.
Agatha Raisin is a middle aged woman who sold her public relations firm in the first novel of the Agatha Raisin series. She moved to the Cotswolds to live and fell in love and decided to marry her neighbour, James Lacey. In the novel before Terrible Tourist, Agatha and James are about to marry when, horror of horrors, Agatha's husband Jimmy Raisin (whom Agatha had thought was dead) turns up. And is murdered. Agatha and James solve the mystery but when Agatha is hospitalised, James callously departs for Cyprus where they were to have spent their honeymoon.
Agatha, who has been shown in the previous books of the series, to be very determined, goes after him. She admits she is obsessed with him and does attempt, semi-successfully, to end the obsession. During her search she encounters two parties of Brits each comprising a couple and an elderly friend, one party being upper class and the other determinedly working class. After Agatha finds James, to Agatha's disgust they find themselves at dinner in the company of the two parties who have mysteriously come together despite an apparently mutual dislike.
Rose, the coarse, sexy but seemingly highly educated, woman of the working class group is murdered, stabbed while dancing.
James seems to Agatha to be overly interested in Olivia, the woman of the upper class party. In an attempt at payback, Agatha makes a date with a Jewish businessman ... only to find out that the widower was not currently so when his extremely youthful wife appears. Subsequent to that, Agatha sleeps with Sir Charles Fraith, a character from an earlier novel..
Charles is rather malicious, and attempts successfully cause the estrangement of James and Agatha.
Instead of having James as a companion in detection, Agatha must make do with Charles. Of course, she succeeds and as usual has her own life threatened before unmasking the killer .... surprisingly (to her) receiving no thanks from the police.
Beaton has two
more Hamish and Agatha books coming out in hardcover. I have no idea of
the status of her romance writing. I do take issue with her work, though.
She employs rather a sneaky technique, I feel, by making her books very
short (Terrible Tourist is less than 200 pages). Beaton also leaves
more loose ends than I think are necessary for being a hook for the next
book of the series. I don't know if I am being unkind by whispering the
word 'pot-boiler' behind the author's back. I am possibly overly censorious
in feeling a little more effort could have been employed in writing this
episode of Agatha Raisin. Despite these criticisms, I do intend buying
the next in the series... but not until it comes out in paperback.
BENEATH THE DARK ICE
by Greig Beck
ISBN 9781405039123
298 pages
May 1 2009
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 20 2009
Greig Beck is a new Australian writer with a predilection for adventure. One of the least hospitable and arguably the least explored places on the planet, Antarctica, is the locus for his first novel.
The prologue narrates a theory of what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke Island in 1587 together with an explanation for the mysterious word Croatoan, that was carved on a tree there. At least one girl, together with her baby, was amongst the doomed settlers.
Chapter One tells us of the crash of an aeroplane in modern Antarctica. The vibrations, then the aromas from the crash stir into life a monster that lives deep beneath the ice.
The reader is introduced to Aimee and Tom, scientists who are interested in the possibility that petroleum may have been revealed in Antarctica as a result of the plane crash.
Alex Hunter, meanwhile, is on the Australian East Coast (I wonder why the author is coy about Hunterís actual location. Surely he doesnít think all his readers must be geographically challenged). During a clandestine operation in Chechnya, he was shot and, although the bullet didnít kill him, he was left with powers well above the normal human range. When a search and rescue team goes missing in Antarctica, Hunterís commanding officer decides the pseudo superman should be in charge of a team sent to rescue the rescuers.
No doubt the monster who obviously polished off the first search and rescue team sees Hunterís follow up squad as dessert. Certainly it seems to relish the flavour as it gradually catches up with the crew.
There is more to the enchanted world beneath the ice than creatures more properly belonging to a nightmare. The men and women exploring the nether regions come across evidence of an ancient civilisation, together with easily translated glyphs (no Rosetta stone available, either) telling the story of the brothers who explored the subterranean world in ancient times.
Despite the fact that the cold war (an apt description for any war like actions occurring there) is over, there is a Russian party, chock full of evil intent, sharing the shivers in the region.
The tale is told with a blithe disregard for the lives of the dramatis personae. The emphasis of the story is definitely on action rather than characterisation and it is told with great enthusiasm, although the monsters are, perhaps, a bit derivative. Still, I suppose Terra provides only a limited template from which monsters may be derived.
It is always good to read Australian authors so this reviewer wishes
this new author well but hopes that in future he might devote a bit more
time to characterisation.
THE CHEMISTRY OF DEATH
by Simon Beckett
ISBN 0593055225
331 pages
BANTAM PRESS
March 1 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 24 2006
It was a fortunate day for thrillerdom when freelance journalist Simon Beckett went to Tennessee to research an article for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE. He was writing about the National Forensic Academy and on location was given, literally, 'hands on' experience in the art of recovering and dealing with dead bodies. Over and above the piece he was researching, he was inspired to write THE CHEMISTRY OF DEATH, a very polished book indeed and one to give the reader a fair bit to ponder after finishing the read. Of course, part of the pondering may be done when experiencing nightmares after consuming Beckett's vivid prose, but given the quality of the literary experience, who cares?
Two young brothers are led by a trail of maggots to the decomposing body of a young girl. Dr. David Hunter is a GP in the Norfolk village of Manham, in partnership with paraplegic Dr Henry Maitland. Unbeknownst to his colleague and villagers alike, David had trained as a forensic pathologist but the tragedy that deprived him of his wife and young daughter drove him to seek the isolation of the village and bury himself in general practice, forsaking his specialty. The discovery of the corpse, however, causes police to uncover Hunter's previous profession and request his help.
Unwilling to revisit his expertise, David, nonetheless, feels compelled to assist. His three years in the village have not blunted his skill and he becomes more and more entangled in the case as other evidence and another corpse, comes to light. It becomes obvious that the killer keeps his women victims for three days before he kills them so when someone close to David disappears, he realises that the murderer's identity and the location where he stores his victims must be found before too great a time has elapsed. To add to the urgency, the woman taken has Type One diabetes so without her insulin will surely lapse into a hyperglycaemic coma, if ketoacidosis doesn't take her life before the murderer does.
Beckett provides rather grisly descriptions of the titular chemistry
of death, nor does he spare the reader an almost equally grisly description
of a rather unpleasant village. His ingenious plotting may well mystify
the careful reader up to the point where the author provides the solution
to the mystery. Excellent characterisation is a feature of the novel almost
the equal of the puzzle as David Hunter detects his way through physical
as well as psychological hardships in order to try to prevent a murderer
adding to his score.
WRITTEN IN BONE
by Simon Beckett
ISBN 9780593055250
346 pages
BANTAM PRESS
August 1 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 27 2007
THE CHEMISTRY OF DEATH was one of my favourite books of 2006, so when the release date of WRITTEN IN BONE was announced, I was understandably very enthusiastic and, when my copy arrived, broke my rule of reading books in order of the date of their release. I read it last night and am now in two minds about it.
Forensic anthropologist David Hunter is on his way home to girlfriend Jenny when an Inverness Detective Superintendent rings him and requests that Hunter go instead to the small island of Runa, in the Outer Hebrides. A train wreck with much attendant loss of life, had occurred on the mainland, occupying the attention of all local forensic people. On Runa, the burned remains of a body have been recovered and it is imperative that Hunter make his services available to the island. Needless to say, Jenny is not impressed, but what can a conscientious forensic anthropologist do?
Once on Runa, Hunter meets a retired Detective Inspector, Brody, who becomes far more of an asset to the investigation than the prickly, alcoholic, territorial Sergeant Fraser. The wealthy Strachans, benefactors of Runa, are rather more anxious than Fraser to be of assistance while journalist Maggie Cassidy is intent on getting a big story to advance her career. A sudden, savage storm serves to isolate the island and cut off communications so that the dynamics of the small society become skewed as the corpses multiply.
The novelist has a fine ability to evoke atmosphere. The darkness of the storm pervades the tale as the drama is unveiled and, as before, Beckett doesn't stint on grue in ihs descriptioons.
As I mentioned previously, this episode in the adventures of David Hunter is very well written -- up to a point. It's all well and good to introduce twists into the plot but it is always wise to bear in mind the adage that "less is more." The ending to the tale was, well, somewhat silly and the added complications totally unnecessary. Yes, it is good to provide an unlikely villain but not to the extent that the suspension of disbelief actually snaps from the weight of the plot twist.
I shall do my best to forget the concluding chapters of the book so
I can look forward with eagerness to any further installment of the series.
WHISPERS OF THE DEAD
by Simon Beckett
ISBN 9780593055274
317 pages
BANTAM PRESS
February 2 2009
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 14 2009
Simon Beckett has a way with words. Given that he is a journalist and now an author, that is just as well, but I must confess that, at times, his descriptions do not whisk me away to a world of poetry and music but, instead, to a country where blood, skin, bone and internal disasters hold sway. It was a fortunate day for crime fiction aficionados when Mr Beckett visited Tennesseeís Anthropological Research Facility, popularly known as the ìBody Farmî, since that visit is reported to have set Beckett on his crime fiction writing career. Certainly he has made use of his experiences there and the knowledge gained in the creation of Dr. David Hunter,
David has healed considerably from the wounds inflicted on him the previous year. He is in Tennessee when Tom Lieberman, his old mentor, offers to let him accompany Tom on a ìfield tripî to examine a newly discovered corpse, albeit one whose odour pronounces it much decayed. Not only does the corpse present an unpleasant aspect-- Tomís colleagues are not universally happy to see the British doctor.
Two solid conclusions are drawn from the crime scene, firstly, that the murderer is male and secondly, that he is a serial killer.
The reader is treated to the point of view of the killer, who explains the genesis of his lust for extermination. His point of view is written throughout in italics.
An anomaly arising from the evidence obtained means that an exhumation must be ordered and that, Dear Reader, is one of the grisly low lights of the book, albeit a necessary one. What the exhumation discloses is more than sufficient to justify the disturbance of the repose of the dead.
Beckett is a good, strong writer. His characters are always well drawn and the puzzles posed sufficiently mystifying to tempt the imagination of the most devoted fan of crime fiction.
One rather interesting, although bloodthirsty, aspect of this book is the fact that the decay observed in the corpses has been accelerated. It is something that puzzles all the forensic experts consulting on the case.
Beckett is never too careful of his protagonist. The wounds Hunter collected in previous work provide sufficient proof of that. In contrast with that is the effort he must have made so far as research goes. He certainly does not skimp on his descriptions of the off-putting in this or his previous work.
Having recently read some books in which the authors have not been too
careful with their use of the language, I was especially sensitive to anything
hinting at an incomplete mastery of the English language. Thank goodness,
Beckettís mastery of the language (necessary, given his profession) is
excellent.
STACKING IN RIVERTOWN
by Barbara Bell
Allen & Unwin
ISBN 1-86508-681-9
$19.95
January 11 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
Believe it or not, there can be minuscule imperfections attendant on living in the Antipodes; not many, I grant you, but some. One of the few downsides is that our northern hemisphere peers usually have the benefit of an earlier release date for new books. To counterbalance this, we in the southern hemisphere can usually find out a bit more about an author in the intervening time between release dates, especially if it is a first time author. One has to be unlucky not to find at least one interview to cast light on the workings of the mind of the writer and just what experiences that particular creator has endured in life to produce a novel. Not so, alas, with Barbara Bell. All I could find out about her was that she is a writer/ composer living in the United States and that this is her first novel. I hope that if Ms. Bell produces another tale, interviewers will have published lots more about her.
Had I purchased this book in order simply to read for pleasure, I doubt I would have persevered with it beyond about page thirty. One could say it is, to put it mildly, confrontational. It involves sado-masochism, prostitution, lesbian love, slavery brutality and degradation. This would, in the normal course of events. have made me discard it, but I had to review it so I kept on going - and was extremely glad I had done so.
Beth (one of the heroine's many names) was an abused child. She and her brother Vin were brought up in very poor circumstances by the woman they called Mama until the latter's death by fire. Beth finds herself in a five year loveless marriage with dog man Jeremy, whom she had met when in hospital because of what she thought was an operation for appendicitis - which left her with an ugly scar on the left side of her abdomen. Now a best selling author named Clarisse Broder, Beth decides her only path to freedom and a new life is to contact her pimp, Ben, from when she was a prostitute, and buy new identity papers from him. Not a wise move, since Ben once more enslaves her and subjects her to the same kind of torture and degradation she had experienced five years previously prior to her escape from him.
Again seeking her freedom from Ben, Beth attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge. The attempt fails but gives her courage to flee her old life and Ben. She is also fleeing policeman Bates who is attempting to solve the murder of Beth's former lover Violet, a murder which Beth had witnessed but cannot remember.
There is much to disturb in this tale. The cruelty, torture and general grue is enough to daunt the conscientious squeam, yet there is even more to fascinate and compel. Implied is the possibility that homosexual love may not simply be the result of a genuine attraction to the same sex for sexual reasons . Would experience of sadism as a concomitant part of heterosexual experience, followed by gentleness from a same sex partner be sufficient to turn a woman to lesbian love? I felt the true passion Beth experienced with her three great loves was from artificial causes rather than from true sexual attraction, but perhaps I misinterpret the author's intentions. There are flaws in some of the plotting - I can't really see Ben would have permitted Beth her original freedom for the specious reasons given; I found it somewhat unlikely that Beth would have survived the jump from the bridge; and I thought Beth's third and final lover seemed a little unconvincing. The characterisations on the whole were rather more caricatures than deep and convincing portraits. Despite a general lack of humour, I found the scene, where Beth encounters her husband while under the 'protection' of her pimp, did amuse me mightily.
This is a book greatly to be commended, as much for the understanding it
could give an ordinary person into the lives of forced prostitutes as well
as for being a very good story. Don't look for much optimism or sheer happiness
and certainly few laughs. If your sensibilities are easily offended, be
prepared to skim rather than read each word. Nonetheless, Stacking in
Rivertown has left me, for one, with a desire to read any future
work produced by Barbara Bell.
ISABELLA MOON
by Laura Benedict
ISBN 9780434017058
351 pages
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
October 1 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 15 2007
The novel begins prosaically enough, with Kate Russell sitting in the Carystown Sheriff's Office. It quickly becomes apparent that Kate is not numbered amongst the boldest souls of the town, but what she has to report is certainly intimidating. She wishes to tell the Sheriff, Bill Delaney, where the body of Isabella Moon can be found, approximately two years after the girl's disappearance. Kate has been summoned from a dream by Isabella and led to a smelly area which she quickly realises is the location of the child's makeshift grave. Then, of course, Kate is faced with the long walk home again-- proving reality is indeed upon her.
Lillian and Francie Cayley are Kate's closest friends in Carystown. They are black women and there seems to be some colour bar that prevents Francie acknowledging that she and Paxton Birkenshaw, the area's richest man, are lovers. Neither Lillian, Francie's mother, nor Freida, Paxton's mother, would approve of the situation. The couple, however, has a hideaway where they can meet in secret to satisfy the appetites they must keep hidden.
Kate, or Mary Katie as she was known in her former life, has a lot to hide. She dribbles information to the reader about her reasons for moving to Carystown and, in the process, doesn't give a terribly good impression of her ability to choose men nor to run her own life.
Of course, there are other deaths and of course Kate is not restricted to the shade of Isabella Moon in her supernatural encounters.
The characterisations are not particularly strong in this outing. If I met Kate in real life, I would, at the risk of being subject to an assault charge, be tempted to give Kate a good shaking. Her friend Francie is not the boldest soul in the catalogue either -- in this day and age would a young, strong minded woman really consent to keeping a long standing relationship under wraps because of her colour?
Of the people who partake of the action of the book, the characters who made the strongest impressions on me (apart from the violent baddies) were Francie's mother Lillian and Kate's boss Janet. Even so, I had reservations about Lillian.
One of the more attractive characters in the novel is the sheriff, Bill Delaney. Perhaps it was because of him that it became necessary to introduce a theme that seems inescapable in this day and age: drugs.
The plot tended to stutter along rather slowly although the "I see dead people" theme, for all it has been done to death of recent years, is still enough to be interesting, if well handled.
Despite my criticisms of the book, I think the author shows promise. One must bear in mind that it is, after all, a first novel so allowances should be made. Perhaps Laura Benedict might consider introducing a little levity into her next effort to make the narrative a trifle more attractive.
If the author has already written a successor to ISABELLA MOON,
one hopes she is not too proud to take a good look at it and, if necessary
do some judicious editing, with particular attention being paid to characterisation
before the final draft.
THE UNCOMMON READER
by Alan Bennett
ISBN 9781846680496
124 pages
faber and faber
Profile Books
October 5 2007
$24.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 26 2005
Here's a delightful little fable for our times. Unlike the stories in the popular (?) press, perhaps it won't get the collective knickers of the Palace in a knot, either -- unless they resent the way Her Majesty is portrayed as being possibly somewhat below normal intelligence.
The Queen's corgis occasionally make her the subject of criticism. The adventure, into which they plunge Queen Elizabeth at the outset of this miniature diamond of a tale, would make them more loathed than their reputation would attribute to them. Instead of running out of the garden and up the front stairs of the palace, as is their habit, they take an unaccustomed detour and lead their majestic mistress toward a mobile library. Apologetically, Queen Elizabeth follows them and feels that she must, in the interest of good manners, borrow a book. She also encounters a skivvy, Norman, from the royal kitchens and strikes up a conversation with him, something that has a great effect on the two lives directly involved, and, in the way of a ripple effect, on the whole nation.
Deprived of literature her entire life (what? Could the Admirable Crawfie really have so deprived her young charges, the Little Princesses? Still, that was Real Life while this is a Fabulous Fiction) the Queen suddenly plunges herself into literary adventures to the detriment of her official duties. Instead of being a paragon of punctuality, she suddenly discovers the pleasures of making the rest of the world wait upon her pleasure. Just one more chapter?
Norman, despite having been elevated from the kitchens, falls foul of officialdom and is exiled to university until the night he is called upon to serve Her Highness at dinner-- but sulks at her in the process. Discovering that her resentful courtiers have disposed of the gay lad, she reinstates him, at the same time uninstating those who caused Norman's involuntary exile.
This truly is a gem of literature. While it may not be of the dimensions of a literary Koh-i-noor, it certainly exceeds its brilliance. Despite its relatively few pages, it manages to encompass a huge volume of societal barbs, literate observations and an Aladdin's Lamp of wishful thinking. Mind, as an humble but ignorant subject of the Queen, I would like to think her grasp of literature, prior to her encounter with Norman, is not as faint as is portrayed, but for the purposes of this little volume, it is adequately slight.
Of course, given the author of the tale, it could not be anything other than brilliant. His conclusion to the story is appropriate and makes one wonder if he could extend to a sequel.
For all the volume is so slim, that could also be seen as an advantage.
It can easily be consumed in under two hours, so if it comes your way,
grab it.
HAVOC IN ITS THIRD YEAR
by Ronan Bennett
ISBN 0747564418
242 pages
Bloomsbury
November 5 2004
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 23 2004
Ronan Bennett is not a newcomer to fiction. Previous of his novels have been shortlisted for THE IRISH TIMES/ AER LINGUS First Fiction Award (THE SECOND PRISON) and The Whitbread Novel Award (THE CATASTROPHIST) in 1999. One trusts he is not forever doomed to the role of bridesmaid since HAVOC IN ITS THIRD YEAR is surely worthy of an award.
Bennett's life has been interesting - in the Chinese curse sense of the word. Born in Belfast, he was falsely accused and imprisoned for the murder of an English policeman when he was a teenager. He is, therefore, eminently qualified to write, as he does in this novel, of the thoughts and feelings of the wrongly imprisoned - although one trusts modern conditions are rather less horrific than those he depicts.
John Brigge is the coroner in a Yorkshire town in the 1630s. He is, secretly, a Catholic in a time when following one's religion, be it the wrong brand, can bring a swift, albeit brutal, death. The power of the original ruler, Lord Savile, was destroyed when Nathaniel Challoner and his cohorts, including Brigge, overthrew the despot three years prior to the beginning of the narrative.
Brigge lives apart from the town on his farm. His wife, Elizabeth, is about to give birth and John chafes at the necessity of being separated from her at this dangerous time. He must bring judgment against an Irish woman, Katherine Shay. She has been accused of murdering her own baby - a crime she denies, although refusing to elaborate. She does tell Brigge, however, that the dead baby is not her own. Brigge refuses to hand down his judgment until a witness, Susana, is brought before him to testify but the true whereabouts of the girl are denied him.
In the meantime, Brigge's enemies are plotting against him and, as they have the advantage of proximity, are alienating affections of the Master. Nathaniel's mind is poisoned and he doubts the sincerity of Brigge's recusancy.
It is a time of religious fanaticism. Brigge's young clerk, Adam, is party to secrets which would bring down the Catholic household. He is unaware of a secret which would destroy his own faith, the fact of Brigge's infidelity to his wife.
After a long and difficult labour, Elizabeth is delivered of a son but both are left with poor health. Brigge refuses Challoner's orders that he return to town and renounces his office. Nonetheless, he follows the case of the rebellious Irish woman, Shay, convinced of her innocence and determined to solve the case - which he feels might also bring about the downfall of his enemies.
This is a very powerful novel. Since the time about which he writes is the one he studied for his Ph.D. it goes without saying that the historical accuracy is impeccable. John Brigge was an actual, historical figure - although Bennett is at pains to point out that the story itself is fiction. At the other end of credibility, there is a heavy touch of the supernatural about the tale. Brigge is subject to hallucinations and very real religious fears. On the other hand, he is not above exploiting the superstitious beliefs of his audience. For example, at one stage, despairing of accomplishing the conviction of a man of whose guilt in the murder of the man's wife he is convinced, Brigge forces the man to touch the disintegrating corpse of his wife, reminding the onlookers that if a murderer touches the corpse of his victim, the victim's flesh bleeds. Sure enough, the crowd 'sees' the blood and screams the perpetrator's guilt.
This book is an engrossing tale albeit not a 'pretty' one. There are
moral dilemmas to be encountered on all sides. It is a great tribute to
scholarship and the triumph of success despite adversity. The author is
to be commended - and, one trusts, awarded honours.
THE FAITHFUL SPY
by Alex Berenson
375 pages
ISBN 1863255346
BANTAM
June 1 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 23 2006
New York Times journalist and non-fiction author Alex Berenson turns his personal experience to good effect in his debut novel THE FAITHFUL SPY. Berenson spent some time in Iraq for his employer and decided that he could, perhaps, provide fictional answers to unresolved stories by manufacturing a complete entity with the power to terrify the western world and give readers a great deal to ponder.
CIA operative John Wells has penetrated al Qaeda to an amazing extent. He has achieved reasonably high status within that body and is located in Afghanistan. Wells has not communicated with his American employers for some time, causing them to wonder if he has gone so deep into cover that he has been turned. When he eventually contacts the American army, he is able to tell them useful information he has gleaned but at the expense of the lives of Islamic colleagues he has grown to like. Requesting that an American officer shoot him in the arm to lend support to his cover character, he returns to al Qaeda and is, once more, out of reach of the CIA who have come to doubt his loyalty since he did not warn them of the impending attacks of September 11 2001.
Wells is sent to New York on a mission which al Qaeda feel only he, because of his racial background, can accomplish. Before leaving, he is introduced to a man calling himself Omar Khadri, the man who will be Wells' immediate boss. Wells is, because of the same reason that makes him such an asset to the organisation, ultimately distrusted by them, much as he is distrusted by the CIA, so he is not given information about the task he is to undertake.
Wells had left his family years before when he undertook his undercover assignment. This saw him estranged from his wife and son. He tries to establish contact with his mother but is disappointed, then with his former wife, who first of all shows him the impracticality of establishing a relationship with his son then rings his CIA handler, Jennifer Exley, to warn her he is back in the US.
The author paints a grim picture of the fate in store for enemies of Islamic extremists, containing, as it does, the threat of bombs and bacteria. The hapless protagonist is, officially unknowingly but suspecting his fate, slated for martyrdom by his colleagues. He has to prove himself time and again to them, at times at the risk of endangering American officials and having to decide what would do the least damage.
As a competent journalist, it is only natural that Berenson turns out lean but comprehensive prose. While Wells himself is almost completely believable, as are, for someone unfamiliar with the culture but indoctrinated by the popular press, the Islamic fighters, I had great difficulty in swallowing the romantic theme. I can certainly see the necessity for the protagonist to have someone within the CIA believe and trust (in a manner of speaking) Wells but felt that the love tale was far from convincing. To my mind, this was a weak link in an otherwise strong book. The rest, the alienation from family, the changes wrought in the agent's absence, were all persuasive. Should Mr Berenson write a further novel, perhaps he should fall in love before introducing an amorous sub-plot or else, preferably, invent alternative motivations for his characters.
If readers have not had their fill of terrorism from popular media,
or wish to explore the terrifying possibilities propounded by someone who
has 'been there', they will find the novel to be a gripping, if frightening,
read.
THE THIRD SECRET
by Steve Berry
ISBN 1863254854
401 pages
Bantam
August 1 2005
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 18 2005
Trial lawyer Steve Berry had a hit with his debut novel THE AMBER ROOM. This, like its successors, dealt with a secret of the past. His second novel, THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, fulfilled the promise given by the first. Both books would seem to attract a narrow spectrum of readers: THE AMBER ROOM would appeal to those interested in Art while THE ROMANOV PROPHECY would be of interest to historians and those curious about royal successions as well as the land and history of Russia. THE THIRD SECRET would similarly seem to be of narrow appeal, perhaps only for Roman Catholics and those interested in theology. Berry's first two volumes were successful in being appreciated by a wider audience than possibly anticipated and given the unbelievable and overwhelming success of THE DA VINCI CODE, quite probably the current book will also please a wide readership.
The theme of the book is Marian visions, more specifically, those beginning with the Fatima apparitions. The prologue is a fictionalising of the perceptions of one of the seers involved in the Fatima visions; Lucia, who later became a nun. Chapter One leaps forward in time to an indeterminate date which is set after the death of Pope John Paul II and during the reign of a German Pope, Clement XV. Legally trained Monsignor Colin Michener, close friend and personal secretary to Clement, is despatched by his boss to visit an obscure Romanian priest, Father Andrej Tibor. Prior to the journey, he must also witness a tribunal at which an American priest is being tried, a possible precursor to the defrocking of that priest, an unchaste man currently bedding a former lover of Michener's, Katerina Lew.
Michener travels to Romania where he is reunited with Lew - not a chance meeting as the woman has been forced into acting as a spy by an enemy of the Pope and also of Michener. Together they interview Tibor but are little wiser when the interview ends. Colin is entrusted with a letter which he must deliver to the Pontiff.
To my mind, this book has rather more merit than Brown's oeuvre. The action exhibits greater restraint than the depiction of excessive violence contained in the earlier work despite there still being much assault and even murder. The plot hinges on the notion of a sheet of paper on which is transcribed a final - and unknown to all but the three child seers at Fatima - portion of the Third Secret of Fatima, being stolen from the Arhiva prior to the publication of that secret. This, if revealed to the world, would send seismic shocks through the Roman Catholic Church. To the lay world, this might seem an insignificant plot device but Christianity, nominally, if nothing else, has a multitude of followers of whom a goodly portion are devout Catholics. Perhaps Protestants might not have the same reaction to the ultimate secret as would Catholics but even they could appreciate the impact such a dictum might impart.
It is a very interesting narrative, combining, as it does, nuggets of
truth with swatches of fiction. The plot describes corruption at the highest
levels of society within the Basilica, as well as portraits of violently
ambitious clerics. The supernatural element not only adds interest but
is essential to the tale. The characterisation of the men of the book is
rather more convincing than that of the women but any weakness is not sufficient
to detract from the whole. My quibble is one I find increasingly annoying
- the lack of adequate copy editing. There is a certain feeling of the
prose being out of joint in various places and there were more than a few
errors which must have begun as typos. Also, it appears that this author
is espousing a change in living English (albeit one I deplore) in the drifting
of the meaning of the word 'flaunt', which seems to be replacing the word
'flout'. Criticism notwithstanding, this book should prove very popular
with a wide range of crime fiction aficionados.
THE ROMANOV PROPHECY
by Steve Berry
ISBN 0345460065
387 pages
BALLANTINE BOOKS
November 1 2005
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 29 2005
American lawyer Steve Berry now has his second novel, THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, reissued in small paperback format. It is interesting that in his acknowledgments he expresses a debt of gratitude to Dan Brown, the author of the unjustifiably popular DA VINCI CODE, since that fact alone may give the prospective reader some intimation of the kind of thing awaiting within the writer's work. This book has, similar to his THE AMBER ROOM and THE THIRD SECRET, threads running in both past and present.
Black American lawyer Miles Lord is in Moscow to do research for his legal firm that will ascertain that their candidate for Tsar of all Russias, Stefan Baklanov, has an impeccable pedigree that will ensure there can be no challenge to his right to govern the massive country.
Lord is with a Russian lawyer when gunmen fire on the duo, killing his companion. Miles is left wondering if perhaps he is the target of the two killers whom he dubs Droopy and Cro-Magnon. He soon finds himself at odds with the law and takes refuge with a performer belonging to the Moscow Circus, Akilina Petrovna. All unaware, the two are bound together to fulfil a prophecy made by the rascally Rasputin, in the opening pages of the book, concerning the resurrection of the Russian monarchy. Somehow, Miles' research has made him a handicap for his firm and certain powerful influences mandate his killing and possibly that of Akilina .
Miles, in the company of Petrovna, flees Russia and returns to the USA, hot on the trail of a more direct pretender to the Romanov throne.
There is an awful lot of suspension of disbelief required for this book to work. First, the reader must accept that the Russian people would heed the call of something deep in their souls which demands the return of a Romanov Tsar. Then, given the first straining of the digestive imagination, the reader must believe that some Russians are so dead to the call of their soul that they would, in the interests of their pockets and their own possible power, prefer to have someone malleable as Tsar rather than the true Romanov successor. A further leap of faith requires the reader's acceptance of a Romanov heir growing up in America. After all these items, perhaps it is just a small matter to believe that Rasputin made an accurate prophecy and that two Romanov children escaped the general massacre and lived to procreate.
The author has done a great deal of research in order to produce a plausible
tale. The fiction is nicely blended with historical fact but it is up to
the reader to decide whether the entirety works.
ONE NIGHT AT THE CALL CENTRE
by Chetan Bhagat
ISBN 9780552773867
318 pages
BLACK SWAN
April 2 2007
$23.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 31 2007
Chetan Bhagat's second novel provides a frothy, lighthearted look at life in an Indian call centre. Perhaps you feel that those inconvenient people with Indian accents who invariably invade the privacy of your home just when you have begun your evening meal, attempting to sell you something or to convert you from the telephone provider of your choice, are devils incarnate but with this book, Bhagat attempts to make you see that even these callers have lives which are as important to them as yours is important to you.
The prologue introduces the author as he contemplates a boring train journey. He is briefly uplifted when a lovely young girl enters his railway carriage. She offers to tell him a story, provided he uses it as the basis for his second novel. No promise, no story. Eventually and with bad grace, the author assents and the story is related.
Shyam Mehra works in the Connexions Call Centre together with five colleagues. One girl, Priyanka, used to be his sweetheart but she dumped him. Shyam has taken up with another girl working at the Centre, a woman who delights in baby talk and embarrassing situations -- embarrassing for Shyam, at least. Fortunately, she is on a different shift from Shyam, or Eddy Teddy, as she prefers to call him.
Of the other workers, Radhika is a married woman, one suffering at the hands of her mother-in-law who takes advantage of Radhika's determination to be an amenable and understanding wife and daughter-in-law; Esha is a good looking woman but one whose short stature frustrates her desire to be immediately recognised as a successful model; Varun, or Vroom is in love with motor bikes and cars. He and Shyam have been busily designing a website and writing a manual for the benefit of their customers. Military Uncle is an elderly ex-army type who doesn't seem to contribute much to the workings of the centre. Bakshi is the nefarious, ignorant boss who exploits Shyam and Vroom, promising promotion to Shyam but doing nothing to implement it while stealing credit for the work done by the two friends.
On the night in question, Priyanka announces her impending marriage and takes calls from her American fiancé, calls that would ordinarily be forbidden, but the centre's phones are down. Eventually the workers rebel and take off for a quick drink at a nightclub and shortly after, they receive a telephone call from God.
The characters are not terribly believable. Shyam seems far too put upon by both his boss and his ex-girlfriend. It seems unlikely that either he or Priyanka would really want to reunite given that they seem to disagree constantly. The accounts given of their dates, interspersed throughout the narrative, would not hold out much hope of a happy life together in the unlikely event that Priyanka would spurn her new fiancé in favour of Shyam.
The telephone call from God is an interesting conceit on which to hang a dramatic moment but would it really attract an audience of westerners looking for entertainment?
I did not feel the book gives a convincing picture of the culture of
young people in India today. Despite this, except where the tale drags,
it provides a pleasantly diverting read to while away a train journey --
even though you might have to regard your fellow passengers with some suspicion.
WITHOUT WARNING
by John Birmingham
ISBN 9781405038126
580 pages
Macmillan
October 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 1 2008
The action begins on the 14th of March 2003, in a hospital in Paris. A woman, being addressed as ìCathyî feels extremely disoriented and notices she is on an IV drip. It is no wonder that she feels as though ìCathyî is not her name. Itís not. Her real name is Caitlin and, looking at things from one direction, she is a wicked woman. From another viewpoint, she is actually a patriot, going about her business in the most efficient way possible. This business includes killing and her nom de guerre is Cathy. She is with a group of women but is interested only in the welfare of one named Monique. This girl is the lover of a man known as Al Banna, and Caitlin must remain close to her in order to murder the boyfriend. Monique would not be very happy if she knew.
While Caitlin is lying in hospital, she learns from her TV that, suddenly, communications have been broken off with areas of North America, specifically, most of the UnitedÝStates.
From this point, the narrative follows several different people in different parts of the world. The people I liked the most were the two girls who had been crewing a boat for someone, but happened to find Greg Normanís wonderful super-yacht, The Aussie Rules. What a floating palace that is! (I looked it up on the Net, to see if it really exists, and it does.) I guess that if Mr. Birmingham canít afford a yacht equivalent to the Aussie Rules, the next best thing is to write about it and manipulate his invention.
Down in the notorious Guantanimo detention centre, things do not go the way the remaining Americans would like.It is reported to Brigadier General Tusk Musso (and what sort of a given name is ìTuskî?) that people going into what appears to be a veil of air, never come out. Returning to the Australian golfer and his fate, apparently those who venture into the area melt and their clothes catch fire. The two female seafarers discovered a blob of something unidentifiable and some smoking rags.
This is a jolly science fictional romp, with some of the events similar to others found in different authorsí ìend of the worldî stories. Still, I think the mystical ìkilling veilî is a new notion.
Needless to say, the events cause what could be seen as a war, with unexpected protagonists.
The characterisation isnít bad. I like the way the author has created the different classes of people, from the frightened but capable poor Hispanics through to the fairly useless but rich Americans seeking to leave what remains of their country in order to reach our Antipodean shores.
Altogether, the book is quite entertaining although, perhaps, a bit
over-long.
THE SILVER SWAN
by Benjamin Black
ISBN 9780230701342
345 pages
PICADOR
December 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 25 2007
There is a certain literary, evocative note to the prose found in THE SILVER SWAN. John Banville, Black's name in the world of letters, has won more than one award, so no doubt that accounts for the standard of THE SILVER SWAN. It's a shame, though, that he didn't concentrate on lightening the tone of this vey depressing work, for all it is so beautifully written.
It is the mid-fifties and Quirke, the pathologist, is approached by a former school contemporary not long before he is to perform a post mortem on a woman whose body , presumed a suicide, was pulled from the water in Dublin Bay. Billy Hunt, husband of the drowned woman, Deirdre, can't bear the thought of her body being "cut up". Quirke, being an obliging sort, says he will abide by Billy's request but goes ahead and performs the autopsy. Interestingly, Deirdre did not drown -- but Quirke finds a puncture wound on one of her arms.
The narrative flashes back to Deirdre's girlhood and her time working for the local pharmacist, Mr Plunkett. There she encountered another of the major players in the tale, the thin, dark man who described himself as an Austrian and called himself Dr Kreutz. It appears that middleaged ladies comprise the totality of Dr Kreutz's practice.
Leslie White, whose name does not reflect the quality of his character, is a friend of Dr Kreutz. He is also the business partner of Deirdre Hunt. They run a beauty parlour called the Silver Swan and, professionally, Deirdre has taken the name Laura Swan. Leslie has run several failing business ventures which his wife, Kathryn, realises are scams. She also has no illusons about the quality of his fidelity to her -- he is an entrepreneur in matters of bedding women.
Quirke is possessed of a voracious curiosity and determines to follow up the Hunt case and try to find out exactly what happened to the victim and who had killed her.
As I said previously, this is a very dark and depressing work. No one is happy. Phoebe, Quirke's daughter, who has only recently learned of her parentage, is a brittle, mistrustful woman. Quirke, much as he would like to have his daughter know of his love, seems condemned to be hated by her -- on the surface, at any rate. Leslie (and this in pre-Viagra days) seems intent on adding the metaphorical scalps of every woman he comes across to his already overcrowded belt, but even he is suffering.
The characters of this unhappy book are all too credible -- and miserable. Quirke, caught between the dislike of his daughter, the unhappiness of his antecedents and his current attempt to give up alcohol, is understandably disconsolate. The other characters, amidst the gloom of the fifties and their dour surroundings, are, equally understandably, pessimistic.
While the mystery of just who is responsible for the demise of
Deirdre Hunt is eventually resolved, to my mind at least, the real puzzle
is: will the characters be able to resist the lure of suicide in order
to survive to a possible third outing?
THE LEMUR
by Benjamin Black
ISBN 9780330461436
Picador
July 4 2008
$29.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 4 2008
This is a somewhat claustrophobic outing for John Banvilleís alter ego, Benjamin Black, the less literary side of that gentleman who, naetheless, manages to present an interesting plot.
John Glass, former journalist and son-in-law of dynamic, millionaire (which might be understating that gentlemanís worth) businessman ìBig Billî Mulholland, is commissioned by Mulholland to write his biography. Somewhat intimidated by the task, Glass interviews Dylan Riley, a researcher, who resembles a creature that Glass misremembers as a rodent. ìThe lemurî is entertained at the notion of finding out the secrets of Mulhollandís past-- but Glass is distressed at the thought of the possibility that the researcher might just turn up some of his own secrets, especially some current ones, specifically those pertaining to his own extra-marital dalliance. Mulholland (known, within the family by the too cutesy nickname of Billuns) has strong ideas on the topic of marital infidelity and, all at once, Glass repents the enthusiasm with which he hired Riley. How awful it would be were Glass to have to forfeit his enjoyable lifstyle because of is researcherís digging.
Glass has been promised a million dollars by the subject of the biography. Riley, scenting a big profit for his researches, cloaks blackmail within respectability and demands half a million dollars for his cooperation. Glass, insecure within the heights of, appropriately enough, the glass building housing his office, considers the demands of his ìresearcherî, but is at once relieved and alarmed when police Captain Ambrose summons him to thepolice station to be interviewed about the sudden demise of Riley, who has been shot through the eye.
Ambrose, he of the face of an El Greco martyr, wishes to interview Glass because he was the last person-- or the penultimate, if one takes into account the murderer-- to speak to the reseaarcher.
I doubt there is a single character in this book (unless one takes into account Ambrose) with any unselfish aspect. Each one seems to have an eye only for his own advancement. The stepson is , perhaps, the most overtly unpleasant of the cast but none of them could afford to throw stones at the othersí glass (so to speak) houses.
And the mystery? I would go so far as to say the resolution is unsatisfactory.
One can only trust that the book is an inaccurate mirror of the lives
of the superwealthy and those of their families. Heaven help the human
race if people like these are meant to represent the best of us.
TITHE
by Holly Black
ISBN 9781847393425
307 pages
POCKET BOOKS
October 1 2009
$22.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 7 2009
Thereís a lot of the mythical around at present. This book is about Faerie and the one I am reading at present is about a fallen angel. Oh well, Iíve read books with far less appealing themes and must admit I am rather enjoying dipping my toe into this genre.
In the prologue, sixteen year-old Kaye and her mother Ellen are forced by circumstance to consider moving back to Kayeís grandmotherís house in their old home town.
Once there, Kaye is making her friend Janet feel most uncomfortable by inventing gruesome stories until Janet reminds her of the friends Kaye used to claim to have when they were children. Spike and Gristle were faeries, which makes a nice change from imaginary human children.
The teenager and her friends explore a ruined building which may have served as an office for a fair ground. In the building, Kaye discovers a model horse. It is a lovely thing, although its legs have been broken. As she stares at it, climbs into the saddle and imagines it in one piece, a strange thing happens: it seems to come to life. But the worst of it, Kaye learns, is that one of her friends saw what she had done.
After this, Kayeís sense of strange is somewhat blunted, so that when she is walking through the woods and is stopped by a male, impaled on a branch, obviously bleeding to death. her impulse is to help, rather than to run away. Between them, Kaye and the faery-- Roiben of the Unseelie Court-- manage to free him, but she must seek the aid of a kelpie to help transport him home.
As though this weirdness is not sufficient, Kaye has bound Roiben to answer three questions (well, it IS a faerie tale, after all) for her. And then she learns she is a changeling, that she is really a pixie, a creature with green skin.
Kaye is drawn into the battle between the two courts of Faerie, the Seelie and the Unseelie. She goes into Roibenís land and sees some rather horrible things. The Faerie are not averse to killing and torturing.
This is rather different stuff from the fairy tales told to small human children, although some aspects have appeared, for example the changeling legend, in various stories told to them. This tale includes certain elements of sexual awakening which, one trusts, would not be present in the stories for children, but which are likely to please adolescents exploring their own awakening. Perhaps it is this that would provoke interest in adolescents sufficient that they might read such a tale and not be ashamed to admit it.
To my mind, anything that encourages children of any age to read can
only be a good thing.
BLOODLESS SHADOW
by Victoria Blake
ISBN 0752860526
275 pages
Orion
March 5 2004
$24.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
March 18 2004
Oxford born and bred, Victoria Blake paints an authentic picture of that university city in this, her debut novel. The lair of Professor Gervase Fen and Inspector Morse now becomes the stamping ground for PI Samantha (Sam) Falconer.
Against her will and better judgment, Sam consents to investigate the disappearance of Meg O'Connor for her distraught husband, John. Were it not for the fact that Sam's brother, Mark, requested she help the therapist, she would not have touched the case. Of course, the fact that she is almost penniless is also a factor in her decision.
O'Connor lives in Oxford. His wife had a flat in London as she, an art critic, was frequently called to that city. Sam must, however, spend a large chunk of time in Oxford in order to investigate the disappearance. Ghosts of Sam's past haunt Oxford and make the former world judo champion loth to return there. Her brother, mother, hated stepfather and ex-lover all live in Oxford and she dreads returning there.
To complicate Sam's life even further, she receives a letter from someone signing himself 'Dad'. Since Falconer was idolised by Sam, who remembers vividly the funeral of her war hero father, the letter comes as a horrible blow. Who would be cruel enough to prey upon her emotions in such a way - and who is it that threatens Sam herself, unless she turns some mysterious 'him' into them?
Then comes the first murder, that of the extremely unpleasant woman with whom O'Connor was having an affair. Sam, incredibly, falls under suspicion for the crime. Not only that, someone is threatening the life of her overweight bully of a cat, Frank Cooper!
It must be borne in mind that this is a debut novel. While it begins
well - and had my interest very much held within a few pages - it tends
to peter out toward the end and also leaves at least one thread loose.
There is also a touch of the supernatural to do with Sam's previous case,
a case she would rather forget, but this is not followed up.There are some
characters whose reappearance I shall welcome should the PI see further
adventures in a promised series. This having been said, I could wish for
a more convincing characterisation of Sam. To my mind, the character of
the first corpse was rather more convincing than that of Falconer the PI.
Despite this, I don't hesitate to recommend the book if only for its excellent
presentation of Oxford and a glimpse into university life.
DARKNESS PEERING
by Alice Blanchard
Bantam Books
$18.60
ISBN 1-86325-161-8
September 2000
reviewed by Denise Wels
This is short story writer Alice Blanchard's first excursion into the longer form of mystery composition and a very successful expedition it is, too.
I can't remember previously reading fiction in which handicapped people are portrayed so successfully as real characters. The closest parallel which comes to mind is the excellent Australian movie of some years back, Struck by Lightning, which deals with a group of Down's Syndrome people.
This is another example of the proliferation of what is almost a contemporary sub-genre of crime fiction, dealing, as it does, with mysterious evildoing in the past and its subsequent solution in the present after the investigation of further crimes. In this instance, the first murder is that of fourteen year old Melissa D'Agostino, a Down's Syndrome sufferer.
Nalen Storrow is the police chief at the time of Melissa's death. He is a truly remarkable character, having once been an abusive, heavy drinking man who maltreated his young son, Billy. Nalen was brought to see, despite his father's example, that his is not a praiseworthy life style, so he reforms, at once giving up child beating and incipient alcoholism. After his transformation, his daughter Rachel is born. Rachel never sees the destructive side of her adored father but her brother, Billy, has to live with the memory of his father's excesses.
Teenaged Billy has exhibited aberrant behaviour and Nalen soon finds himself investigating the activities of his son and his sonís friends in connection with the murder of Melissa. The more Nalen pursues his enquiries, the more he finds indications that Billy might be a murderer. Nalen cannot face following the case to its conclusion so takes his own, life leaving Billy to find his father's body.
The story cuts to the present, where Rachel is now an adult and has become
a police detective. She decides to reopen the D'Agostino case and discovers,
to her horror, the possible involvement of her much loved brother and his
friends in the hitherto unsolved crime.
Billy, despite his proven academic brilliance, seems to have no ambition, apparently satisfied to be a teacher's aide at Winfield School for the Blind and Special Needs, rather than becoming a teacher himself. He is in love with Claire Castillo, the teacher with whom he works. He enjoys being with the handicapped children who are obviously extremely fond of him.
When Rachel lets it be known she has reopened the D'Agostino case and begins questioning Billy and his friends, Billy resents her investigation and tells her it is what his father did eighteen years previously.
Claire disappears, then there are more abductions. Rachel feels that the kidnappings are somehow tied to the earlier murder and continues her pursuit of past killer and current kidnapper, despite her fear of what she might unearth.
The story is particularly dark in its subject matter. The scrutiny of familial relations is unpleasant as is the examination of people's attitudes toward the disabled. I found the author's dwelling on gory bits distasteful (don't you get cross after lightly hip-hopping through the haemoglobin when you notice that, despite your care, the blood may have stained your subconscious?) but feel persevering with the book well worth the effort. I could only describe the whole as pessimistic but nonetheless feel it makes for a darn good read.
The ultimate unmasking of the villain is, for the most part, unforeseen. I feel that perhaps the plotting of the motive and the execution of the murders is a trifle laboured and contrived but that is just my prejudice.
So far as the style of the writing goes, I had problems with many of Blanchard's
metaphors : they seemed somewhat overdone with the language verging on
the florid. Apart from that, the action is rapid and the pace sustained.
I would like to read more by this author.
HOPE TO DIE
by Lawrence Block
ISBN 0-75283-840-7
320 pages
Orion
January 11 2002
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Wels
I would venture a guess that there is no mystery fan alive, serious about his beloved genre, who has not read at least one book by Lawrence Block. Certainly Block has been around longer than other American authors of that genre and, with more than fifty titles to his name, is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. His fame does not rest entirely on his fiction Block has also written books on writing books, e.g. Telling Lies For Fun And Profit and Spider, Spin Me A Web. Multi-talented, Mr. Block has an Internet site, from which he sells books, primarily his own, and has also made audio books. This prolific writer has turned out books under several noms-de-plume, most notably Chip Harrison and Paul Kavanagh. Novels under these names have been re-released under Block's own name.
Mr. Block is famed for his series characters: Matt Scudder (who features in Hope to Die), his first series protagonist Evan Tanner (lately resurrected in Tanner on Ice), the popular burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr adventures and relatively recently those featuring J. P. Keller of The Hit Man and Hit List fame.
As is his wont with the Matt Scudder books, Lawrence Block has penned Hope To Die in the first person, from Matt's point of view. In a departure from his usual style, Block has interspersed scenes told, in italics and in the third person, from the villain's point of view. And an unpleasant villain he is too. I don't think I would like to be Lawrence Block's wife. He has subjected his fictional first female corpse, writer Susan Hollander, to the most appalling violence in the murder scene. Even if given the opportunity I shan't exchange my man, gentle, considerate and unable to imagine any such violence toward a woman, for Mr. Block, no matter how rich and inventive he might be!
The New York police are satisfied that the murderers of Byrne and Susan Hollander are dead, the victims of a murder suicide. Matt Scudder is approached by the niece of the duo who suspects that, while the actual killers may be dead, the person who arranged the double murder is still at large and that the mastermind was motivated by the thought of profit. Matt and his faithful but unlikely friend TJ set out to discover just who could have engineered the killings. Although Matt exonerates their initial suspect almost immediately, he feels compelled to investigate further and attempt to protect the Hollanders' daughter from possible assassination.
The narrative is, as usual, against a background of Scudder's personal problems. As ever, the recovering alcoholic feels a deep need for drink (I wonder if Mr. Block will one day succumb to the temptation of permitting Scudder to do likewise). Matt sees his two sons, the younger bidding fair to emulate the younger Matt, after his ex-wife dies, bringing him intimations of mortality. As ever, the story is well plotted but, unlike the Hit Man books, in this instance is redolent of gore, grue and just a bittock too much violence. Block's characters are quite well drawn. The ending of the novel, which leaves room for a sequel, is not completely to my taste but on the whole I felt Lawrence Block has not failed his audience of Scudder devotees.
It is fortunate for the reading public that Lawrence Block gave up the career in crime that he had considered, in favour of writing about crime. Still, an apprehensive reader who fears Mr. Block and his wife may decide to add a visit to the past to the many places they have already ventured should take heart. If the younger Block decides his future self is not to his liking and hence goes ahead with his hypothetical career in crime, no doubt he will be caught, put behind bars and therefore have to begin anew his former/future career in writing rather than performing, crime.
Lawrence Block has produced so many books - not the least of which is Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, his book on how to write - that the list is far too long to reproduce in a short review. His three successful series characters, Bernie Rhodenbarr (the bookseller who dabbles in burglary, last seen in The Burglar in the Rye )Evan Tanner (of Tanner on Ice )and recovering alcoholic cop, Matt Scudder (the latest of whose adventures is Hope to Die) have now been joined by John Keller, the gentleman assassin of Hit Man (to be made into a movie, starring Jeff Bridges playing the killer, Keller, with the screenplay written by Lawrence Block) and now of Hit List which has just been released in small paperback format. While Block used to write under the noms-de-plume Chip Harrison and Paul Kavanagh, amongst others, these days his books bear the Block name.
John Keller has a hobby which could be seen as atypical for a killer. He is a philatelist. He frequently mixes business with pleasure in that when he goes to another town or city to take care of that which concerns his paid employment, he also takes his catalogue with him so he can visit the stamp shops of that place to augment his collection. While he invests what passes for passion in his character into his hobby, he prefers to keep his work as detached as humanly possible from his emotions. He becomes somewhat unsettled when a photograph given him so he can identify his target also contains likenesses of the subject's wife, children and family dog. Of course, as a professional, he is required to fulfill the terms of his contract, but he would prefer his victim not to appear to him as too human. This job is the first of a series that are less than perfect in many ways. Then Keller discovers that he has become someone to be removed rather than the remover.
A sympathetic assassin is a challenge for any writer to produce - although Ian Rankin did so very successfully in one of his Jack Harvey novels. Lawrence Block has performed the miracle here. The reader can identify with Keller as he faces dangers and tribulations and heartily wish him good luck when he embarks on amorous adventure. The effect an astrologer, recommended to him by his lady love, has on the killer is astonishing and far reaching yet every step of the adventure seems logical and convincing. Even the humorous but cold blooded approach of Keller's employer, Dot, does not seem grotesque in the setting provided by the author.
The reader could well expect that a book about murder would contain many gruesome scenes. Not so : this writer has spared us the all too frequent detail of blood and body parts to be found in the work of others. The dialogue is excellent. Some writers tend to permit only one voice to emerge from the mouths of a multitude of characters but none of Mr. Block's protagonists can be mistaken for another, from the wise cracking Dot, to the carefully considered speeches of Keller himself. The assassin frequently finds himself in moral dilemmas yet always manages to solve his problems according to his own esoteric code of ethics.
As one would expect from such a highly regarded author, this is an involving tale. There are a couple of little details with which I would take issue, but they are not enough to mar this excellent book: this novel is not obviously a collection of short stories, as was Hit Man yet there appears to be unnecessary repetition of circumstances throughout the chapters, constantly reintroducing facts that have gone before. The other detail which I found annoying was the occasion when Keller's woman friend had told the assassin that she had not been able to find him in the telephone directory. Keller replied that he had an unlisted number, yet the woman's rejoinder was that she now had his number because he had called her and she had Caller ID. From what I have been able to discover, that particular service is similar to the one here in Australia in that it does not provide unlisted numbers. A small thing, but a portion of the plot hinges on the point which should be amended. All that having been said, I shall, when next looking for something to read for pleasure, seek some of Mr. Block's earlier novels.
A Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, Lawrence Block is an extremely prolific writer. Not only does he write under that name but also as Chip Harrison and Paul Kavanagh. He has won an impressive number of awards including multiple Edgars and the Shamus. He has penned several series and created memorable protagonists, not the least memorable being Bernie Rhodenbarr, the charming Burglar who features in THE BURGLAR ON THE PROWL.
This current work sees Bernie persuaded to do a favour for a friend, Marty Gilmartin. Marty, although married, is lamenting his displacement from the affections of the gorgeous Marisol by the 'shitheel' plastic surgeon (also married) Crandall Rountree Mapes. Marty knows that Mapes owns a safe which is located in the doctor's house and he is certain that valuable items are concealed therein. To teach Mapes a lesson, he wants Bernie to burglarise the place and steal what he will.
Bernie's friend, lesbian Carolyn Kaiser, who is in search of a love, begs to be taken on the retributive venture, but as she is meeting a prospective flame on the proposed evening, asks for Bernie to delay the jaunt until she can join him. Bernie agrees but in his customary manner, sets out to discover the lay of the land in advance. Unlike his customary habit, he is unable to resist the temptation to practise his craft and hone his skills by breaking into an apartment without prior planning. He is horrified to hear a couple make their way into the apartment and discovers his way out is barred by a window nailed shut. Bernie hides under the bed, the only possible hiding place, and finds the woman owner of the apartment has been drugged and is raped by a mysterious man who then tosses her abode. Bernie has already stolen some of the girl's jewellery, which he returns when he notes the rapist has purloined more, as well as replacing money in her wallet from money he has filched from her freezer (Gee! I used to think the freezer in my place of business was a good place to hide the day's taking prior to returning to work of a morning and sending a staff member to the bank with it, too!)
The burglar is able to escape the apartment undetected and report to Carolyn on the happenings of the night. There are repercussions. He has been photographed by security cameras and is now a suspect in a robbery which went badly wrong and in which three people were left murdered. Bernie's sometime nemesis, sometime partner-in-crime, policeman Ray, takes Bernie to the police station despite really knowing Bernie would not commit such a crime and the complications multiply.
The tale takes on political aspects of a rather nasty kind, involving former denizens of the Baltic states as well as mobsters. The body count escalates and somehow a book sold by Bernie in his antiquarian bookshop assumes great importance. As Bernie himself admits, the long arm of coincidence has more than a passing dabble in the proceedings.
This is a light-hearted, totally unrealistic tale intended to be facilely
humorous. It is action, rather than character, driven and is, for the most
part, good fun. The situations are, largely, farce - including Bernie's
grand unveiling to which he summons more than twenty people. Perhaps I
am being unreasonable in that I do have a small criticism. The rape to
which Bernie is ear-witness strikes me as being a subject which should
not be treated quite so flippantly. The victim almost laughs off the episode.
Perhaps I am being unaccustomedly politically correct but I am afraid I
don't consider rape a topic to be so lightly treated. This criticism notwithstanding,
the book was up to Block's usual standard and should be greeted well by
his accustomed welcoming audience.
ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING
by Lawrence Block
ISBN 0752860194
288 pages
Orion
June 10 2005
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 2 2005
Lawrence Block is, of course, a Grand Old Man of crime fiction - with the extensive bibliography stretching back over decades to prove it. He has penned both fiction and non-fiction with several series within the fiction, such as those of Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner and Chip Harrison. ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING is another in the adventures of ex-cop Matt Scudder, a veritable old faithful.
In the Greensville Correctional Centre, Preston Applewhite is on Death Row, awaiting the execution of his death sentence in a few days for the rape and murder of three boys. He is visited by a man calling himself Arne Bodinson who describes himself as a psychologist doing some research. Bodinson describes this work in different terms to the warden from the way he describes it to Applewhite. To the latter, he says he is convinced of his innocence, to the former, he says the research concerns malefactors who may believe in their own innocence despite having committed the crimes. Nonetheless, when Bodinson tells Applewhite he is persuaded the prisoner is innocent, he is telling the truth - for the best (or worst) possible reasons.
Matt, in the meantime, is happily married to Elaine, a former prostitute. Matt has not held a PI licence for some time and doesn't wish to take any further cases. He is induced to take on that of Louise who is involved with a mystery man calling himself David Thompson. She wants Matt to investigate the man to find out a little about him before she commits herself to a heartfelt relationship. Elaine's best friend, Monica, is also involved with a mystery man but could it be the same man? Then murders are brought violently to the attention of Matt and Elaine in a way that makes it evident they, too, may be targets.
The narrative is related in both the first and third person. Matt recounts the chapters devoted to his adventures whilst those concerning Arne Bodinson (under all his names) are told in italics in the third person. All the murders are gory although some are more intimately detailed in description than others. The characterisations of Matt and Bodinson are well done but that of Elaine is less persuasive - perhaps Block feels his previous novels (possibly unread by this crop of readers) may have established her sufficiently. Other characters, too, are not terribly lifelike but the story would be much longer were the author to take too much time in constructing his people.
On the whole, this is a good, lively read, one calculated to leave
the audience wanting more.
HIT PARADE
by Lawrence Block
ISBN 0752873466
295 pages
Orion
October 6 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 3 2007
Here is what amounts to a collection of short stories featuring the inimitable New York hit man, Keller. The stories almost comprise a novel but are so loosely connected most of the time, that I feel they are best appreciated as an anthology.
The first two stories are, in my opinion, the least enjoyable of the book. The first concerns the assassination of a baseball star whose usefulness has waned and who is now more of a liability than an asset for his team. The second tale is about race horses and a fixed race. Perhaps my failure to find the stories' appeal is because of my ignorance of the subjects. Regardless, the remainder of the narratives contains far more of interest and, indeed, delight, than the first.
The subjects for assassination prove an eclectic mix. Keller even undertakes the murder of a dog, albeit unwillingly, for a cut price. The canine nature of the target, together with the short price, are not the only rules to be broken in this particular adventure. Keller never usually contemplates a killing in his home town, but for the dog, he makes an exception.
Murder is a profitable business for Keller. One would expect him to have a rather large retirement fund stowed in some place giving him a healthy return, but this is not so. Keller has a hobby: philately. His interest invariably tempts him to make expensive purchases which, of course, put on hold any idea of the killer abandoning his chosen profession in favour of indolent, well funded leisure. He toys with the notion and frequently plans for it, but always there is that purchase he must make which delays his ultimate gratification.
And speaking of gratification, Keller is not, in this series of stories,
sexually bereft. Of course, he is unable to divulge his activities to anyone
other than Dot, the middle man (so to speak) who sets up his professional
appointments. Occasionally he feels the need to unburden himself. I was
rather tickled to read his rather one-sided conversaton with a stuffed
toy. Mind, he does manage to talk to humans about the topic occasionally
but.........
On the whole, this collection is a delight. It is quite incredible how the reader will find it easy to identify with the killer, but we do, indeed, care what happens to him. He is so very human, as is exemplified in his many reported conversations with Dot. He has no scruples about his killings -- after all, it is his profession and he goes about things professionally and with great attention to detail. At one stage, he grapples with the notion that he might be a sociopath but eventually seems to dispel that worry.
The stories themselves contain twists and turns that readers will find unpredictable as well as entertaining. The dialogue is convincing, despite its strange nature and context, and Keller's actions seem quite logical and reasonable. Block proves himself a master of the short story form and provides a great deal that is humorous to leaven the black nature of his subject.
Long may this author continue to provide hits for his audience and may it never rain on his parade.
THE FIELDS OF GRIEF
by Giles Blunt
466 pages
ISBN 9780007151387
HarperCollins
November 3 2006
$32.99
November 26 2006
Canadian writer Giles Blunt subjects his protagonist, John Cardinal, to even more traumas than usual in THE FIELDS OF GRIEF. The novel begins innocuously enough on a beautiful night in Algonquin Bay, Canada. Catherine Cardinal, wife of Detective Sergeant John Cardinal, sets out on a photographic expedition the details of which she does not divulge to her husband. Stabliised on her psychotropic drugs (she suffers from Bipolar Disorder), Catherine exhibits all the signs of contentment.
Cardinal goes to work, where he has the unpleasant task of taking the Mayor to a stakeout at a motel in order to convince His Honour that his wife is not missing. While attending the infidelity scene, Cardinal is contacted to go to a mostly unoccupied building, The Gateway, where the body of a woman has been found, presumed to be a suicide. Cardinal is stunned to identify the corpse as that of his wife. He knows that the mood Catherine was displaying was certainly not one that would provoke her into suicide but a suicide note has been found with the body. Cardinal refuses to accept the general opinion and sets out to investigate, to the annoyance of his superiors and peers. Soon, his persistence seems justified when he begins to receive hate mail using references to Catherine's death. Could the sender be a murderer?
Lise Delorme, Cardinal's colleague, is directed to investigate a sexual predator whose photography of a little girl appears on the Net. The child appears to be about seven years of age at the beginning of the series but in more modern times seems to be about thirteen. Delorme is determined to track down the beast, who is probably the girl's guardian or even father, and bring him to justice.
Cardinal is unable to participate in any official investigation of his wife's death but soon there is another suicide: a young man who suffers from depression, shoots himself while standing in a laundrette, the place he met the girlfriend who has just ditched him.
I have to admit that I was very enthusiastic about Blunt's choice for the murderer. I don't know if there are many of that profession who have been cast as villains in crime fiction. If not, it is about time one of that ilk has been permitted, fictionally, to give free rein to his odd impulses. Blunt has done himself proud with this creation.
The characterisations in this work are excellent. The author has portrayed the grief and depression experienced by his characters extremely well. He has certainly made a very realistic case for his protagonist to exorcise his grief as he does, through his investigation. He has also strengthened the impression at which he previously only hinted in earlier books, that Delorme and Cardinal might just allow their emotions to proceed beyond the professional.
I trust it won't be too long before Giles Blunt releases a further installment
detailing the careers of both Cardinal and Delorme.
DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD
by Steven Bochco
ISN 0747571554
274 pages
Bloomsbury
December 5 2003
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
December 12 2003
Steven Bochco is no stranger to the world of fiction. He has won ten Emmy awards. Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue were the shows that garnered for him these tributes to his writing but now he turns his talents to producing a story in a different format : a novel. Mind, the physical appearance of the book is different from any other I have read. It is more like a typescript to look at, being set in a generous font called Sabon and being presented in double spaced lines. An odd conceit which delivers a smaller word count than one would anticipate on a brief inspection.
The narrative is told in the first person present tense. Eddie Jelko is an agent, mainly for screenwriters.
One of Jelko's clients is his friend Bobby Newman, but Bobby has his head around bottles of alcohol more often than over a keyboard and is suffering writers' block. Bobby is horrified to discover that his wife Vee is having an affair and precipitates a fight with her, which culminates in Vee leaving him.
Bobby has a powerful telescope which he tells his friends he uses to watch the stars. In fact, he peers through it to watch his neighbours. Engaged in this delightful distraction Bobby observes the wife of a Hollywood millionaire clobber her Latin lover Ramon with an acting award, rendering the would-be blackmailer speechless - and lifeless.
Bobby sees this little adventure as the solution to his inability to write. He goes to the house where the corpse is lying and discovers that the caddish Ramon used to film his bouts of sex, keeping a record of all his inamoratae together with their score, graded A to F. To his mortification, Bobby finds a video of Vee (graded B+) in the treasure trove and removes that as well as the incriminating film of the murder.
The writer then sets out to produce a screenplay which will see him back on the track to success. He befriends both the murderer, Linda Paulson, and the detective in charge of the case, Dennis Farentino, in order to get inside the minds of the future protagonists of his screenplay. An unlooked for benefit is that Dennis discovers he has the potential to collaborate with Bobby in writing so that there is a distinct possibility they will both be rich.
Eddie explains his knowledge of scenes that he portrays by saying some of them were told to him by Bobby and some he just plain invents as they seemed to be logical. Eddie sees himself as a decent man yet comes across as just as amoral as the other characters in the cast.
I can't say I cared much for any of the dramatis personae of this work. They all seemed particularly ruthless and amoral, if not downright immoral. The author did his best to make them appealing - even the murderer - yet somehow didn't quite make it in print. This is not to say that the story doesn't work, because it does. I just didn't care for the characters.
On the whole, the book is quite entertaining and displays a fair bit
of humour. There is, of course, a quirky ending that I doubt leaves room
for a sequel. Nonetheless, I would be interested to read any more novels
from this writer, should they appear in the future.
AWAKENING
by S J Bolton
ISBN 9780593059241
395 pages
BANTAM PRESS
April 1 2009
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 16 2009
Now, Dear Reader, I hope you are in the mood for a tale that will, for a time, at least, have the hairs on the back of your neck a-prickling.
Clara Benning is a veterinary surgeon. She has chosen, as much as possible, the life of a recluse because an accident in her childhood has left her horribly disfigured (although the text of the book implies that she is, possibly, not as marred as she imagines.) One morning, after her run, she receives a telephone call from a distraught mother. There is a snake in her new babyís cot, accompanying the baby at close quarters. Clara hurries to the dramatic scene and, fortunately, manages to remove the danger and release the poisonous reptile back into its natural habitat.
Clara works for The Little Order of St Francis, at a hospital that treats British wildlife, but things are happening that could best be described as ìunusual.î After her rescue of the baby, she is contacted by a doctor who wishes to ask her about a deceased patient-- one who died from a dose of snake venom. More puzzling was the amount of venom discovered in the body-- rather more than could be delivered by one snake, although only one was found and that had been killed by the victim.
When Clara checks her records, she learns that there have been a number of incidents in her village, far more than is usual, involving snakes.
As if the dramas in her village were not enough, Clara learns that her mother has died.
To add to Claraís perceived horrors, she is approached by a band member who is looking for a vocalist for her band. She has overheard Claraís singing and wants her beautiful voice to become an attraction for their outfit-- the thought of which being enough to horrify the reclusive, scarred woman.
This is an exceptionally well written work. It takes two horrors-- first, the almost instinctive fear of snakes and secondly, the horror a person bearing scars feels on having to expose herself to the public gaze, throws in a soupçon of the supernatural and presents an engaging tale, engaging despite the overtones of horror.
Something which, indirectly, adds to the perception of horror is the fact that Clara is an Archdeaconís daughter. To my mind, the religious angle can give implications of supernatural intervention without actually producing any ghosties, ghoulies or long legged beasties. Never mind long legged beasties-- the legless reptiles are sufficiently horrific in themselves.
The characterisation of the piece is excellent. Clara, scarred as she
is, is a convincing protagonist, damaged, but seeing herself more unattractive
than she really is. The minor characters are also convincing and the story
itself, the motivations of the malefactors, are necessary and sufficient.
THE LAST TESTAMENT
by Sam Bourne
ISBN 9780007203338
442 pages
HarperCollins
$32.99
July 1 2007
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 12 2007
Given that "Sam Bourne" is the nom-de-plume of Jonathan Freedland, a veteran of the Middle East conflict and award winning journalist, one has every right to expect top quality, well informed prose in this book. One would not be disappointed.
The book opens with the looting of the Baghdad National Museum of Antiquities. A boy, Salam, is disappointed to discover that the steel box he had liberated from a makeshift safe contains not jewels or money, but a simple clay tablet.
The action moves to Israel some years later, where, as seems a constant state of affairs, talks aimed at promoting peace between Israel and Palestine are ongoing. At a talk given by the Prime Minister, Professor Shimon Guttman attempts to give the PM a note but security agents interpret Guttman's reaching into his pocket as a prelide to bringing out a weapon and the elderly man is shot dead.
Maggie Connolly is retired from being a mediator on the world stage. Now she attempts to promote understanding between warring couples. She lives with a bossy boyfriend, seemingly content, but when a functionary of the US government approaches her with a request to resume her old duties, but in Tel Aviv, she accepts.
Maggie teams up with Guttman's son, Uri, after Rachel Guttman, his mother, is also assassinated -- although the killing is made to look like suicide. Very soon, the clay tablet and the inscription thereon, begin to take on a great deal of importance.
I suppose it is difficult for people in certain sectors of society to come to grips with the notion that other folk can take their religion extremely seriously, to the extent of going to war for their beliefs. Certainly the Arab/Jew conflict is a case in point. The author has done a very good job in portraying people from both sides, not to mention the general situation prevailing in Israel. I would find fault with it only in the way the time frame jumps around, which can confuse.
I felt the characterisations, as well as the portrayal of political conditions in the region, were well done. Maggie and Uri come across as being credible humans. One can only hope that the politicians of the tale aren't realistic reflections of reality, but no doubt that is a vain hope. I was particularly appalled when the American apparatchiks disclose the reason for Maggie's secondment to their forces but, unfortunately, it sounds all too possible.
This volume has been likened to Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE but
I feel that does "Bourne" a disservice. THE LAST TESTAMENT seems
to me to be a far more believable work. If the author can maintain this
standard, it will be interesting to read any further efforts on his part.
BLUE HEAVEN
by CÝJÝBox
ISBN 978031238673
344 pages
ST MARTINíS MINOTAUR
May 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 27 2008
So many thrillers, that one sees proliferating in the bookstores these days, donít; this one does. From the opening pages, where twelve year-old Annie Taylor and her little brother William are trudging through difficult country, amongst the willows, attempting to find the perfect fishing spot, until almost the final page, the book sinks long claws into the readerís psyche and simply wonít let go. The thrills flood into the mind and drown the consciousness in apprehension. You see, Annie and William watch four men kill a fifth, shooting him in an especially brutal way. Unfortunately, the men see Annie and William, realise they have witnessed the execution, so set out to run the children to ground and execute them in their turn.
The children successfully evade the furious men and they attempt to take shelter with nearby landowners. Eventually, they find sanctuary with Jess Rawlins. Jess is a near bankrupt rancher, target of a man-eating UPS delivery woman, Fiona Pritzle, a nasty, rumour mongering, trouble making person who loves to know all the gossip that is going around and what she doesnít know, she invents. To my mind, she is equally as wicked as the four murderous ex-cops.
For yes, the killers seen by Annie and William are, indeed, retired policemen. They have retired, along with scores of their fellow officers, to Northern Idaho, to the area known as Blue Heaven, but, unlike their contemporaries, they have a secret-- and a great deal more money than the other former cops.
Another policeman, this one newly retired from the LAPD, is in town. Eduardo Villatoro has unfinished business. He had been attempting to close the case of the Santa Anita Racetrack robbery for years and even though he has been retired for all of two days, he is determined to bring the robbers-- who are also killers-- to justice.
The bad ex-cops seem to have everything on their side. They feign concern for the missing children (well, they are concerned, just not for the same reasons as the rest of the town) and take control of organising the search from the inexperienced new sheriff. They turn aside offers of help from former colleagues and decide that they will be utterly successful in their drive to destroy the youngsters.
Another story intertwined with the main one, is the tale of the bank manager. He has a dark secret and, because of it, has put himself in thrall to the four executioners.
The two characters I admire most in this work are Annie and Jess. They have been well constructed indeed. The villains have been painted in the deepest of dark colours -- although the method they employ to get rid of troublesome corpses is one used years ago by Ian Rankin. Still, it is efficient and effective.
For all that so much of the book is excellently done, the author has produced some soft patches that, perhaps, could have been excised to benefit the whole.
To me, the ending seemed a bit of a cop-out. I felt as though the author might have got a bit tired of it all and just sought to wrap it up as quickly as possible. That part could have been done better.
For all that I found some minor faults with this novel, it is, on the
whole, extremely good. I wish there were more of of its calibre around
at present.
RESTLESS
by William Boyd
325 pages
ISBN 0747586225
BLOOMSBURY
October 6 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 9 2006
More than sixty years after the conclusion of the second World War and nearly a century after the beginning of the Great War, stories of these conflicts still have the power to enthrall. Writers have discovered that tales of the duplicitous dealings of spies on every side of conflicts exert a strange fascination on readers. Award winning author William Boyd writes an edgy thriller about a mother with a mysterious past who involves her initially disbelieving daughter in a quest both to preserve her life as well as to avenge a series of wrongs perpetrated during World War II, prior to the entry of the United States into the fray.
In 1976, single mother Ruth Gilmartin is given a folder containing the opening chapter of THE STORY OF EVA DELECTORSKAYA by her mother, Sally Gilmartin. Ruth has the disdainful, slightly contemptuous regard for her mother so frequently displayed by children toward their aging parents and at first suspects Sally of incipient dementia. Sally is certainly displaying what could well be interpreted as paranoia but persuades her daughter to read what she says is an account of her own life, the life of Eva.
Eva's story begins in Paris, in 1939, at the funeral of her brother, Kolia. Kolia has been murdered and soon thereafter Eva meets Lucas Romer, a man who claims Kolia had been working for him. Lucas asks Eva to take up where her brother left off and to work for him and the British government.
Despite her misgivings but with her father's encouragement, Eva accedes to Romer's request and is soon being trained in the arts of spying, in a lonely outpost in Scotland. She proves an apt pupil. She feels the need for a closer contact with Romer than that of master and acolyte and soon occupies the position of his lover.
A spy's life is a difficult one. Eva understands she must always have a bolt hole, a safe house to which she may retreat and soon it becomes second nature to prepare such a safe haven for herself, no matter where she is: a stratagem that is to save her life on more than one occasion.
The newly minted spy becomes a pseudo journalist in Belgium, spreading false stories that cause consternation in the bosoms of the Axis powers. Her life changes even more when she is sent to the US which is still remaining aloof from the war. She becomes part of a news organisation run by the British government which attempts to seduce the US, by fair means or foul, into joining the conflict. The most urgent need for deception ceases on the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Ruth, whose story is told in the first person, gradually becomes convinced of the veracity of her mother's narrative. Soon she is drawn into the shady world of intrigue when her mother requests Ruth's help in speaking to Lucas, now a respectable, although aging, life peer.
The spy's daughter is having problems of her own. The father of her son is a German academic. His brother arrives unexpectedly in Oxford and settles happily into living in Ruth's home. Unfortunately, a friend soon comes to join him and it is quite possible that she is a member of the Baader Meinhof gang. Ruth must therefore balance looking after her son against the perils that could be presented by her unwelcome boarders. Then there is a possible love interest in the person of Hamid, a student of hers of Iranian origin, one whose brother had been murdered by the Shah's secret police.
The glimpse into the historically valid machinations of the Allies in attempting to involve the US in the war is fascinating. The notions of necessary distrust are unsettling, as is the thought that once one has been a spy, the rest of one's life must be spent alert and watchful of reprisals.
When I read the beginning of the tale, I thought that there would be some definite resolution to the mystery surrounding Kolia's death but there is none. While I understand that such an investigation would extend the length of the book, I felt a trifle cheated that it was dismissed so facilely.
Eva's characterisation is powerful: that of Ruth is rather less so. There is a remarkable lack of gore, despite the subject matter of the book, so that the one killing scrutinised in any sort of detail proves more ghastly than a cluster of killings might in another novel.
I've no doubt that this is a book that will stay in my mind for quite
some time to come.
TALK TALK
by T. C. Boyle
ISBN 0747584249
340 pages
Bloomsbury
September 1 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 12 2006
Now here is a cautionary tale on more than one level. Identity theft is something about which we are increasingly being warned and discrimination against the handicapped, not to mention perceptions of the world by handicapped people is something about which everyone should be on their guard.
Dana Halter is a teacher. One ignominious morning she is running late for a dental appointment, after which she is due in class and carelessly, she goes through a stop sign without stopping. Unfortunately for her, there is a patrol car parked nearby and a young cop accosts her. To Dana's amazement and horror, after checking something on his radio, the policeman returns and arrests her. Helpless, baffled and enraged, she is taken to the police station where she is detained. Allowed a single phone call, Dana, by way of the police supplied, singularly unpleasant interpreter, calls her boyfriend Bridger Martin. He hastens to the police station, having told his boss he won't be long but his stay is seemingly endless as he is not permitted to see Dana.
It becomes apparent that Dana is the victim of identity theft. To add insult to injury, the thief is male. He has perpetrated crimes and skipped bail, which prevents Dana from obtaining bail.
Once her situation is sorted, to a degree, and she is released Dana and Bridger set out to track the thief and bring him to justice.
The reader is given an insight into the thief as the author shifts the point of view from the goodies to the baddies.
The villain is an ex-con named William Peck Wilson. He had perpetrated a violent crime against his wife's boyfriend, which caused his imprisonment. Whilst in gaol, he is tutored in the fine art of snatching someone else's identity by a fellow con, Sandman.
Wilson sees the world as owing him a living. Life has stolen his wife and daughter so he is entitled to rob anyone and everyone in order to exact payment in return. It is sheer chance that he steals Dana's identity and he is later surprised to learn the Ph.D. is a woman.
Peck, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's daughter leave their home and flee from California across the country to New York, with Dana and Bridger in hot pursuit. In the meantime, he learns Bridger's name and steals his identity, too, using up all the money the man has at his disposal.
This really is a chilling story. The author manages to capture the feeling of impotence and fear experienced by Dana as she languishes in the inhuman conditions of the gaol. He conveys to the reader her helplessness, while dropping into the narrative the fact that, despite popular belief, deafness sufferers are able to understand only a fraction of what is going on around them in the world of the hearing.
The author has drawn extremely believable characters, from the hapless
and impotent Dana to the supremely selfish Peck. The incidents of the action
are logical, if harrowing, as the narrative draws to an almost inevitable
conclusion.
THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD
by Tom Bradby
Corgi Books
ISBN 0-552-14587-4
$17.95
February 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
British author Tom Bradby has one previous novel, Shadow Dancer, to his credit. He is resident in Hong Kong which made me think this book might have some Chinese type locations but there was little more than a passing glance at Beijing.
The prologue to The Sleep of the Dead, now released in small format, sees the child Julia Havilland stumble on the body of detested neighbour, promiscuous Sarah Ford. Sarah's daughter Alice, rather younger than Julia but still Julia's playmate, has disappeared and is presumed murdered.
Fifteen years later, Julia has followed her dead hero father, Mitchell Havilland, killed in the Falklands War, into the military, becoming the first woman to win the coveted Sword of Honour award at Sandhurst but is now facing an enquiry into her unprofessional conduct when working in Beijing. Julia returns home to await the verdict of the enquiry and discovers that Pascoe, for whom her father gave his life but who has been in gaol for the murder of Sarah and Alice, has been released. Julia is enlisted by psychologist, Professor Malcolm, who is convinced of Pascoe's innocence of the crime, to help in a review of the case.
Initially I found it difficult to become immersed in the narrative but the tale grew on me until I found it hard to put down. Bradby has the true story-teller's gift of maintaining the reader's interest while being very sparing about handing out clues.
The character of Julia Havilland is very well and convincingly drawn... the girl driven by the memory of her heroic father, wishing to live up to the ideals which she perceives as being his, yet fearing that his actions may have been less than ideal. The other protagonists are equally believable as Julia and Malcolm penetrate their facades and discover just what really happened, both in the action of the Falklands and the ghastly murders. Pascoe, while perhaps being a victim, is believably portrayed as not really an innocent.
The story, dealing as it does with war and murder, contains a certain amount of grue, but I would hesitate to call it gratuitous. It provides glimpses of both army and English village life as well as a brief look at how the military works, as well as how one trusts it does not work.
The clues to the murderer are fairly provided and an astute reader should be able to guess the identity of the killer before the dénouement but I would not go so far as to say the murderer's identity is blindingly obvious. There is a parallel investigation into Julia's fall from grace in Beijing conducted by her sometime lover, Mac, which inevitably becomes part of the 'review' of the earlier case being investigated by Malcolm and Julia.
It is a great pity that subediting lapses detract from one's full enjoyment
of the work. It is not what I would describe as fast-paced and to have
to stop and think about just what is meant when words are omitted, as happens
all too frequently throughout the text, can only provide dissatisfaction
with what would otherwise be an enjoyable read.
THE MASTER OF RAIN
by Tom Bradby
Bantam Press
ISBN 0-593-04816-4
$31.95
February 01 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
It almost goes without saying that for Tom Bradby to have attained his current status in the world of journalism, he must be able to write. Those of us who have read his two previous novels of suspense, Shadow Dancer and Sleep of the Dead can attest to the fact that his skill in writing extends beyond mere reporting of facts. Formerly a political correspondent in Ireland for ITN, Bradby has more latterly been posted in Asia. Unsurprising, then, that The Master of Rain has the ring of authenticity both in its setting and in its historical detail.
The main protagonist of this book is Richard Field, an idealistic Yorkshireman newly come to Shanghai. One wonders at Bradby's choice of background for Field. Certainly, the Yorkshire accent is one which, for me at least, has an unexplainable attraction but what did the author see to cause him to so categorise Field. Was it a Yorkshireman's bluntness or perhaps his honesty? Both these attributes are exhibited by this attractive but tormented character.
Impecunious Field, once in Shanghai, is placed in the Special Branch of the local police force. He discovers that there are two factions within the body, one led by Crime chief Macleod and one by the head of Special Branch, Granger. There is a great deal of ill will between the two groups, heightened by the fact that the position of Commissioner is to become vacant and the heads of both groups are candidates for the job. A Russian woman, Lena Orlov, a prostitute working as a tea dancer, has been murdered in a particularly horrible way. Field is attached to the Crime team to help solve the killing. Local underworld figure, Lu Huang, is suspected of being involved in the crime yet it is made clear to Field that the Chinaman is above any action to be taken by the police. Field meets a friend of Lena's, beautiful Natasha Medvedev, and is soon fearful that she may become another victim of the killer. But Medvedev is a Russian girl and in the Shanghai society of the time, is considered unimportant and totally expendable.
Field is soon unexpectedly on friendly terms with his American partner, Caprisi, as the two, together with Chinese detective Chen, attempt to solve the crime. It becomes obvious to Field that a large portion of the police force has been suborned to Lu Huang's team. How many of the police are, indeed, traitors unwilling to solve a string of brutal murders is unclear and Richard finds his certainties becoming eroded as he attempts to distinguish between friend and renegade. Field himself is torn between clinging to his honest poverty and admirable principles or accepting largesse either from his wealthy and powerful uncle or the dubious special 'allowance' which has been deposited into his bank account.
The Shanghai of 1926 comes to life in Bradby's deft portrayal of the conditions pertaining there at the time. The attitude of the old British Raj where a pampered few were catered to by completely biddable servants is brilliantly depicted. The plight of the Russians fleeing the Communists newly come to power in their homeland is poignantly portrayed. The conflict that must be endured by an idealistic young man is excellently drawn and the entire story told in a crisp prose style and at a cracking pace. The plot is very well done with no obvious suspension of disbelief required. Altogether an exciting and enthralling read which one can only hope will be followed by further novels of equal merit.
American by birth but resident in Britain, Joan Brady is a very interesting author to watch. She was the first woman, and certainly the first American, to win the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, which she garnered for THEORY OF WAR. Intriguing to note that although Brady has written several books, BLEEDOUT is her first thriller. The work was therapeutic for her after a shocking encounter with the South Hams District Council in which she became the victim of that Council by way of litigation despite the Council's fault in permitting a shoe factory to be built next door, the chemical fumes from which injured the author's health. The Council does not escape unscathed from the contre temps since the infamous prison in which one of the characters of the book spends nearly two decades, has been named after that authority.
The book is told in two voices, one being in the first person from lawyer Hugh Freyl, who narrates up until his grisly murder, the other in the third person from the point of view of David Marion, a child murderer imprisoned for two killings when he was aged fifteen. Freyl had been suddenly rendered blind and therefore abandoned his profession. It is not until he and other blind people are badly treated during the course of an outing that he regains the motivation to return to the practise of law. He then decides to put himself in a position to help others so signs up for the Illinois State Literacy in Prison program so that he may aid illiterate prisoners and try to help them improve their lives. Soon after this, he meets the fifteen year-old murderer, David Marion, and becomes obsessed with discovering why the lad killed while at the same time he educates David to a high standard indeed. Just as he is about to be murdered, Hugh reflects that he never did, despite twenty years of attempting, discover the reason for the murders.
This book is completely engrossing. I dare any reader to put it down willingly before completing it. It is a complex psychological study of a privileged class, exemplified by Hugh's family and friends, and the severely deprived, personified in David, an orphan abused in foster homes and detention centres, and his friend Tony, another victim of foster homes but one who has maintained a sense of humour, albeit a warped one which causes him to delight in practical jokes. The author gives horrific detail of life in prison and the stratagems a young boy must adopt in order to survive. The vile South Hams prison dehumanises its inmates at the same time it undermines their rights and defiles the shreds of their characters. The way a former prisoner learns to adjust to the outside world after nearly two decades of imprisonment is fascinating, to say the least.
I cannot speak highly enough of this novel. The plotting is intricate
but completely credible; the dramatis personae are all too believable
while the indignities inflicted by class systems, both within and without
the boundaries of the official prison, are never less than enthralling.
Despite the length of the novel, interest is maintained throughout and
I defy the reader to guess the identity of the murderer before the author
reveals it. Let's hope Joan Brady decides not to limit her thrillers to
this single opus.
THE NEW GLUCOSE REVOLUTION
WHAT MAKES MY BLOOD GLUCOSE
GO UP AND DOWN?
by Prof. Jennie Brand-Miller
Kaye Foster-Powell and Rick Mendosa
ISBN 0733618464
Hodder
178 pages
February 23 2004
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
March 14 2004
Now here is a handy little book for people with diabetes (or for those who are not quite so politically correctly minded, diabetics) and their families, people suffering hypoglycaemia, people who may have suffered transient attacks of diabetes - e.g. gestational diabetes - or people who are simply concerned about their health and the best way to promote good health.
Jennie Brand-Miller is Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney, Kaye Foster-Powell is a dietitian and Rick Mendosa, a journalist. Most importantly, Rick Mendosa suffers from Type Two Diabetes and thus has more than a purely academic interest in the notions propounded in this little gem of a publication.
There are a few authors who suffer from diabetes. Most notable of such Australian authors is Peter Corris who, in the interests of suspense, inflicted the condition on his fictional detective protagonist, Cliff Hardy. Whilst The New Glucose Revolution series may not be quite as entertaining or exciting as Peter Corris' volumes, at least they do not give the impression, as Corris' books do, that hard drinking and dangerous living can promote a cure for diabetes - whereas Cliff Hardy now seems completely cured of his ailment.
What Makes My Blood Glucose Go Up And Down is divided into two main parts - Part One being Your Blood Glucose Levels and Part Two What Makes My Blood Glucose Levels Go Down. It is subdivided into a hundred and one questions that people may ask - or even questions people may not ever have considered! A relative late-comer to science, the Glycaemic Index together with the Glycaemic Load is examined in depth, including where to find a list of foods and their glycaemic index as well as a useful indicator for working out the effect on one's body.
Some of the interesting questions considered in the book are: What is a normal blood glucose level? I don't have diabetes. Do I still have to watch my blood glucose levels? Are foods with lower GI values better than those weith higher ones? What are the worst foods for raising blood glucose levels? As someone with diabetes how can I avoid ever needing insulin?
There are many useful tips on how to arrange one's diet as well as information
as to the effect of exercise on one's blood sugar. All in all, the book
is an excellent reference for diabetes sufferers and a very useful addition
to The New Glucose Revolution series.
THE CAT WHO ROBBED A BANK
by Lilian Jackson Braun
Headline
ISBN 0-7472-6215-2
For years I have attempted to analyse just whyÝ I enjoy Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat WhoÝ series; I still have not come up with the definitive answer.
Well is the series dubbed 'cosy' (or 'cozy' depending on where you live). I, for one, am always left with a delicious feeling of contentment after concluding yet another of Braun's novels, and The Cat Who Robbed a BankÝ is no exception to the rule.
Wherein lies the charm (and charm is indeed the operative word) of the stories? Pickax, the city '400 miles north of everywhere' where the action of Braun's later novels occurs, is the sort of place where one would wish to grow up and then return to after adventuring in the wider world. The author's characters are the sort of people one would like to know. In the words of Australia's wonderful Dame Edna Everage, they're so nice. They really are the kind of neighbours anyone would appreciate.
Braun is a fluent and interesting writer. There is never a swear word ejaculated by any harassed character, farmer, journalist or policeman. Or murderer, for that matter. There is never any graphic sex (although Jim Qwilleran, the hero of the series, is invited in for, or invites his lady friend in for, drinks, and it is indicated that considerable time elapses before one or other of the two departs). And the protagonists are not young and lusty, but fiftyish and settled.
Feline detective, Koko (Braun is obviously a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan) is a Siamese who always points to the miscreant presumably because of a psychic power endowed on him by his extra whiskers. Similarly, millionaire journalist (seems to be a contradiction in terms there somewhere) Jim Qwilleran has strange tinglings in his luxuriant moustache when something suspicious occurs. Other books in the feline detective sub-genre make me shudder at their tweeness which is notably absent from Braun's opus.
It is good to see that in her later books the author has stopped knocking off Qwill's friends. The reader could have been jolted by having a sympathetic character from an earlier book being ruthlessly murdered. Now the writer callously imports people from 'down below' in order to eliminate them. And a good thing too!
In this tale, smarmy, handkissing Mr. Delacamp, a dealer in estate jewellery who visits Pickax every few years, is topped in the Mark Twain suite of the rebuilt hotel... which had been bombed in an earlier novel. The ultimate perpetrator of the crime is never really in doubt, and Koko identifies the murderer and the clues to the malefactor at every turn. Qwill, naturally, does not recognise the significance of all the clues until the last page.
Unlike the detectives of other series, Qwill rarely comes to physical harm. His is a laid back form of detecting. He just relaxes and lets things happen, realising after the event what Koko has been trying to tell him. Of late, too, Braun has not permitted likeable people of earlier books to metamorphose into villains.
There is always a heavy emphasis on food, community activities and gracious living in the Cat WhoÝ books. The values promoted are those we would, on the whole, like to see adopted universally.
The pace of the books is not rapid and I never find myself holding my breath in excitement as I read. Nonetheless, I would not be able to leave one of the stories unfinished. Other writers splatter gore ruthlessly throughout their narratives causing me to skip some passages, a fate that never befalls when I read about Jim Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum.
Please, Ms. Braun, don't abandon the cat who to a shelter.
ÝÝ
THE CAT WHO WENT UP THE CREEK
by Lilian Jackson Braun
ISBN 0-7472-6506-2
214 pages
Headline
August 8 2002
$17.95
reviewed by Denise Wels
The fact that Lilian Jackson Braun spent many years of her journalistic career as editor of Good Living Magazine may account for some of the milieu of her protagonist, James Mackintosh Qwilleran. Ms Braun has been reported as giving the almost clichéd advice of 'Write about what you know' to aspiring authors. She certainly appears to have followed her own advice. Qwill's cats. KoKo and Yum Yum (they may not have got to end up together in The Mikado but they have done in Pickax) are inspired by Braun's own cats. Qwill began as a composite of some of the author's journalistic friends and other characters are reflections of people in this prolific writer's life. The emphasis on good living in the series possibly also owes a great deal to the author's previous employment.
In 1966, Lilian Jackson Braun, inspired by an accident suffered by one of her own beloved cats, wrote The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. This was followed within a couple of years by The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern and The Cat Who Turned On and Off. Despite the popularity of her books, the author fell silent so far as fiction was concerned for nearly twenty years, then came The Cat Who Sniffed Glue, The Cat Who Went Underground, The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts, The Cat Who Lived High, The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, The Cat Who Moved a Mountain, The Cat Who Wasn't There, The Cat Who Went Into the Closet, The Cat Who Came to Breakfast, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, The Cat Who Said Cheese, , The Cat Who Tailed a Thief , The Cat Who Sang for the Birds The Cat Who Saw Stars, The Cat Who Robbed a Bank The Cat Who Smelled a Rat and now The Cat Who Went Up TheCreek .
Ms Braun has attributed her unlikely success to the fact that people are sick of the violence so beloved of many of her peers. It seems she is correct. Her tales of likeable, real people and their pets have passionate adherents. When Ms Braun moved from the big city to a small town, Qwilleran packed up his Qwill pen and his beloved pets and moved, a new billionaire, to Pickax in Moose County, He never lost a fan nor she a reader.
In this latest episode of the exploits of KoKo, Qwill, as a favour to friends Lori and Nick Bamba, has moved to the Nutcracker Inn to investigate why Lori has felt she is under an unhappy cloud there. He solves that mystery, uncovering a precious trove of antique furniture at the same time but then the dead bodies start to appear. The creek (up which KoKo goes in the title of the novel) yields a murdered body, one readily identified and one which is carrying a hidden collection of small gold nuggets.
Qwill is moved into one of the cabins at the Inn and there meets the various inhabitants of the other cabins, including one unpopular woman whom he, with the aid of his cats, routs. With the mystery pushed almost into the background of the day to day community doings of Moose County, Qwilleran ponders the travels of his lady love, Polly, and wonders and worries about her new male friend. He goes about his everyday business, eating the finest provender, caring for his cats, researching items for his articles and, just by the by, taking an interest in the increasing body count. His massive moustache (I wonder if Earl Bettinger sports the same) echoes the feelings transmitted by KoKo's extra set of whiskers in that it gives him premonitory twinges when something nasty is about to happen.
There is a heavy emphasis on conservation in this outing. Much of the mystery
is intrinsic to it. Readers need not expect a fast pace, just well written
prose and a gradual heightening of tension as Qwill seeks to interpret
KoKo's clues to the solution of the mystery. There are the well drawn characters
one has come to expect of this charming storyteller as well as the constant
introduction of gourmet food. and gracious living in general together with
an indication of strong community spirit. Qwill's contemporaries
have the familiar problems and joys to be found in a small town,
problems and joys that reflect many of those besetting Braun's faithful
readers who are unlikely to desert her as they prepare to wait for the
next book in her engaging series.
DIGITAL FORTRESS
by Dan Brown
ISBN 0552151696
510 pages
Corgi Books
April 1 2004
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
February 28 2004
Digital Fortress was the first novel, now reissued in small paperback format, of English teacher turned author Dan Brown. It was a visit to his college by agents of the Secret Service that piqued the interest of the lecturer in just how the law enforcement officers learned of the contents of private e-mails sent between two students and inspired Brown's research into the National Security Agency and therefore his writing of this techno-thriller. Brown followed this debut with Angels & Demons, Deception Point and The Da Vinci Code.
The story opens, as do so many mystery and crime fiction books, with a death, that of Ensei Tankado, a brilliant cryptographer and former employeee of the National Security Agency, now regarded as a rogue. Tankado is desperately attempting to convey to onlookers a message of great importance and is apparently trying to give away a mysteriously inscribed gold ring set on his horribly deformed three-fingered hand.
Mathematician Susan Fletcher is not impressed when her boyfriend, languages instructor David Becker, calls her to cancel their getaway weekend. He is unable to disclose the reason for his defection until much later in the book as whenever he tries to contact her, the telephones simply do not work. He flies to Seville, in Spain, on the instruction of Susan's own boss, Commander Trevor Strathmore. Strathmore summons Fletcher to the Agency to help him with some dificulties with which he is wrestling while not disclosing to her that he was responsible for David's absence.
The kerfuffle is because Ensei Tankado has boasted that he has devised a totally unbreakable code, his Digital Fortress. The NSA has a secret weapon, a machine known as TRANSLTR which is capable of breaking any code in existence - any code, that is, until it encounters Digital Fortress. While he makes the Fortress available to all on the Internet, Ensei offers to auction his key to it to the highest bidder. He has become disillusioned with the NSA and its invasion of the privacy of the entire world and so is doing his best to protect the secrets of the world's inhabitants, innocent and guilty alike.
Both David in Seville and Susan back at the ranch - err, that is, the National Security Agency - are subjected to horrifying physical perils at the rate of those proliferating in an Indiana Jones movie or a Saturday afternoon matinee. There are astonishing revelations at every turn while a hired assassin - but hired by whom? - stalks David and the NSA hardware threatens to divulge all of its secrets to a predatory world.
While there is no fault to be found with the tension and pace of the novel, characterisation is lacking. There are a number of very simplistic mysteries which would surely not mystify many readers. It is incredible that a cryptographer would let a phrase such as 'without wax' puzzle her for too long yet this is one of the major items to baffle Susan Fletcher throughout the tale. I found it equally impossible to believe a linguist such as David Becker would be arithmetically challenged to the extent of not knowing the product of four and sixteen.
Presumably, since they achieved best-sellerdom, Brown's later works
possessed more sophistication than this early work. Brown's knowledge and
research is excellent and the notion of such a machine as TRANSLTR together
with the authorities' capabilities to eavesdrop on the world's conversations
is an intriguing one. Perhaps the reader would find it difficult to empathise
with the heroine who has no difficulty in justifying the rights of the
agency for which she works to invade the privacy of individuals - and herein
lies the weakness of the story.It would have been a more powerful book
had it been told from the viewpoint of Tankado rather than from that
of the lovelorn duo of Fletcher and Becker. Whatever, the whole was just
too shallow for mature readers with a reasonable knowledge. Still, the
novel showed promise which was apparently fulfilled in his later
work.
THE DA VINCI CODE
by Dan Brown
ISBN 0552149519
604 pages
Corgi Books
April 1 2004
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 12 2004
If any reader has not heard of Dan Brown, it is not the fault of the bestseller lists. His books take unerring aim at the lists, no doubt to the great profit of the author.
Brown is enthusiastic about many things. He grew up against a religious background and is now married to an artist/art historian. Small wonder, then, that he incorporates knowledge gleaned from these things with his love of codes. DIGITAL FORTRESS proved his ability with codes. ANGELS AND DEMONS (where Brown's protagonist Robert Langdon first appeared) demonstrated his knowledge of iconography, religion and again with codes. Now the author plunges his adventure-prone academic into further conspiracies.
In the prologue to this remarkable novel, Jacques Sauniere, curator of the Louvre, is murdered by an albino monk. The monk, Silas, a member of the mysterious Opus Dei, informs the unfortunate curator that his seneschaux have also been killed. Silas has demanded to know the whereabouts of an item and says that the seneschaux revealed all but still died. Now it is up to Sauniere to confirm the secret location. Then Silas will be the only living being in possession of the knowledge. Understanding that he has only a very limited time to live, Sauniere leaves a cryptic message for whomever will find his body, hoping that the true knowledge - which was not shared with his murderer - will somehow be revealed to the people whom he trusts the most.
The message left by Sauniere implicates Robert Langdon in the murder. Sophie Neveu, Agent of the Cryptology Department of the Parisian law enforement agency, Sauniere's granddaughter and intended recipient of his message, arrives at the scene of the murder and alerts Robert Langdon to the fact that he is in grave danger should he remain at the mercy of the gendarmerie. The two escape and throw themselves on the mercy of a friend of Langdon's, a Grail enthusiast, after first picking up the mysterious object for which Silas had committed the murders.
The DA VINCI CODE is an extremely complex book. How should one go about reading it? It contains references to art works, secret codes and arcane societies. There is also an alternative history of Jesus Christ - although one that has been mooted before in real life. The author is not averse to including in-jokes and bits of secret code of his own in his narrative. Altogether, the novel is far too complex for a reader to appreciate it in one sitting or, indeed, in one reading. Perhaps the best method for complete digestion of the work is to read it first as a thriller, then go back and check the items that the author mentions. To my mind, this is the only way to appreciate such a book to the full.
THE SWITCH
by Sandra Brown
Piatkus
ISBN 0-7499-3255-4
$16.95
September 13 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
Sandra Brown had occupied a variety of jobs before working on PM Magazine, the part time employmewnt which she eventually lost.. She was inspired by authors interviewed by her TV personality husband Michael Brown so attended a writers' conference. As a result, she turned to romance writing. Her first two books, Love's Encore and Love Beyond Reason were published within a couple of weeks of each other in 1981. Over the years Brown has used a variety of noms-de-plume including her real name, Laura Jordan, Rachel Ryan (a combination of her children's names) and Erin St. Clair. Brown broadened her writing scope in 1987 and eventually saw her enterprise rewarded when her 1990 novel, Mirror Image landed on the New York Times bestseller list. Since then, all of her novels have been seen on the list. Her latest work Envy, was immediately placed No.2 on the list on its release. Standoff and The Switch are two of her later novels but I do not propose to list all her oeuvres lest they take up my allottment of words. Suffice it to say that while her earlier books were tossed off at the rate of several a year she now claims the extra work devoted to research and character development limits her to a mere single title each year. It says a lot for the universal craving of the world for fictional love that she has been translated into thirty languages.
The Switch requires of the reader a considerable suspension of disbelief. The beginning of the narrative finds identical twins Melina and Gillian Lloyd having lunch after Gillian's visit to the Waters Clinic for artificial insemination from donor sperm. Both women are single although Gillian has a follower in the form of the loathsome specimen, Jem Hennings. Melina is a media escort, that is, she escorts celebrities to and from functions, protecting them from the media and generally facilitating their activities. She decides that in order to help her sister relax she will offer to trade places, something the twins used to do throughout childhood, so Gillian can spend the evening in the company of eminently desirable part Amerindian astronaut 'Chief' Christopher Hart. Colonel Hart is about to retire from NASA and is being asked by two native Americans to be a representative for the NAA. Typically, Hart says he does not wish to become involved and turns the pair down.
Gillian
has acceded to Melina's wish and escorts Hart to his functions. On the
way back to Hart's hotel they stop at a taco joint where they are accosted
by an employee of the Waters Clinic who recognises Gillian from her treatment
there. He follows the duo and is horrified to discover that Gillian and
Chief have become rather more than friendly.
The clinic employee, Dale Gordon, reports to a television preacher,
Brother Gabriel, who tells him that Gillian has been polluted and is now
unfit for the mysterious Program. Brother Gabriel instructs Gordon to eliminate
Gillian then to go one little step further.
The next morning the savagely mutilated body of the twin is discovered in Gillian's home. The other sister is told about the murder then Chief also becomes involved. Bloody graffiti on the bedroom wall leads police to Dale Gordon's home, but he has killed himself. There appear to be deeper implications so that the FBI pursues the investigation and Chief Hart finds himself, after having fallen in love with Gillian, becoming incredibly drawn to Melina as they try to solve the mystery of just why the murder occurred and who was ultimately responsible. The author obliges the armchair detective by including twists in the tail of the tale.
Since Sandra Brown began her writing in the Romance field it is little wonder that the book spends a great deal of wordage on extremely explicit sex. Quite apart from that, the reader is expected to swallow several incredible things before breakfast. Still, the book is about the United States, the home of religious fanatics who can persuade their followers to mass suicide. Some of the religious so-called gurus do also seem to have a touch of megalomania but even so, the plot seems a bit over the top. There are loads of murders and even a few kidnappings. Grafted on to the narrative is a bit of propaganda for American Indians although it seem very awkward, as though the anti-rejection drugs did not quite take. Hints of wisdom derived from the supernatural do not tend to banish disbelief.
English is a living language and is therefore subject to change. The invasion of our lounge rooms by American television shows has been blamed for a lot of the alteration which is certainly becoming more rapid than the evolution (some might say devolution) of, say, a century past. Perhaps writers such as Brown do more than a little to contribute to the acceptance of meanings that would, even thirty years ago, have been seen as totally wrong. Every few pages I was struck by yet another adoption of a 'different' meaning. For example, in one place the author speaks of an 'intercessor' instead of an 'intermediary', in another. she equates 'superfluous' with 'inconsequential',; another sentence sees' rarefied' instead of 'rare'. Somewhere else 'regrettably' is used instead of 'regretfully'. There is, in fact, a superfluity of examples. Because Brown is so popular with an immense number of readers, it is quite possible that she will accelerate such changes in English. Whether this is a good or bad thing it should be left to the individual reader to decide. Suffice it that it could promote a degree of incomprehension between English speakers.
As
to a recommendation - if chases, ruining of clothing in pursuit of physical
congress, many murders accompanied by buckets of blood and the peccadilloes
of preachers are your style, this novel is for you.
RENDEZVOUS AT KAMAKURA INN
by Marshall Browne
ISBN 1741664861
287 pages
Random House Australia
January 2 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 24 2006
How often is an innocent banker connected to crime? Perhaps it happens in fiction but possibly not in the same way that former banker, Marshall Browne, is now connected to crime fiction. This multi award winner, honoured both at home and abroad, was a banker in his earlier days but it is fortunate for us, the crime fiction audience, that he now devotes his attention to our favourite genre.
Tokyo's Inspector Hideo Aoki has spent a large portion of his professional life in pursuit of the wrongdoers of the yakuza. His current investigation involves an attempt to bring to justice ex-governor Yukio Tamaki, aka the Fatman. Aoki knows Fatman is closely connected with the criminals and is determined his quarry will not escape justice. Then disaster, in the form of a direct order conveyed by Superintendent Watanabe, strikes. The case is to be terminated and the detective squad dispersed.
Aoki takes the news badly. He has spent seventeen months of his life on the investigation. Having it finish so abruptly causes him to lose face and the respect of his peers. He withdraws mentally, a condition aggravated by tragedies that dog him. Aoki is hospitalised and, on his release, sent to recuperate, on Watanabe's orders, at the Kamakura ryokan, an inn of the first water.
The Kamakura just happens to be owned by the family of Madam Ito, a woman who disappeared seven years previously. Both her husband and her lover had briefly come under suspicion of murder at the time but a body was never found, only bloodstained clothing. Aoki's curiosity is piqued and he decides Watanabe has surreptitiously sent the inspector to investigate a cold case, a case on which the superintendent failed and thereby lost all chance of further promotion. Then the ryokan becomes snowbound.
A motley collection of characters inhabits the inn. Surprisingly, both husband and lover of the missing woman are there together; so, too, is an enigmatic man named Saito who tells Aoki he is there to replay a famous Go match. The ryokan becomes snowbound and Aoki is forced to investigate murders that occur, killings that he feels are connected to the vanished Madam Ito.
The puzzle is well done. There is an abundance of gore and not a few
unsettling aspects to the book. The evil characters are suitably revolting
but perhaps the characterisation is a bit flat. This may, of course, simply
be because I was unable to appreciate fully the Japanese culture as depicted
by Browne since I am only familiar with that culture through reading ,
my acquaintance with real Japanese people having been deplorably brief.
Nonetheless, at times I felt the dialogue too westernised to be thoroughly
convincing. The claustrophobic atmosphere of an ancient site riddled with
mystery and secret chambers is admirably invoked providing a novel
that is well worth more than a single reading.
INSPECTOR ANDERS AND THE BLOOD VENDETTA
by Marshall Browne
ISBN 1741664926
341 pages
Random House Australia
December 1 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 6 2006
Marshall Browne won a Ned Kelly Award for THE WOODEN LEG OF INSPECTOR ANDERS and was shortlisted for another, in 2006, for the excellent RENDEZVOUS AT KAMAKURA INN. Inspector Anders continues on an Italian path while investigating a blood vendetta, an investigation which, once more, imperils his very life.
In Milan, Senator Manzini, a right wing politician, intimates to his daughter, who has treated him to histrionics following the breakup of an affair, that he has political matters to which he must attend. A colleague, Vitucci, also well to the right of centre, had been murdered a month previously but it is a shared interest beyond politics that disturbs Manzini, an interest that is the real cause for a late night visit from someone purporting also to have to have an interest in the topic, which is the illegal acquisition of certain art, in this instance, valuable art that has been 'acquired' from a church. Instead of tendering a stolen painting, a device adopted solely for the purpose of gaining him access to the senator, the mysterious visitor tenders the senator's death together with a card on which is pictured a raven.
Inspector Anders flies into Milan, having been sent there to collaborate with local police on the two assassinations, despite the danger posed to him by his persistent and lethal enemies in the Mafia. Still, it should take the southerners a precious day or two to learn of Anders' presence.
The Europoliceman is to work with Vice-Questore Zanini and Col. De Paoli. Anders is unsure as to how valuable as colleagues the pair will prove. Another man arrives, one who is most unexpected to Anders: Matucci has been appointed the inspector's bodyguard.
Anders is working on a book, the story of his illustrious forebear, poet Anton Anders. A descendant of Anton's lover of twelve years visits Anders. The beautiful young Angela Lugano is anxious to be of assistance to Anders' literary endeavours but it is almost inevitable that Anders should imagine a successful, modern day reenactment of his ancestor's love affair.
There is no doubt that Browne is very capable with his plotting. The action is good, there is sufficient mystery, the grievous bodily harm inflicted on his goodies is satisfactory while the lethal damage imposed on his baddies is more than adequate. My feeling is that he falls down when attempting to involve Anders in amorous adventures. I feel that a man his age should be more careful of his reputation and investigative prowess than to permit himself to be beguiled by a young woman -- but then, I'm not a susceptible middle aged man!
Despite the criticism I have levelled above, this is a well written,
competent adventure and should be read and appreciated by many a crime
fiction aficionado.
THE EYE OF THE ABYSS
by Marshall Browne
ISBN 9781741665109
290 pages
Arrow Books
January 1 2009
$16.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 16 2009
If you, Dear Reader, like to feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end when reading, forget Dracula and his ilk, just turn to Australian author Marshall Browne and his creation of Franz Schmidt in Nazi Germany to discover true horror. I must say I was overwhelmed by the power of this manís writing in his story of an auditor at a bank in prewar Germany.
The prologue details how Franz Schmidt lost his eye. It occurred during an act of heroism, when Schmidt attempted to help a man who was being attacked by a group of jackbooted thugs. Obviously an example of a good deed never going unpunished.
Schmidt is the chief auditor of Wertheimís Bank. Careful, indeed meticulous, he is an asset to that institution. Nonetheless, he seems nonplussed at the news that the Nazi Party is to entrust the majority of their business to his place of work. The General Director is ecstatic: Schmidt is less so.
Laws in Germany have already been passed to ensure that people who employ Jews are punished. Wertheimís, however, manage to overlook that and the General Directorís secretary, Fräulein Dressler, is still employed, despite having a Jewish mother.
Because of the Nazi account, one of their functionaries, Herr Dietrich, becomes an employee and is determined to make sure nothing amiss can occur in the bank. His entry onto the scene removes the distance Schmidt has been able to keep between himself and the situation in the wider world.
Schmidt has sent his family to Dresden in order to keep them safe. Anyone who has travelled to Dresden will appreciate the irony of that stratagem.
Brownís retelling of the horrors of the Nazi reign in Germany is superb. For all of that, I felt that at times his characterisation was not as strong as it might have been. Dietrich was just too much of a moustache twirling (if heíd had one) villain. One could wonder, too, at the calls on friendship felt by Schmidt. Perhaps he is less than as loyal to his friends than he might have been, but then he has his own safety and that of his family to bear in mind.
While I am not, in general, a big fan of historical fiction, I do admit
that this novel impressed me greatly.
THE IRON HEART
by Marshall Browne
ISBN 9781741664676
400 pages
WILLIAM HEINEMANN: AUSTRALIA
March 1 2009
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 27 2009
Itís not long since I read EYE OF THE ABYSS so I was rather pleased to find THE IRON HEART would soon be available. As anyone who read the first Franz Schmidt opus would remember, the small, neat auditor of Wertheimís Bank was able to survive, in the uncertain Nazi dominated world in which he lived, and perform a service for a Nazi party member named von Streck.
Schmidt and his much loved wife Helga have obtained a divorce. This is simply for convenience as is Schmidtís new membership of the Nazi party. They hope it wonít be too long before the Nazi regime is over and they will be able to remarry.
Schmidt has been sent to the Reichsbank at the behest of von Streck. Here he meets, amongst others, the fearsome Fräulein Brandt, the head of the Precious Metals Department-- and a fanatical Nazi. He is also introduced to Fräulein Anna von Schnelling, a woman who is destined to play a large part in his life in Berlin.
At the time of Schmidtís employment, the Führer has forbidden the employment of anyone of Jewish extraction in a business. The penalties for disobedience are severe.
Anna is one of a group of women who meet for ìtea partiesî. Annaís cousin is an army captain and he warns her against association with them, saying that some of their discussions could be described as treasonous.
Berlin is aswarm with many groups, some of them anxious to assassinate the Führer. It seems sufficient to incur the death penalty if one is simply suspected of not ìlovingî the Führer.
There are many plots underway, even within the Reichsbank. Schmidt must keep abreast of what he can-- and be very careful not to antagonise Fräulein Brandt. But then he encounters the problem of Fräulein von Schnelling.
Marshall Browne is an expert at building tension and setting atmosphere. He makes Schmidtís actions seem quite reasonable, even when the reader appreciates just to what lengths the chief auditor has been driven by concern for his family. Mind, one of his acts with regard Fräulein Brandt had me wondering, but I simply sighed and realised he was a man in danger.
As with THE EYE OF THE ABYSS, Browne has done an excellent job of portraying Nazi Germany, just prior to the outbreak of war. His characterisation is chillingly good and his manufactured history convincing. His plotting is excellent and I look forward to the next Franz Schmidt thriller with equal enthusiasm and trepidation.
PRIEST
by Ken Bruen
ISBN 0593055101
290 pages
BANTAM PRESS
January 2 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 27 2005
Born in Galway, English teacher Ken Bruen travelled widely but made the mistake of accepting a teaching position in Brazil, a mistake that saw him imprisoned there for four months. Torture, including rape (which no doubt added a touch of authenticity to Bruen's description of the reaction of the altar boys who suffered similarly in PRIEST) caused the unfortunate author to retreat into a catatonic state prior to his eventual release and return to London. This method of escape is referred to in PRIEST, as Jack Taylor, the protagonist, uses it when he is in a psychiatric hospital following the death of the Down's Syndrome daughter of friends, the death occurring when Taylor was minding the child but too immersed in reading to notice she was climbing out of a second floor window, whence she plunged to her death. Yet another reflection in the book of the author's own life is his detective's alcoholism, a condition mirroring the affliction besetting his own brother prior to that man's sad death while Down's Syndrome is a reflection of Bruen's daughter's situation.
Jack Taylor, ex-Guard, is lured from his catatonic state by a black man in the "loony bin" who wants Taylor to rejoice that Nelson Mandela is that day visiting Galway. Taylor's comparative recovery sees him consigned to the merciless care of his life long fellow traveller, gay Guard Ridge. Ridge has arranged accommodation for Jack and also tells him of the murder of a priest, Father Joyce, beheaded in the confessional. Soon, another priest, one whom Jack loathes because of his association with Jack's mother, Father Malachy, commissions the private detective to investigate the murder. But Jack finds himself at odds with Galwegian authorities and warned off the case.
This is a bleak, dark novel told in strange, jerky, almost, at times, disjointed prose which contrives to be remarkably expressive and evocative. The glimpses of humour seem not to serve a purpose of elevating the mood of the tale. Episodes of past crimes against young boys who are punished when they try to convince parents they have been raped horrify the reader while the guilt of a nun in attempting to suppress what is all too evident, increases the dismay.
Taylor's attempts to conquer his alcoholism and get his life back on track seem bound for success. He even acquires an assistant (or the assistant acquires him) who becomes a surrogate son. For once he is able to take the high ground with Ridge since she pleads with him to rid her of a stalker, a man who is destroying her life.
For all the story hovers on the edge of an intensely dark maelstrom
for its entire length, the book holds great charm. The characters' struggles
and suffering are portrayed in punchy prose which can't fail to gain the
reader's sympathy. An excellent mystery, this is a good one with which
to begin the New Year.
CROSS
by Ken Bruen
ISBN 9780593055137
288 pages
BANTAM PRESS
May 1 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 9 2007
Do you enjoy light hearted fiction, like to feel uplifted by a book once you have finished reading it, wish to read about happy detectives who manage to solve crimes using light cerebration but never encountering truly evil villains? Perhaps, then, you had best select a favourite novel to have on hand as an antidote for gloom after reading Ken Bruen's CROSS, but do read it.
Jack Taylor, recovering alcoholic, is fighting his continuing demons when he encounters a demon incarnate, in his view, in the form of Father Malachy. Malachy, who has reason to be grateful to Taylor, seems intent on never displaying a sliver of gratitude as he needles the PI about the shooting of the boy, Cody, whom Taylor had come to look on as a son.
The tale, begins depressingly enough with the crucifixion of a youth, and the almost pedestrian acknowledgment that the malefactors "took a long time to crucify the kid".
The story continues with a saddening, pessimistic view of Galway and Jack Taylor himself. Taylor, meanwhile, approached by a man with an almost demeaning case for him to investigate -- the disappearance of his dog -- reluctantly agrees to help recover the missing canine.
Ridge, the gay, female Guard, about the closest Taylor has to a friend, tells the PI about the crucifixion and Taylor toys with the idea of investigating despite deciding that he would not help.
To add to Taylor's woes is the fact that he seems to be going deaf. At least that is something that he can try to remedy so he equips himself with a hearing aid.
It doesn't really take too long for Taylor to work out the identity of the killers, with a little help from his friends, but his problem then is to remove them from society by one method or another.
Taylor is not a happy soul. Somehow, he concludes that he will never be happy in Galway but if he can sell his apartment and go to the US, he might just find a form of happiness there. In the meantime, he can try to solve Ridge's case and possibly help her.
The PI is, naturally enough, the best rendered character of the work. The chief villain is also well done, although the internal workings of that person could have been made just a bit clearer. If the author wrote with the intention of evoking an atmosphere of gloom, similar to that accompanying Joe Bfstplk of L'il Abner infamy, he succeeds to an amazing degree.
As previously indicated, this is not the happiest of tales to be found
in the annals of crime fiction; nonetheless, it is a pleasure to read.
Apparently this is not the last in the Jack Taylor series so, since miracles
have been known to happen, perhaps the PI may track down an elusive personal
happiness in a later tale. Meanwhile, the author leaves a plot hook as
a possible foundation of the next in the series.
THE PROSECUTION
by D. W. Buffa
Allen & Unwin
ISBN 1-86508-391-7
$16.95
19 January 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
It is always a great pleasure to read a mystery written about the profession
ordinarily (or extraordinarily,
in some cases) practised by the author since one may
confidently expect not to meet
any glaring errors caused by lack of research. D.W. Buffa,
apart from his excursions into
fiction, co-authored Taking Control , a look at the effect of
technology on law and politics
by 2000.
Dr. Dudley W. Buffa was, for ten years, a criminal trial lawyer practising
in Oregon, where this book is set. It is unfortunate that the potted
biographies supplied by
publishers to reviewers are always
so brief since they rarely give insights into just why a
particular author may have turned
from his former profession in order to produce fiction. In
some cases, the reasons could
well be, by themselves, the basis for a novel.
The
Prosecution is Buffaís second novel. His first, The Defence,
introduced lawyer Joseph Antonelli to mystery aficionados and this opus
follows Antonelliís further adventures.
After Antonelli achieved the acquittal of an innocent man by having a witness
perjure himself, then sees his client commit suicide, the lawyer goes into
seclusion. He no longer wishes to practise law and is content simply to
remain in his library reading the works of such classical authors
as Aristotle.
Judge Horace Woolner, a black, double amputee war veteran, asks Antonelli
to handle the prosecution of the chief deputy district attorney on the
charge of murdering his wife two years previously. Initially Antonelli
resists taking on the case but eventually reluctantly agrees. The deputy,
Marshall Goodwin, would possibly have been protected from prosecution by
the District Attorney but Woolner is certain of Goodwinís guilt and is
determined to pursue the man he feels paid an assassin who brutally raped
and murdered Goodwinís pregnant wife.
After the resolution of the case, Antonelli is again drawn into a lawsuit in which the defendant is known to him. Alma Woolner, Horaceís wife, is charged with the murder of a socialite friend with whom she was rumoured to have been having an affair. To Antonelliís surprise, Horace resists his taking on the defence of Alma and becomes estranged from his friend when Alma is defended by him.
This is a reflective novel, rather different from the usual run of courtroom
dramas but is no less powerful because of that. It examines truth,
conscience, class distinctions
and prejudices as well as honour.
One particularly attractive aspect is that it briefly
explores the feelings and certitude
a lawyer might have about his clientís ultimate guilt or
innocence, and what if he
had caused an innocent man to be condemned, or a guilty man
to be acquitted. Should that sound
too daunting, let me say that it is a rattling good mystery
and well deserves to be read by
people wanting more than a slick, surface tale. The
characters are convincing and
the pace is maintained, despite consideration of moral
issues.
THE JUDGMENT
by D. W. Buffa
Allen & Unwin
ISBN 1-86508-676-2
$14.95
January 11 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
Dr. Dudley
W. Buffa has more than fulfilled the promise shown in his earlier novels,
The
Defense and The Prosecution in this, his third novel,
,The Judgment(now available in small format). Buffa was a defence
attorney and, in addition to his fiction, co-authored Taking Control
,
a
non-fiction work about law, politics and technology.
The author's main protagonist is Joseph Antonelli, a defence attorney who, in the first novel, compromised his ethics by obtaining the correct verdict through suborning a witness. The ensuing tragedy caused Antonelli to eschew the law. The second novel, The Prosecution, saw Antonelli return to the practice of law but in the, for him, unusual role of prosecutor.
The Judgment finds Antonelli at the funeral of ominously named Judge Calvin Jeffries (at least Buffa did not name him 'George'). Jeffries has been murdered and the police have arrested a homeless man who has confessed to lying in wait for the judge in a car park then stabbing him to death.
Antonelli was hated by the judge and, after the funeral, recounts the circumstances of the genesis of that hatred to friends including a journalist and an old lawyer who used to be the law partner of the judge. The case which earned Antonelli the enmity of the judge was many years in the past, in a trial which had seen a woman falsely accused of incest with her very young son. Antonelli, despite being thrown into gaol for a weekend for contempt of court, had won the case which made him famous. A humiliated Jeffries had intended the woman to be found guilty.
Some time after the first murder, a second, of the judge who replaced Jeffries, occurs in identical circumstances and a homeless, seemingly retarded, boy is arrested.
Antonelli had visited one of Jeffries' victims as he languished in the state mental hospital and was reminded of the judge's heinous behaviour. Because of doubts raised in his mind concerning mental illness, Antonelli agrees to take on the case of the homeless man dubbed 'John Smith' by the authorities.
The Judgment is a particularly thoughtful book. It does have its share of courtroom drama but this is not the entire focus of the novel. There is an analysis of the effect on the present of past injustice as well as past relationships. There is an examination of mental illness, of child abuse (perhaps more than I wished to know), of homelessness, of alcoholism, of betrayal and loyalty.
The characterisations within the book are especially compelling. Each situation is powerfully constructed and convincingly executed (perhaps an appropriate term, given the subject matter.) It is not a shallow book but neither is it a slow read as it is written in a very clear style. Despite the dark themes and action, there is nonetheless a faint gleam of optimism in the story and one can hope that an equally powerful sequel may be in the process of composition.
THE LEGACY
by D. W. Buffa
ISBN 1-86508-842-0
436 pages
Allen & Unwin
August 2 2002
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Wels
August 2002
D. W. Buffa gained his doctorate in Political Theory and his knowledge of his subject is very evident in this latest work but he was employed for ten years as a defence attorney. Before graduating to fiction, Buffa, together with Morley Winograd, co-wrote Taking Control : Politics in the Information Age, a book discussing the effect of technology on law and politics. Subsequently, his forays into the mystery genre, The Defence, The Prosecution and The Judgment featured lawyer Joseph Antonelli as the chief protagonist in thoughtful, reflective novels with a heavy emphasis on characterisation and a minimum of courtroom fireworks.
Joseph Antonelli, in this book, is recruited by his cousin Bobby to defend a young black man accused of the opportunistic slaying of a United States Senator, Jeremy Fullerton, a very unappealing character. Bobby has done his recruiting at the behest of his friend and partner, the flamboyant but aging Albert Craven. Craven gives as his reason for his interest in the fate of the young man, Jamaal Washington, a friendship with a former employee who is the mother of the boy.
Antonelli, after meeting Wshington, a premed student, needs no convincing of the youth's innocence and sets out to do his best to prove the accused is blameless. Other deaths seem to be tied to that of the senator and Antonelli is drawn, reluctantly, into a web of intrigue dating back decades, in which nothing is as it seems.
The lawyer finds himself introduced to the rich and powerful of Californian politics including millionaires and would-be governors and Presidents. He also makes the acquaintance of an oddly compelling former Soviet Union spy. The latter gives Buffa an opportunity to expound his ideas of modified Marxism and provides an interesting sidelight on the Russia of today. Antonelli also meets a fascinating woman who bids fair to supplant his former but lost love. Then the body count increases.
In the Washington boy's life there is a parallel with Antonelli's own. Neither knows the identity of his true father and perhaps this gives Joseph an extra reason to try to establish Jamaal's innocence. Jamaal would provide a convenient scapegoat - a young black man whose motive, that of greed, would seem to make him the obvious culprit. Antonelli, however, pursues his enquiries in the upper echelons of Californian society, thereby alienating many powerful potential friends and gravely endangering his own life.
While the plot and character development of this novel are typically well done and the prose coherent and intelligent (despite someone's misuse of the word 'flaunt' instead of 'flout' in the first few pages) I felt Buffa's courtroom scenes left a lot to be desired. In a case where a gun is found, after a shooting killing, beside the hand of a man who has in turn been shot by police but about whose responsibility for the first shooting there is doubt, there was not a word about the gun having been fingerprinted nor yet about a paraffin test on the hands of the purported shooter. Balanced against this is the excellent description of the tension and hatred existing between the judge and the prosecuting attorney, a hatred which affects the conduct and outcome of the case. Pressures of the ambitions of dignitaries resting on future elections are well established and adequate motives assigned to suspects. Nonetheless, I feel the omission of forensic detail to be slipshod. The story is narrated in the first person from the point of view of Antonelli yet there are uneasy segues as scenes, which Antonelli did not witness, are described in minute detail in the third person. I felt it made the first person narrative less than convincing. It would have been better either told entirely in the third person or else the author could have adopted a tactic employed by other writers of narrating some chapters in the first person and other chapters in the third. I do not feel that shifting person in the middle of a chapter works
Since the author has now progressed through defence, prosecution, judgment
and legacy, one wonders what new aspect of the legal system remains to
be examined by D. W. Buffa.
STAR WITNESS
by D. W. Buffa
ISBN 1741142474
473 pages
Allen & Unwin
August 6 2004
$18.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 6 2004
D. W. Buffa seems to have been expanding his horizons, so to speak, of late. His latest work, BREACH OF TRUST, which is also released this month, deals with the White House and the presidential election. To some, the work before this, STAR WITNESS, now in small paperback format, may appear to cover an even more ambitious canvas: Hollywood. Buffa is a former defence lawyer so almost of necessity, his fiction encompasses his previous occupation.
Joseph Antonelli, Buffa's series character, had fallen in love when he went to the movies with Mary Margaret Flanders, said by some to be the top Hollywood actress of her time. Her early, unmemorable movies verged on soft porn and were not successes. Stanley Roth, of Blue Zephyr Pictures, saw her potential, took her and moulded her into his ideal, made her into a star and married her. Now Mary Margaret (or Marian Walsh, which was her real name) has been murdered. Her naked body has been found, throttled and with its throat slashed, floating in the swimming pool of the palatial Hollywood mansion Mary Margaret called home. Stanley Roth is the only suspect in the murder and he hires Joseph Antonelli to defend him.
Joseph, despite his ongoing relationship with lovely Marissa, is strangely attracted to Roth's assistant, the beautiful Julie Davies who does all of Roth's bidding and is seemingly in love with him. Roth has two partners, Louis Griffin, a man with every reason for his intense loyalty to Stanley Roth, and the money man, Michael Wirthlin, who detests and is detested by Roth.
Roth sees life in terms of a cinematic masterpiece, always through a director's eyes. He is writing a screenplay called Blue Zephyr which he intends to be an exposé of Hollywood. Despite being caught up in the murder trial, presided over by a slightly seedy, perhaps tainted judge in a squalid and cramped courtroom, he works incessantly on this, his ongoing project.
Antonelli, opposed by the rather vicious prosecutor, Annabelle Van Roten, feels it will be impossible to have his client acquitted, despite the fact that he is convinced of Roth's innocence. He digs deeper into the character of Mary Margaret and is disillusioned at the real person he finds behind the façade, one completely unknown to her admirers. But would she have pushed her husband into the ultimate act of her murder?
Stanley Roth is the one for whom the story holds no mysteries - other than whether or not he will face a death sentence. He makes it clear to Antonelli that he knows what happened on the night of Mary Margaret's death but is not about to share the knowledge.
Buffa's books often have an enigmatic and even ambiguous air about them
and this story, despite depicting the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, relates
much that is enigmatic. The book is tightly plotted and the characters
convincing, albeit containing a lot that is unpleasant. Buffa has the happy
knack of capturing his audience and making them feel exactly what his protagonist
feels. Those who missed this work when it was first released would do well
not to let it slip by them in this edition.
BREACH OF TRUST
by D. W. Buffa
ISBN 174114440X
371 pages
Allen & Unwin
August 6 2004
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 28 2004
D. W. Buffa is a former assistant to a US senator as well as being a former defence lawyer. It is no surprise, then, that in this sixth legal thriller Buffa has plunged his protagonist, defence lawyer Joseph Antonelli, into a trial involving politics. Even less shocking should it be to the reader to learn that, in a presidential election year, the novel concerns the presidential election.
Antonelli reluctantly attends a Harvard Law School reunion at a Manhattan Hotel at the behest of the Vice-President of the United States, Thomas Browning. Antonelli and Browning had been roommates for a time when at law school and Joseph feels a certain duty of support toward his one time friend. Browning is the star speaker at the reunion and in his speech he relates an incident involving a visit paid by Antonelli to Browning's home during which Joseph encountered, and impressed, Browning's unpleasant grandfather, a captain of industry, car manufacturer Zachary Stern. The story illustrates Antonelli's character. The only trouble is that Joseph does not remember any such encounter - one which supposedly occurred nearly four decades previously. At this point, perhaps I should say that a theme of the story is perceptions people have of what others say and do that may not tally with the way others perceive them.
At the reunion is another classmate of Joseph's, Jamison (Jimmy) Haviland, He and Browning had been interested in the same woman back in 1965. At a party given on Christmas Eve of that year, a halcyon time for Antonelli's peers, Annie Malreaux, to whom both men had proposed marriage, fell from a window of the Plaza and was killed. The death was ruled an accident but when Browning was first put forward as a presidential candidate, the current president's supporters stirred up a rumour that Browning was involved in a cover-up. Thus, Browning became Vice-President. Now another competition is on for the nomination for the Republican candidacy and Browning has learned that the President and his staff, who loathe Browning, are intent on reviving the old rumours so that Walker may once again win the presidency.
Browning informs Antonelli that there will be an indictment - either of himself or of Haviland - and he wants Antonelli to defend whomever is to be the defendant. Unenthusiastically, Antonelli agrees.
Joseph must meet people from his past, not the least being the Vice-President's wife Joanna. with whom Joseph had been in love in the summer of 1965. He has to dredge the differing memories from the participants in the drama of that year. He must also plumb the depths of the perfidy being practised by the president and attempt to beat the prosecuting District Attorney, a very impatient lawyer named Caminetti who is obviously doing the bidding of the White House while at the same time alienating the judge who is hearing the case.
This is a very interesting book, portraying as it does the intrigues
and possible machinations behind the scenes of government. While the later
scenes are replete with action, however, I found the earlier scenes a trifle
tedious for those of us who are not citizens of the United States. The
scene where Browning takes Antonelli on a guided tour of parts of
the White House is there only to titillate American curiosity as to what
really DOES go on in Vice-Presidential offices. Despite this minor criticism,
I feel this novel is well up to the standard set in Buffa's previous novels.
TRIAL BY FIRE
by D W Buffa
ISBN 1741145082
293 pages
Allen & Unwin
July 1 2005
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 29 2005
D W Buffa is, without doubt, one of the top authors of legal crime fiction writing today. He ran through various aspects of trial by jury in his early novels before turning to politics in BREACH OF TRUST. In TRIAL BY FIRE he concentrates once more on aspects of being a defence lawyer. This time the trial process is, effectively, in the media as the narrative mirrors the pernicious habits of some broadcasting personalities who, like 'cunning old Fury' appoint themselves judge and jury then sit back to watch possibly innocent people being convicted in the wake of their launch of a massive vessel of injustice.
Defence lawyer Joseph Antonelli is now firmly ensconced in San Francisco. He practises, reluctantly rent free, in the offices of the firm belonging to Albert Craven. When Albert requests a favour of Joseph, that he appear on a television show on a channel owned by Albert's biggest client, Harry Godwin, Joseph reluctantly assents. At the taping, Antonelli meets Julian Sinclair, an extremely intelligent law lecturer with a potentially great future. The presenter of the show, Bryan Allen, is the boorish representation of an unthinking public ready to condemn at the blink of an eye without listening to or considering all facts and possibilities of a case. Daphne McMillan, an assistant district attorney is another member of the panel. She is a former colleague of Sinclair's, is now married to a millionaire of questionable morals and habits and is a very close friend of Sinclair's.
Antonelli and Sinclair strike up a friendship with the former admiring the latter greatly. Then tragedy attacks when Daphne is murdered in Julian's house and the lecturer is accused of the murder despite his protestations of innocence, protestations which Joseph is confident are true. Antonelli takes on the defence but the overwhelming feeling of the public, whipped up by the egregious Bryan Allen, is that Sinclair is guilty. It is impossible for him to obtain a fair trial so he is found guilty and condemned to life in prison without possibility of parole. Antonelli devotes himself to the pursuit and unmasking of the real killer and the establishment of justice.
True to his customary performance, Buffa has penned an engrossing narrative. It is quite obvious that he harbours very strong feelings about the media and its usurping the functions of a court of law. His ability to create credible characters and convincing plots is admirable. This particular tale is chock full of unexpected twists but loses nothing of its worth by their generation. They are obviously not there simply for shock value but as necessary parts of a believable chronicle.
Readers who may have wondered, two books ago, if Buffa might run out of material will be gratified to discover that the redoubtable writer must have a plentiful store of inspiration to provide entertainment for many books to come.
THE EVANGELINE
by D W Buffa
ISBN 1741146941
285 pages
ALLEN & UNWIN
January 6 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 24 2005
THE EVANGELINE is something of a departure for D W Buffa, justly renowned for his Joseph Antonelli series. One would assume (from the health of the protagonist, although with fiction, miraculous cures have been effected, as witnesseth Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy who has, of latter years, evidenced no sign of the Type One diabetes which, in one novel, was nearly the cause of his early demise) that this is a stand alone. Certainly, the approach to the plot and the style of the treatment, is very different from anything I have previously seen from this author .
Vincent Marlowe is on trial, charged with murder. He is being defended by William Darnell, an elderly, very experienced and extremely wily attorney who has been hired by the defendant's sister rather than Marlowe, who views himself as being guilty.
The Evangeline was a sailing ship. She was equipped with every kind of high tech apparatus available. There was no way any harm could come to her or any who sailed on her; but it did. The Evangeline encountered very violent storms and broke up off the coast of Africa. Twenty-seven living beings were aboard the ship when she sailed: six survived. The lifeboats had been adequately provisioned and there had been enough of them to take all the passengers and the crew in the unlikely event of an emergency, yet somehow only one vessel took survivors and that with a minimum of food and water. When the stores that were on the life raft were exhausted, the only remaining source of sustenance had to be used.
The narrative examines instances where it is almost impossible to apportion blame. As the witnesses are called, the reader's perspective changes. Ethics, rather than an adventure tale, are the focus of the novel. Even the principles of the defence lawyer are on trial as his health becomes a determining factor in the successful outcome of the case. Marlowe, the man who killed victims whose fates were determined through drawing lots, is seen almost as a Christ figure, bearing the collective sin of the little world in the lifeboat.
Because the novel is more a philosophical examination of legal judgments and the potential possibilities in an unbearable situation, readers must not expect a fast paced thriller. Instead, be prepared for some rather heavy, albeit absorbing reading.
It is not as though other writers and, indeed, film makers, had not examined the arguments that might arise from such a sad occurrence. I couldn't help wondering, as I read, if Buffa is familiar with W. S. Gilbert's BAB BALLADS and the considerably more lighthearted examination of THE YARN OF THE NANCY BELL where the unnamed narrator meets "an elderly naval man", a survivor of a similar drawing of lots, who was able to claim that he was a cook , a captain, a mate, a bo'sun, a midshipmite and the crew of the Nancy brig.
The book is more of an artificial construct to manufacture a case with
the story being secondary to the legal paradoxes but is interesting nonetheless.
This having been said, I trust Buffa intends returning to the Antonelli
series.
BANGKOK 8
by John Burdett
ISBN 0552771406
431 pages
Corgi Books
August 2 2004
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 25 2004
It would be interesting to know if John Burdett's novel about the capital of Thailand has prompted many crime fiction readers to visit that wonderful city. While the protagonist is nominally Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the city itself seems even more vividly portrayed than the arhat (Buddhist saint) policeman.
Burdett has hit upon one of the strangest murder weapons in recent fiction. Marine Sergeant Bill Bradley is found by Jitpleecheep and his inseparable friend and policeman partner Pichai. In the short time which elapses between their losing sight of the marine's car, which they have been following, and finding the car containing the dead marine, someone has jammed the outside handles after releasing cobras and a python (caught attempting to devour Bradley's head) into the hapless man's vehicle. One of the puzzles to be solved in the murder is how the cobras could have been drugged so exactly as well as how the python could have been manipulated into its attack. Pichai becomes an unlooked for casualty of the crime, an added reason for Sonchai to uncover the identity of the now double murderer.
Pichai, with Sonchai's help, had murdered a yaa baa dealer in their joint youth. They were packed off to a monastery where the abbott had forbidden them the profitable sideline of corruption. Pichai must neutralise the awful karma the murder would have inflicted on him, by becoming an arhat. The abbott arranges with his brother, Police Colonel Vikorn of District 8 of the city Krung Thep (the indigenous name for Bangkok) to employ the two young men as detectives. Since they are forbidden corruption, hence are unable to make donations to the common pot, the duo must make up for the lack in other ways. Sonchai is an accomplished linguist, thanks to his mother's liaisons (Nong is a retired bar girl) with men of different nationalities, so is able to be of benefit to his colleagues by acting as a translator.
Sonchai is partnered with FBI agent Kimberley Jones. The two cut an eccentric path of detection throughout the eccentric city. They uncover Bradley's liaison with a statuesque beauty who is, like Sonchai, half American, although with an African American sire. They also discover that Bradley has close ties to an American jeweller on whom jade exerts a strong fascination.
Some Thai women have an innate business sense. Thus, Nong was able to sell her body in order to bring up her son then later sees the value of taking business courses on the Net in order to set up a profitable venture, the Old Man's Club. She and Vikorn (all Burdett's Thai police see corruption as a business which can only advance the wealth of the Thai economy) become partners in the venture, to Sonchai's initial dismay.
The novel is heavily larded with Buddhist philosophy. Sonchai has glimpses into the past lives of those whom he meets and understands the karma overshadowing them from previous lives which affect their present lives. A strong dollop of the supernatural should do nothing to pollute the reader's interest in the intriguing tale.
At first the question of the total authenticity of the tale by the British
lawyer turned writer worked to prevent me from enjoying the story to its
fullest extent but I soon forgot the doubts and easily determined to enjoy
the book on its own terms. Sonchai, Nong and Bangkok are characters whose
return must be eagerly awaited by all who read this vivid novel of South
East Asia.
BANGKOK TATTOO
by John Burdett
ISBN 0593053990
335 pages
Bantam Press
June 1 2005
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 24 2005
Former British lawyer John Burdett gives the reader the opportunity to sample once more the delights of Thailand in this follow-up to his colourful BANGKOK 8. His protagonist is once again Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep - although this time there is no reference, that I could see, of the policeman being an arhat or Buddhist saint.
Sonchai is, together with his mother, Nong and his boss, police chief Colonel Vikorn, involved in running a bar - more or less a euphemism for 'brothel'- the brilliantly conceived (so to speak) Old Man's Club which caters to a frustrated older clientele by providing them with chemical enhancement to promote lust. The trio is somewhat put about to discover the corpse of a client while the girl whose 'bar fine' was paid by said client claims responsibility for the killing. It is even more distressing for them to ascertain that the dead man was a CIA operative. Colonel Vikorn invents a reasonably convincing statement for Chanya, the bar employee, to sign. Sonchai, however, is despatched to Muslim controlled southern Thailand where he learns disquieting facts about the life of Mitch Turner. The doughty detective also find himself coming to an agreement with the local Muslim cleric that will protect the political status quo of the area.
Two living representatives of the CIA clumsily pursue their own investigation into the death of their colleague. Despite their evident mistrust of Sonchai and his superiors, both professional and family, they allow themselves to be seduced by the myths spun for their benefit.
This, like its predecessor, contains a many layered plot. Unlike BANGKOK 8, there is not a great deal of emphasis on police procedure but a considerable amount on the functioning of the bar, the Old Man's Club. The first book of the series introduced the reader to the outlook and work ethic of the Thai girls who sell their bodies in order to support their families and provide a better life than their own for younger siblings. The notion of the katoey, the transsexuals who also sell their services in Krung Thep (the local name for Bangkok) is also expanded by way of the ambitions of Lek, the young police cadet assigned to Sonchai. Sonchai once more relies on inspiration from his dead friend and former colleague Pichai, who attempts to help Sonchai solve the mystery.
While the puzzle is inventive, the background to the tale is equally so. Burdett has vividly portrayed the culture of Bangkok although he reassures the reader that, so far as he knows, the police force is unsullied by corruption. Rivalry between army and police is depicted and the way a bar girl may make a fortune by travelling overseas is credibly sketched.
The reader may well assume further adventures of Sonchai will be forthcoming as there are some plot hooks left without meat. It will be a pleasant experience in the future to see just what hazards await the representatives of law and disorder in the capital of Thailand.
Anita Burgh (Distinctions of Class, Love: the Bright Foreigner , the trilogy: Daughters of a Granite Land, Overtures , amongst others and two under the nom de plume of Annie Leith) is one of those generous authors to have a home page on the Net. This makes it very much easier for those who wish a better insight into what is the foundation for an author's work, to find enlightenment.
Burgh, interestingly enough, discloses that it was a financial crisis in middle life that led to her first attempt at writing. Anyone who reads and enjoys Clare's War could surely only regret the number of books the writer could have produced in those literarily sterile years.
The author has lived in Cambridge, Devon, Cornwall, Scotland, Greece and France, the latter being where the majority of Clare's War is set. Burgh discloses that she lived in a part of France that was greatly involved in the Resistance so was able to glean impeccable details from her sojourn there.
Clare's War is an extremely good example of just what an author may do with character development. The story begins in 1938 with the tragic death of Clare's older sister Felicity in a car accident, while Clare is driving. The subsequent rift with her father and eldest sister sees Clare sent to Paris to be 'educated' in a household run by Madame Hortense. There she meets wealthy American Mab and two German girls as well as two other English women.
As the threat of war becomes ever more evident, the two English girls are summoned home but Clare refuses to accompany them and therefore has her allowance cut off. The two German women are also sent home so eventually only Clare and Mab are left with Madame Hortense who takes in a boarder, Tiphaine, to cover expenses. It is soon evident that Tiphaine is a prostitute... which does not bother Clare or Mab one bit.
Clare goes to work in an underwear shop where her services as a translator are invaluable. There she meets the glamorous Fabien and it is because of his disappearance that Clare elects to remain in France, searching for him, until it is too late for her to escape back to England.
The way the author paints the maturing of Clare is superb. She goes from being a vapid, foolish, selfish child, in love with love, to an heroic adult displaying extreme bravery as one of the women of the Resistance, to whom this book is dedicated. Clare's is not the only character to see growth, however, both Hortense and Tiphaine are seen to develop. The narrative is engrossing as it relates the changing attitudes of the Parisians after the initial occupation of Paris and the amused contempt with which they view the German soldiers through to the eventual terror they experience at the hands of those same Germans.
Anita Burgh displays a profound knowledge of humanity as she writes of the feelings of the French people, both those who are forced to collaborate with the Germans and those who eventually, though normally good, kind people, turn on the collaborators at the end of the war. She writes clearly and well, not pausing to lecture her audience (though she admits to a fondness for teaching) but moving her book along to a satisfying conclusion.
JUDGMENT CALLS
by Alafair Burke
ISBN 0752857150
335 pages
Orion
March 5 2004
$24.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 9 2004
Alafair Burke has, prior to the release of this her debut novel, primarily been known as the daughter of author James Lee Burke. She has also been known to have a connection to fiction in that she shares her given name with the daughter of one of her father's protagonists, Dave Robicheaux. After the reading public has perused JUDGMENT CALLS it is to be hoped that the name 'Alafair Burke' will no longer bring to mind the work of her father but very definitely her own writing.
Samantha Kincaid shares with her creator the job of Deputy District Attorney. What a joy it is to read a novel written by an author completely familiar with the milieu in which a character works. The ring of authenticity is right on key and there are no annoying slips that might betray the writer's true lack of familiarity with what he or she has incompletely researched. All the convincing little details, from the petty jealousies to the perhaps chauvinistic wit displayed by fellow workers, is there for the scrutinising eye of the reader to make of it what she will.
Police Sergeant Tommy Garcia is awaiting Sam Kincaid when she arrives at work on a dark February morning in Multnomah County, Portland, Oregon. A thirteen year-old girl has been brutalised by two men, one of whom proved impotent so took out his frustrations on the child by sodomising her with a stick, badly injuring her, prior to instructing his friend to complete the job. The girl is thrown into a gorge, bleeding, and left to die. Kendra Martin is, to complicate matters, a new heroin addict and sometime child prostitute. She identifies Frank Derringer as one of her attackers but the senior DDA, Tim O'Donnell, decides Kendra's injuries are not sufficiently grave to warrant an attempted murder charge. The police hope that Sam Kincaid may be able to make the more serious charge than wished by O'Donnell to stick.
Sam, when younger, had been the lover of a boy who is now a policeman, Chuck Forbes, involved in the case. Chuck investigated a murder case for which a man and a woman have been imprisoned and as the narrative proceeds it seems that the earlier murder may have a bearing on the present case.
Kendra shows great potential for redemption and Sam becomes entangled in the child's life. She is also horrified to find someone is stalking her, determined to harm her. Not only that, the defence lawyer appears to be doing too good a job for her client, Frank Derringer and Sam fears for her safety as well as that of Kendra should the alleged attacker be freed.
The plotting of this thriller is well done - there is even a most unexpected surprise at the end. The characterisation is excellent and the action fast and credible, even though some injuries are described in too gory detail. The good characters are attractively appealing and the baddies viciously unpleasant. What more could a reader want?
Samantha Kincaid has been heralded as a series character. Good.
MISSING JUSTICE
by Alafair Burke
ISBN 0752866591
354 pages
Orion
January 3 2005
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 23 2005
A year ago Alafair Burke introduced Samantha Kincaid to the world of crime fiction devotees in Judgment Calls. At the time, one could well surmise that a lot of readers acquired the novel in order to see how much of the story telling gift of her father, James Lee Burke, had devolved upon her. Now, one trusts, purchasers will buy Missing Justice because of Alafair Burke's name and the print she has stamped for herself on the genre.
Samantha Kincaid has returned to work after being injured in a previous adventure. Whilst Sam's body is healing, the horrors of past events return to haunt her dreams. Kincaid is no longer with Drug and Vice Division but has been promoted to Major Crimes. The Deputy DA is called out to the Easterbrook residence to investigate the disappearance of Judge Clarissa Easterbrook, wife of Dr. Townsend Easterbrook.
It doesn't take much time for Clarissa's dead body to make an appearance. The evidence points to someone whom Clarissa had been attempting to help. The man is arrested despite he and his mother protesting his innocence.
Of course, Samantha must contravene the orders given by her superiors. Her professional life, too, is at odds with that of her boyfriend, policeman Chuck Forbes. Against all the odds she finds herself investigating the misdemeanours of the dead judge as well as the amours of the rich and highly placed.
As a former Deputy District Attorney, Alafair Burke is ideally placed to write about the environment with which she is very familiar and the kinds of people with whom she formerly had dealings. At times this can be a disadvantage to the reader as the author uses terminology with which she assumes everyone must be familiar, forgetting that some readers don't share the basics of her knowledge. Also, Burke employs slang with which American readers, presumably, are familiar but which is foreign to overseas readers.
Despite these disadvantages, Burke's second novel is bound to be well received. The plotting is good and the action fast. Samantha is an appealing protagonist despite her tendency toward smart aleckry and bodily injury.
One trusts that Alafair Burke will continue to have a writing career
as long and as illustrious as that of her legendary father.
THE BEST OF ROBICHEAUX
The author's choice
by James Lee Burke
Orion Trade
ISBN 0-75283-857-1
$29.95
19 January 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
This book comprises three novels in Burke's enormously successful Dave Robicheaux series, In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead(1993), Cadillac Jukebox (1996) and Sunset Limited (1998).
The author has won many awards despite having piled up even more rejection slips including many for The Lost Get-Back Boogie which was eventually nominated for a Pulitzer. He admits that his work contains much that is autobiographical and biographical, ficitonalising events from the history of his family. He has named Dave Robicheaux's daughter Alafair, which is also the name of one of his daughters. While his own history includes alcoholism, as does Dave Robicheaux's, his work history in which he lays claim to positions as a social worker, teacher, journalist and truck driver, amongst other things, does not include experience as a law enforcer, which is the career pursued by his chief protagonist.
James Lee Burke has lived much of his life in Louisiana in the area about which he writes. It is obvious that he is caught up in the history of the region and the Civil War is frequently mentioned in his narratives, especially, of these three novels, in In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead which features a dead general from that conflict. His backgrounds ring true and his stories are powerful. His outlook is obviously very much affected by the injustices done to the coloured population and the inequalities inflicted upon them.
All this having been said, I do have difficulty with Burke's characters. They are almost universally aggressive, preferring violence to diplomacy. Burke also tends to write elliptically which, in conjunction with his free use of local dialect, makes whole passages of his books incomprehensible to foreigners.
Each of these three tales has reference to murders committed in the past, one of which, in In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead was actually witnessed by Dave Robicheaux. In each story a movie company also plays a large part. The first book is about a murderer who kills prostitutes but is quite happy to extend his activities beyond that limit. Dave finds himself partly responsible for an alcoholic film star and also sees the safety of his own family at risk.
Cadillac Jukebox involves politics to a large degree with a gubernatorial candidate seeking Robicheaux's aid in his campaign. Dave's reactions are coloured by the fact that he had a brief affair with the candidate's present wife during his alcoholic days. Buford LaRose, the would-be governor, alienates the detective by attempting to bribe him. A convicted murderer, Aaron Crown, a white man gaoled for the murder of a black civil rights campaigner decades previously, proves the trigger for current violence.
Sunset Limited is no less complicated in its plot than the preceding books. The genesis of the action is, like that of the prior novels, decades earlier when Jack Flynn was crucified by the Ku Klux Klan. Flynn's children, Megan, who is a photographer and her brother Cisco, a film maker, return to the area for the making of a movie and seek out Robicheaux. The detective does his best to protect a black prisoner, Cool Breeze Broussard, who is released into the community and whose life has been shadowed by the apparent suicide of his wife who was abused by white men, all of which happened about the time of Flynn's death. Hit fate is linked to that of the Flynn children.
James Lee Burke has a wonderful gift for evocative description which is particularly effective in making the reader envision the locations of the action. It is unfortunate in that the gory scenes also become all too real. Beware, blood and guts abound.
For those who appreciate violent action despite buckets of blood these
books are a must. The plot, characterisation and descriptions are impeccable.
BITTERROOT
by James Lee Burke
Orion
ISBN 0-75284-155-6
$27.95
September 7 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
James Lee Burke's third novel in the Billy Bob Holland series has finally been released in Australia although it seems to have been available internationally for quite some time. Billy Bob was first received with great enthusiasms in 1997 when he was featured in the Edgar Award winning Cimarron Rose. The ex-Texas Ranger turned lawyer made another appearance in 1999 in Heartwood. Bitterroot sees a switch of locations to Montana.
As always, Burke's characters are well drawn. Billy Bob despite his profession has a great capacity for physical violence. He also keeps within himself an enormous guilt for the accidental killing of his partner, L Q Navarro. He carries on conversations with the shade of Navarro. In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead provided a good example of Burke's toying with the supernatural and Bitterroot goes beyond conversations with the dead in that Sue Lynn Big Medicine, a victimised Amerindian, has a detailed dream of the vanquishing of Custer by native Americans. Since the story is told in the first person the reader, of necessity, gets a better insight into Billy Bob than into, say Doc Voss, but this does not detract from the deft characterisation of the other protagonists.
Burke's prose is always evocative and poetic. The very first page finds Doc Voss, a former pacifist but now 'one of the most decorated participants in the Vietnam war' burning his uniform 'dissolving his Marine-issue tropicals into glowing threadworms'. Later in the book a repentant Billy Bob seeks out a priest who admonishes him for his actions. Burke writes 'His words clung to me like a net when I walked out into the sunlight.' The author is always at his best describing storms and when a thunderstorm strikes paints a word picture of what happens in the Blackfoot Canyon when 'Bolts of lightning crashed on the ridges above the house, bursting ponderous trees into small fires that flared and died in the rain.'
Like others of Burke's books there is a strong theme of redemption in this outing. Idealistic Doc Voss has suffered through various sea changes but finally settled in the hills above the Blackfoot River. He lives there with his teenaged daughter Maisey, having been widowed some time before. He resents the depredations of a local gold mining firm which has been dumping cyanide in the area. Billy Bob visits the Voss family then finds himself entangled in their lives after Voss picks a fight in a bar and subsequently his daughter is raped by three men at least one of whom was a biker involved in the fight. Soon afterward, the biker is murdered and Doc is accused of the kiling so Holland remains in Montana in order to defend him.
Burke includes
victims of different types in this tale, including people with both psychopathic
and sociopathic tendencies. The narrative is fast paced and, in places,
brutal and horrifying but the mystery is engrossing. This further chapter
in the life of Billy Bob Holland leaves plenty of room for further expansion
of his character and his adventures. No doubt readers will insist Burke
provides them.
PURPLE CANE ROAD
by James Lee Burke
Orion
ISBN 0-75284-334-6
$17.95
September 7 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
Anyone who reads James Lee Burke's very popular fiction today would find it easy to credit his early success. He was nineteen when his first book was published and by the time he was thirty-four four of his novels had been accepted for publication. After that, incredibly, he suffered continuous rejection with The Lost Get-Back Boogie, the novel which, when eventually published, received a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Since then Burke's success has been assured and he has won two Edgar Awards and a CWA/Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction. His work also been notable on the New York Times bestseller list.
Purple Cane Road is the eleventh in Burke's very popular Dave Robicheaux series, following The Neon Rain, Heaven's Prisoners, Black Cherry Blues, A Morning For Flamingos, A Stained White Radiance, In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead, Dixie City Jam, Burning Angel, Cadillac Jukebox and Sunset Limited . Apart from the Robicheaux series, Burke has written another popular sequence, the Billy Bob Holland series. loosely based on members of Burke's own family. Cimarron Rose is one of those novels.
Like Burke's earlier Robicheaux novels, Purple Cane Road examines occurrences in Dave Robicheaux's early life, in this case the history of his mother, Mae, and her eventual death.
Robicheaux is a detective in the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department. At the beginning of the first person narrative he is musing on the death of the former state executioner, or 'electrician', Vachel Carmouche. Dave knows that Carmouche had abused twin orphaned mulatto girls Letty and Passion Labiche when they were children. Eight years prior to the beginning of the story, Letty Labiche was arrested and sentenced for Carmouche's brutal slaying and the day of her execution is drawing near. While Dave knows there is no question about her guilt he thinks there were extenuating circumstances. He also feels the investigation into the murder was incomplete and that the entire story did not emerge at Letty's trial.. While trying to throw more light on the mystery, Robicheaux accompanies his friend, private investigator and former cop Cletus Purcel to interrogate pimp Zipper Clum. One of Clum's former prostitutes, Little Face Dautrieve, had a collection of newspaper clippings about Letty Labiche and Dave feels Little Face could have some knowledge that might reduce Letty's sentence but Dautrieve is not talking. Clum, however, in order to escape being thrown out a window, by uninhibited and savage Clete, tells Dave he has knowledge of Robicheaux's mother Mae's death - at the hands of two brutal and bent police. Dave wishes to question Zipper further but before he is able, Zipper is assassinated by young professional hit-man, psychopath Johnny Remeta.
There is a degree of autobiographical material in Burke's Robicheaux - both are recovering alcoholics with daughters named Alafair and homes in the same area. Robicheaux seems always to be on the edge of violence but usually manages to contain the impulse. Nonetheless, the dark pressure remains threatening at all times. The author always examines moral dilemma. For example, in this book, the Governor of Louisiana has it in his power to reduce the death sentence ordered for Letty Labiche. Because he knows her background he feels he should do so yet he is up for reelection and knows that the general populace is anxious for her death because of the murder of a law man, never mind how depraved that man.
Dave feels compelled to continue his own investigation into the death of his mother and the threads of past and present become inextricably linked. Dave's adopted daughter Alafair, now sixteen, does not make an appearance until midway through the book but when she does she becomes an integral part of the story. Robicheaux then has the worry of a rebellious teenager in addition to the rest of his problems..
This author excels in establishing atmosphere with his evocative prose, for example ... you could see the bream feeding on the insects around the pilings and the water hyacinths that grew in islands among the cypress knees. Every night the sky over the Gulf danced with heat lightning... It is, perhaps, a trifle unfortunate that his descriptions of violence are qually evocative, yet it is all in keeping with the mood of the marrative. Burke is likewise excellent with his characterisations making goodies and baddies equally believable.
James Lee Burke is apparently ahead of his quota of one novel a year. This
talented author seems incapable of disappointing his large audience who
clamour for more Robicheaux.
LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS
by James Lee Burke
ISBN 0752856537
335 pages
Orion
November 3 2003
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
October 28 2003
To be the author of the most rejected book in the history of
New York publishing is not what most writers would like to see in their
biography: to be the author of a Pulitzer nominated title would be far
more desirable. Yet what if one person held the distinction for possessing
both - for the same novel? James Lee Burke, after having earned acclaim
for early works, wrote The Lost Get-Back Boogie with, given
the success of his earlier books, a reasonable expectation of earning a
quid or two (sorry, a dollar or several) from its sales. It took nine years
and a hundred and eleven rejections for the work to see publication. Following
the Pulitzer nominee's success, Burke's career has never looked back. An
incomplete list of his titles includes Half of Paradise, To The Bright
And Shining Sun, The Lost Get-Back Boogie, The Neon Rain, Heaven's Prisoner,
A Stained White Radiance, In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead, Cadillac
Jukebox Sunset Limited, Purple Cane Road, Jolie Blon's Bounce and White
Doves At Morning. Even for an author, Burke has worked at an incongruous
mixture of jobs :social worker in Los Angeles, English lecturer, landman
negotiating oil leases, a journalist and several other temporary vocations.
All such is grist to the auctorial imagination.
Although Detective Dave Robicheaux shares much of his creator's tendencies and past, Burke had not written a fictionalised biography until Cimarron Rose. This novel saw the creation of a new character, Billy Bob Holland, a man whose great-grandfather was the fabricated personification of James Lee Burke's own great-grandfather. The book was a huge success. Last Car to Elysian Fields, however, is a further chapter, a singularly dark one, in the life of Dave Robicheaux.
Like his creator, Robicheaux is a recovering alcoholic. Dave has lost his beloved wife, Bootsie, and his adopted daughter, Alafair (who shares a name with Burke's own adopted daughter) is away at college. Small wonder, then, that the detective is teetering dangerously on the edge of resuming his career as a practising alcoholic. After all, his best friend, the violent Clete Purcell, is not averse to indulging in excessive drinking binges. Fortunately, however, Dave's Catholic priest friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, is close at hand to exert a beneficial influence on Burke's protagonist despite his own constant self-criticism.
One of the strangest hitmen in crime fiction, Max Coll, has been commissioned, for reasons which become clear as the narrative progresses, to assassinate Fr. Jimmie. Astonishingly, he puts both the priest and the detective in his debt. In the meantime, Robicheaux investigates the murder of a black convict, a folk singer, which occurred the better (or worse) part of half a century in the past. Detective Dave, now subordinate to his former partner Helen Soileau, has to investigate the sad death of three teenage girls in a car accident. They had been indulging in under-age drinking and Dave searches out the owner of the bottle shop where they made their purchases. The doctor father of the girl who was driving seeks redress from the man whom he thinks is responsible for the ruin of his life and, serendipitously, this man is also implicated in the death of the black criminal.
Dave Robicheaux always has problems controlling the deep-seated rage which is a part of his personality. In the face of his loneliness and despair in this novel, it has ample opportunity to rise to the surface. Dave and Clete do incredible damage in the course of the very violent tale. Robicheaux, too, is tempted by the wife of a gangster, a woman with whom he had a brief fling in his drinking days. What outcome can be expected from a man whose control has slipped so drastically since the death of his wife?
Whenever I read a Burke novel I remind myself, my love of jazz notwithstanding,
never to travel to New Orleans or New Iberia, and this book does nothing
to weaken my resolve. Nonetheless, this fast-paced story, with just a soupçon
of the supernatural - nothing like the hefty dollop of the same in In
The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead - leaves me very anxious to
discover what next is in store from the keyboard of the extremely able
and talented James Lee Burke.
WHITE DOVES AT MORNING
by James Lee Burke
ISBN 0752842757
344 pages
Orion
February 6 2004
$21.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 14 2004
Readers have previously had glimpses into James Lee Burke's American Civil War in, for example, the dialogues between Dave Robicheaux and the ghostly presences of soldiers in his book IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD. Readers have also encountered fictionalised accounts of Burke's own family history in others of his narratives. In WHITE DOVES AT MORNING, the author treats us to a meeting with his ancestors in the Civil War. For those readers who, perhaps with an eye to their wallets and a preference for Burke's Robicheaux books, permitted the first pass release of this novel to pass them by, they should hesitate no longer. The book is now available in a cheaper, small paperback format edition.
As is customary with Burke, there is a great deal of detail and psychological insight in this oeuvre. The author has exhumed his Louisiana forebears, Willie Burke and Robert Perry and reclothed them in their human flesh. Three friends, Burke, Perry and Jim Stubbefield enlist to fight on the secessionist side in the American Civil War. Perry and Stubbefield do so to protect their heritage: ironically, Burke believes slaves should be free but he bows to peer pressure and signs up.
Willie has been breaking the law by teaching Flower Jamison, a coloured girl reputedly the daughter of slave owner, Ira Jamison, to read. In the early days of the book, Flower hides her knowledge although later she puts her studies to good use by instructing black children in the art and even promising to teach a teenage Yankee soldier his letters.
Burke and Perry see terrible action during the war, watching their comrades being massacred. Ira Jamison, a colonel through his machinations, has a head for business as well as political ambitions so manages to turn perceived loss into an immense profit.
Captain Rufus Atkins, employed by Jamison, abuses Flower with her father's knowledge but to his indifference. Following the war - which Burke depicts with gruesome detail - Atkins attempts to prevent Flower's success at schooling others, although Flower is aided by Abigail Dowling, an abolitionst woman beloved by both Willie and Robert.
The callousness of the slave owners toward their possessions - despite some of those possessions sharing the owners' blood - is vividly portrayed in this book. Equally well told is the former slaves' bewilderment on their emancipation. Their previous lives in which they did not need to think for themselves almost seems preferable to the new lives in which they must fend for themselves in every respect.
As usual, Burke tells a compelling tale - up until the epilogue, a few pages in which the author summarises the fates of his characters. I found this chapter less than satisfying and felt that Burke may even have tired of the detail he had invested in his people in the preceding pages.
There are a couple of memorably charming characters born in this narrative: Tige McGuffy and Quintinius Earp. Another two, brothel owner Carrie LaRose and her brother Jean-Jacques are essentially good, although rather fearsome personalities.
This is an erudite and fundamentally entertaining addition to the bibliography of James Lee Burke.
IN THE MOON OF RED PONIES
by James Lee Burke
ISBN 0752861115
322 pages
Orion
October 8 2004
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 19 2004
James Lee Burke became well known in crime fiction annals as the creator of Dave Robicheaux, the recovering alcoholic Cajun detective of many of Burke's previous novels. The author is known for including much that is autobiographical in his work - for example, he, like Robicheaux, is a recovering alcoholic. The protagonist of this latest release is not Robicheaux but Burke's other series character, Billy Bob Holland, he who shares an ancestor with his creator. The wonderful CIMARRON ROSE was, in fact, a fictionalisation of family history as researched by Burke.
Billy Bob is a lawyer who now practises in Missoula, Montana. His friend, Johnny American Horse, has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon. Johnny tells Billy Bob that, in a dream, he saw hired killers on their way to murder him. He obtained the gun to protect himself.
The Hollands have more personal things to worry them. Wyatt Dixon, a psychopath, had buried alive Billy Bob's wife Temple . Dixon was charged with other crimes, the assault on Temple not having been proven and he was sentenced to be imprisoned for sixteen years but after twelve months he is free once more. Faults in the prosecutor's case have permitted Dixon's release. Dixon begins telephoning the Hollands and turning up, unannounced, at their property. He insists he means them no harm and that he is a reformed man, having found religion - a claim unlikely to convince people who have suffered at his hands.
Johnny American Horse is attacked, as foreseen by him, by two men. In an attempt to defend himself, he kills one of his attackers. Detective Darrel McComb is sent to investigate the case. McComb, however, is infatuated with American Horse's girlfriend, Amber. He is unlikely to do anything that will help Johnny.
There is a strange mix of allegory and fiction in this novel. Burke has also produced some memorable characters none of whom can be described as being entirely good or - with perhaps one exception - entirely bad. Darrel McComb is a case in point , a man whose baser instincts get the better of him at times but who, at heart, manages to remain a good cop. Billy Bob himself is a man who admits to having extremely violent impulses. He and his former best friend, L.Q. Navarro, had, when Texas Rangers, killed wicked men, without compunction. Billy Bob must deal with his past, which includes having accidentally killed L.Q., while attempting to preserve the present and future for himself, his wife and his illegitimate son Lucas Smothers. Billy Bob, as well as Johnny American Horse and his friends, is appalled at the evil that is overtaking the land but can only do his best to prevent harm coming to those in his immediate circle.
James Lee Burke is a wonderful story-teller. His tales are peppered
with action as well as notable and convincing characters. Although
he recounts many instances of killing, at least he doesn't dwell on the
descriptions of violence and consequent gore in detail that might alienate
some more squeamish readers. Given what is obviously the depth of Burke's
feelings about the misuse and pollution of the world's natural resources
and the callousness of the old bulls of the trible toward emerging youth,
this unforgettable tale will leave an undertone of pessimism to dilute
the pleasure one gleans from a well written narrative.
CRUSADER'S CROSS
by James Lee Burke
ISBN 075287215X
325 pages
Orion
November 4 2005
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 15 2005
James Lee Burke returns us to the adventures of death bedevilled Dave Robicheaux in this adventure, having aired his alternative protagonist, Billy Bob Holland in last year's MOON OF RED PONIES. Burke and Robicheaux share certain aspects of their lives: for example, both are recovering alcoholics, each has a talented daughter named Alafair and they both spend time in New Iberia, Louisiana.
In Chapter 1 of CRUSADER'S CROSS, Dave Robicheaux reflects on his past: how, in 1958, he and his half brother Jimmie, the man with whom he shares a face, had been working five days on, five days off. During an off break they had spent time on Galveston Island but, foolishly, had failed to note, when on a sandbar, that they were in danger of being taken by a shark as the tide was rising. They were rescued by a young girl named Ida Durbin. As the days passed, Jimmie fell in love with Ida despite discovering she was a prostitute and the two planned to run away together to marry and live in Mexico. On the night of the proposed elopement, Ida disappears. Later, the brothers hear that Ida was murdered by men who did not wish her to leave the profession which made them money.
In the present day, Dave, the recovery of his alcoholism retreating as he mourns the death of his wife Bootsie, his retirement from the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department and the departure of his daughter, Alafair, to college, is reminded of Ida Durbin when Troy Bordelon, with whom he went to college, is dying in hospital after a fight but requests Dave's presence at his bedside. He tells Dave that he saw Ida being kidnapped by police and a pimp. He did not see Ida being killed but blood he saw on a chair implied her demise.
A serial killer is at work, kidnapping, raping and murdering women in the vicinity of Baton Rouge. Robicheaux becomes involved in the investigation while at the same time pondering the possibility that Ida Durbin still lives. Jimmie, who never married, permits his old obsession to recapture him and Dave's closest friend, the uncontrolled Clete Purcell, takes unto himself the twin investigations. Then Dave meets Molly Boyle, a woman thought by most to be a nun but who, in fact, has not taken her vows.
As is customary with Burke, the book bears a strong social message.
He has an eclectic cast of characters ranging from the corrupt powerful
rich, through police of doubtful social value to the poor and oppressed.
Also as is customary, a goodly portion of the tale is told employing local
idiom. In a way this is unfortunate since there are readers who refuse
to attempt to translate this. For Burke to alter his characters' voices
would be for the story to lose some of its conviction and authenticity
so readers must be prepared to come to terms with the dialogue or miss
out on wonderfully constructed novels. There is always an element of violence
but this is combined with an intriguing mystery set for the tragedy dogged
Louisiana detective to produce a first rate thriller.
PEGASUS DESCENDING
by James Lee Burke
356 pages
ISBN 0752874799
Orion
October 6 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 17 2006
Dave Robicheaux's past is a seething mass of ghosts. Every now and again one manags to extricate itself from the morass and gain his attention, shouting 'My turn! My turn!' or the James Lee Burke equivalent. In PEGASUS DESCENDING, Robicheaux's fifteenth outing, the ghost is Dallas Klein. Twenty years before, Dave had been friends with Klein. At that time, Dave is an alcoholic, not sufficiently interested in reform and Dallas is addicted to gambling to the extent that he owes sixteen thousand dollars to gangsters who threaten his six year-old daughter if they are not paid. Dallas doesn't pay them.
Klein is a security guard and is on duty when an armoured van is robbed. Dave tries to stop the robbery but is soaked in alcohol at the time and is disregarded by all the players. As the robbers escape, they kill Dallas, having already shot several people connected with the security firm and the bank from which the money emanated .
Dave's inability to prevent the killings sends him to his first AA meeting.
In 2005, Dave is a detective with the Iberia Sheriff's Department. He is called to a truck stop when a woman is seen to possess hundred dollar bills which could be the proceeds of a robbery. The woman is Trish Klein, Dallas' daughter.
The body of a young girl, Yvonne Darbonne, is discovered, an apparent suicide victim but Dave is not satisfied with an easy solution and determines to discover exactly what happened to her.
Deaths never seem to come singly to the Sheriff's Department as they are also investigating the violent death of a homeless man, a man who remains without a name throughout the entire book. He is referred to as Crustacean Man because of what happened to his body when it lay in water waiting to be discovered. Eventually it is decided he was the victim of a hit run driver.
Another death occurs in the series of what turn out to be linked cases. A college student, implicated in the deaths of both the hit run victim and the girl, is murdered.
The men responsible for the death of Dallas Klein are in town and Robicheaux suspects Trish is in New Iberia in order to have her revenge.
Dave never embarks on his adventures unsupported. At home, he has his wife Molly, the ex-nun; for the more daunting aspects of the enterprise, Dave is able to call on his faithful private detective friend Clete, a man even more addicted (if that is possible) to violence than Robicheaux. Together the two tackle the investigation with the customary near lethal complications. One unforeseen involvement occurs when Clete falls in love with a young woman involved in the case.
As always, the author displays a marvelous command of English (albeit his own brand), classical knowledge (he names one of the characters 'Bellerophon', a joking tie to the title of the book as that was the name of the ancient Greek who rode Pegasus) and a superb ability to plot.
My one niggle with the author is the recurring one: Burke's use of dialect. I can't help but wonder if his dialogue may even seem foreign to American readers. I have to admit that frequently a word or phrase has me puzzled although I find that overall I have no difficulty in understanding the book. I have, however, encountered readers, both English and Australian, who have attempted to read one of James Lee Burke's books, had difficulty with the prose and given up, never to try to repeat the experience, which means they miss out on a great read.
The conclusion of the book is set at the time of Hurricane Katrina.
I can't help but wonder if the next Robicheaux adventure might include
violent scenes of that disaster.
THE RED CARDIGAN
by J. C. Burke
ISBN 0759320292
192 pages
Random House Australia
May 3 2004
$14.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 2 2004
J.C. Burke was well received with her first novel WHITE LIES and should find her second book for young adults equally well received by her target audience. The former oncology nurse has two children and doubtless has drawn on her experience with them to produce the protagonist, Evie, and her friends in order to write the accurate teenage dialogue. No doubt, too, she has a reliable source of inspiration in that she can draw on her children's interests to generate fruitful themes for her books.
Evie is an artist. She is sixteen years old and in Year Eleven. Her Art teacher is not terribly sympathetic as Evie resumes her studies after a break because of a most unfortunate incident that occurred some time previously involving a new girl . Little bits of information meant to titillate the reader's curiosity are doled out with good effect until the truth is revealed.
Nick, Evie's father, brings a red cardigan back from Adelaide for her. Contrary, perhaps, to other parents' thoughts and opinions, Nick has bought Evie a second hand, or vintage cardigan. Evie and her friends are addicted to second-hand clothing and seek special garments from markets where they uncover these delights. But something happens to Evie when she tries on such items. Somehow she has access to the thoughts - and voices - of the previous owners.
Evie acquires an inexplicable infection in her left eye, as well as a puzzling (and repulsive) knot matted with some moist substance in the hair at the back of her head. Evie also has some psychic powers which are influencing her Art assignment. One would expect Evie's talents to make her more popular with her peers but instead they alienate her from them and she is left only with her two faithful friends, more especially with the her best friend, Alex.
Evie's father's mother, too, had special powers, something abominated by her mother Robin. Evie and her father have to come to terms with Robin's revulsion and wish that Evie be 'normal'.
Caught up with the mystery of the original owner of the red cardigan and given a clue by a knot of hair still left trapped in the cardigan, Evie is brought to South Australia by the Adelaide police, where she attempts to assist them to find a missing woman despite the scepticism of some within their ranks.
It is a charming little tale but one with several inconsistencies. It
is not wise to underrate children's shrewdness. The identity of the murderer
is peripheral to the story and is not spelled out. There are red
herrings drawn across the reader's path with no apparent aim other than
to add to the general spookiness e.g. Evie's childhood invisible playmate
and her grandmother's ouija board. How, too, did the red cardigan come
to be in (presumably) an op shop for Nick to buy? The original owner was
obviously not finished with it and her parents had not disposed of it in
such a manner. Presumably, too, the author has not been in Adelaide for
some time, given that she places Police Headquarters in Angas St., something
that would be picked up by Adelaide readers.The writing itself could do
with a good bit of proofreading and polishing - the present tense
is always good to increase tension but care should be taken not to extend
its use when discussing actions in the past. It is a good novel but with
a little more care could have become something special.
FROZEN
by Richard Burke
ISBN0752857681
264 pages
Orion
March 5 2004
$24.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
March 30 2004
It is no great surprise to discover that the author of Frozen works in a visual medium in his real life. Richard Burke is a television producer and director and the inspiration for this, his debut novel, was generated when he was making a programme about dolphins. He was toying with the notion of having many cameras taking photographs of the same object from different angles, just as he introduces the same idea into his book. From this idea sprang Frozen.
The prologue introduces Verity who, despite being, to a casual onlooker, comatose, is nonetheless aware of people spinning her zoetrope, Since she is the main subject of the viewer, she feels she is, once more, alive. Why is Verity comatose? She was found at the bottom of Beachy Head, an apparent failed suicide. Her lifelong friend, photographer Harry Waddell, sets out to discover why Verity Hadley, who had appeared extraordinarily happy, should try to end her life. He is aided in his quest by another friend, barrister/politician Adam. The three had been close friends for one summer in their early teens, then, for reasons unknown to Harry, they became estranged. Harry's attempts to solve the mystery of Verity's fall hark back to that summer, the happiest of Harry's life.
Harry enlists the aid of Verity's fashion designer partner, Sam, in his quest for the truth. Despite Harry's hopeless love for Verity, he and Sam become very close. They follow a perplexing trail which leads them from Beachy Head to Oxford and back as they chase the trail of perplexing - and dangerous - clues.
This psychological thriller depicts action both in the past and the present. There is a disturbing element of abuse in the narrative. Always distressed and baffled, Harry blunders along the path of something the malevolence of which he fails to understand until it is nearly too late.
The depiction of the three main characters, to me at least, is not completely
convincing. I could not understand how the abused child, Adam, uncertain
and cowardly, could grow into the confident, active, charismatic politician
that he became. The progressions of Verity and Harry are more understandable.
The novel is successful as a mystery tale, nonetheless, and Mr. Burke has
a second novel in the works.
REDEMPTION
by Richard Burke
ISBN 0752868241
277 pages
Orion
April 7 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 3 2006
Television producer Richard Burke does not seem, to the detriment of the appreciation of crime fiction aficionados, to wish to become prolific in thriller writing. It is several years since his first novel, FROZEN, came out but REDEMPTION bids fair to be a worthy successor.
Matthew Daniels, Pentonville Junior Governor, has had more than his share of tragedy for one lifetime. His first wife, Rachel, drowned after suffering post-partum depression. Matthew called police when Rachel disappeared but found himself a suspect in the disappearance and then the authorities wished to remove his daughter, Em, from his care. Such treatment disinclines him, when second wife Charlotte disappears, to call in the police. He does, however, but again finds himself a target. Then a ransom demand comes, accompanied by a warning not to speak further to police.
Charlotte Daniels is pregnant but the pregnancy, following on the heels of a miscarriage, is at risk and the woman must take medication in order to try to preserve the pregnancy. Now kidnapped, she fears for the life of her unborn babe, whom she has dubbed 'Eyelash', since that is the size of the foetus. Charlotte feels she knows the identity of the kidnapper and strives to escape her prison which lies under flight paths of planes taking off every ninety seconds.
Matthew is at a loss as to how to proceed. Since the police are forbidden to him he turns to Monk, formerly David Gordon, who had been imprisoned for murder but in whom Matthew had seen good. Monk displays almost superhuman powers as a result of his martial arts training but insists he be given free rein in the investigation and possible rescue
Matthew is the most fully realised character in the drama. Burke has taken care to attribute doubts and insecurities to the otherwise invulnerable Monk, a man into whose soul the reader gets occasional glimpses. Byron Washington, Monk's associate, is reasonably believable as is Charlotte, whose main fear is for the life of her minuscule baby. The tension of the tale is, for the most part, adequately maintained although at times the action could proceed at a faster pace. One can assume, from the portrait of Em, the teenager, that the author has had to deal with his share of problems from an adolescent rebellion, a portrait that will resonate with most parents.
This is rather a different book from FROZEN but one which deserves equal success.
LEGENDS OF THE BAGGY GREEN
by Alexander Buzo
ISBN 1741143853
219 pages
Allen and Unwin
December 3 2004
$24.95
reviewed by Chris Pickles
December 7 2004
Alexander Buzo is a well known Australian playwright and author of several books, as well as being an occasional sporting columnist. His major contribution to the literature of cricket to date has been as co-editor of the anthology The Longest Game. In his new book Legends of the Baggy Green, he adds his own voice to the copious literature of the summer game.
'The Baggy Green', of course, refers to the distinctive headgear of the Aussie test cricketer. The book is self-described as 'Dubious behaviour & achievements from cricketís chequered history'. The behaviour chronicled is by no means confined to Australian cricketers, however.
After a little vignette of modern cricket, the infamous sledging match between Sarwan and McGrath in 2003, Buzo moves on to what is perhaps the most serious allegation of baggy green chicanery in the book. Herbie Collins was known as ëHorseshoeí for his notorious good luck on the cricket field. A toss or a catching chance - all seemed to fall to the ground in Collinsí favour. Apparently he was less fortunate on the racecourse, and according to a contemporary player he ëthrewí the deciding Ashes Test Match of 1926 in order to pay off his betting debts. Evidence to substantiate this claim is slim. England were caught on a sticky wicket and should have been in trouble. Instead opening batsmen Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe both scored centuries and England went on to win comfortably. The case against Collins is that while conditions for batting were at their worst he used a second string bowler, Arthur Richardson, enabling the England batsmen to escape to safety. What is not mentioned (but then to anyone who knows the history of cricket it doesnít need to be mentioned) is that Hobbs and Sutcliffe were the greatest opening pair of all time, especially noted for their mastery on bad wickets, which they were to demonstrate again on the 1928-9 tour. The warmth of Collins handshake as recorded by Hobbs is the other ëplankí in the case which is looking decidedly thin by this time.
From here the story rambles back and forth in a sort of stream of consciousness manner with side trips into the worlds of politics and baseball. Then it arrives at the dubious achievements section. The English spin bowler Eric Hollies is used as the model of forgotten bowlers. This is paradoxical as Hollies is famous for dismissing Bradman for a duck in Bradman's farewell innings. Holliesí ball is perhaps the most famous and replayed, in cricket history. Perhaps, as an Englishman, my perspective is different from that of an Australian.
Legends of the Baggy Green makes for a rainy afternoon of amusing
reading, but in a sporting genre which claims to produce the finest writing
of all, it can perhaps at best aspire to bring on the drinks.
THE SACRED BONES
by Michael Byrnes
ISBN 9781847370112
439 pages
SIMON & SCHUSTER
June 1 2007
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 17 2007
In this post THE DA VINCI CODE world, any author producing a work featuring a crucifixion that may not be according to, well, not Hoyle but the Gospels, mention of the Knights Templar and sundry other historical items, may be liable to be known as someone jumping on the Dan Brown caravan. Whether or not he was inspired by Brown, Byrnes has produced a novel that is quite engaging. A shame he didn't write it before Brown erupted onto the scene. This having been said, Byrnes' debut novel has a lot to recommend it.
The prologue is set in the thirteenth century and introduces the Knights Templar talking about something mysterious which they are guarding. The scene switches to modern Jerusalem and Salvatore Conte, an all round bad bloke with plans for something in the Temple Mount. Working from detailed plans, his explosives expert makes a neat hole in the wall and enables the bone-napping of an ossuary -- a container in which Jews formerly stored human frames after the flesh had deteriorated sufficiently, after a year's storage, to enable the skeleton to be removed and the bones stored neatly. Conte happily prepares to transport the remains to his mysterious employers.
In Vatican City, Dr Charlotte Hennesey, a geneticist who, incidentally, is suffering bone cancer, has been volunteered to work on a top secret project for a very important cardinal.
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, both Israelis and Palestinians have been drawn into the case: Israelis had been killed during the theft and the Palestinians were the custodians of Temple Mount.
Both Hennesey and anthropologist Giovanni Bersei are, after signing impressive confidentiality agreements, set to work on what is obviously, to the reader, the purloined ossuary. They eventually decide that tests done place the bones in the first century AD (oh, all right, if you insist: CE.) It takes a while for the scientists to come to the conclusion that the reader has no doubt reached long since: the bones may be those of Jesus.
This revelation could be disastrous for the Muslim as well as the Christian faith. After all, Muslims believe that Jesus, although a prophet, not divine, was taken to Heaven without dying. Christians, of course, believe in the resurrection of the physical body of Christ so that no bits of bone would have been left languishing on earth.
There is plenty of blood spilt throughout the novel. Middle Eastern politics, too, get a thorough outing. That unpleasant fellow, Salvatore Conte, manages to do his bit to increase the ocean of gore.
The world has frequently been told that the Catholic Church may have dealings that are not quite above board, so the idea of nefarious deeds may not come as too much of a shock to the reader.
The characterisation is reasonable, although some of the people are more inclined to drag themselves off the page rather than springing from it. Conte is the sort of baddie we all love to hate: utterly without remorse at the killings and casting an interested, indeed lustful, eye at Charlotte.
No doubt the writing of the book involved extensive research. The tale
based on the research is quite interesting and, to some degree, believable.
A debut novel, the book deserves some success and I have to say I enjoyed
it more than I did Dan Brown's Code.