Review Archive for author's that start with ... C
Reviewed on this page: Size 14 Is Not Fat Either (Meg Cabot), Heart Sick (Chelea Cain), Sweetheart (Chelsea Cain), The Accident Man (Tom Cain), The Rule Of Four (Caldwell and Thomason), The Voice of the Violin (Andrea Camilleri), Rounding The Mark (Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli), God Save the Queen (Dorothy Cannell),The Tin Collectors (Stephen Cannell),The Viking Funeral (Stephen Cannell), Hollywood Tough (Stephen Cannell), Musk & Byrne (Fiona Capp), Paradise City (Lorenzo Carcaterra), Chasers (Lorenzo Carcaterra), The Master Of Knots (Massimo Carlotto), The Adversary(Emmanuel Carrere), Blindside (J. R. Carrol), Final Duty (Paul Carson), Ambush (Paul Carson), Betrayal (Paul Carson), New England White (Stephen L Carter),  Palace Council (Stephen L Carter), Blood Junction (Caroline Carver), Dead Heat (Caroline Carver), Black Tide (Caroline Carver), Toward The Beginning (Veronica Cas),Trance State (John Case) ,The Eighth Day (John Case), The Murder Artist (John Case), Dance of Death (John Case), The Final Days (Alex Chance) Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra), Amenable Women (Mavis Cheek), Burning Bright (Tracy Chevalier), Echo Burning (Lee Child), Without Fail (Lee Child), Persuader (Lee Child), The Enemy (Lee Child), One Shot (Lee Child), The Hard Way (Lee Child), Bad Luck and Trouble (Lee Child), Nothing To Lose (Lee Child), .Two Little Girls in Blue (Mary Higgins Clark), I Heard That Song Before (Mary Higgins Clark),Murder MostFab (Julian Clary), The Cleaner (Paul Cleave), Cemetery Lake (Paul Cleave), Raven Black (Ann Cleeves), Hidden Depths (Ann Cleeves), White Nights (Ann Cleeves), Deal Breaker (Harlan Coben), Tell No One (Harlen Coben), Darkest Fear (Harlan Coben), Gone For Good  (Harlan Coben), No Second Chance (Harlan Coben), One False Move (Harlan Coben), The Final Detail (Harlan Coben), The Innocent (Harlan Coben), Promise Me (Harlan Coben), Faceless (Martina Cole),The Know (Martina Cole),The Keepers Of Truth (Michael Collins), The Resurrectionists (Michael Collins), Lost Souls (Michael Collins), The Scret Life of E. Robert Pendleton  (Michael Collins), The 37th Hour (Jodi Compton) A Darkness More Than Night(Michael Connelly), Lost Light (Michael Connelly) City Of Bones (Michael Connelly), Chasing The Dime (Michael Connelly), The Narrows (Michael Connelly),  The Closers (Michael Connelly), The Lincoln Lawyer (Michael Connelly), Crime Beat (Michael Connelly), Echo Park (Michael Connelly), The Overlook (Michael Connelly), Phoenix (John Connor), A Child's Game (John Connor), Crater (Phoenix Connor), Hotline To Murder (Alan Cook), Marker (Robin Cook), Critical (Robin Cook), Foreign Body (Robin Cook), The Silent Lady and Kate Hannigan's Girl (Cookson),Hong Kong (Stephen Coonts),Wages Of Sin (Stephen Coonts),  Traitor (Stephen Coonts), A Greater Evil (Natasha Cooper), The Source (Michael Cordy), Point of Origin  (Patricia Cornwell), Sweet and Sour A Diabetic Life (Peter Corris), Lugarno (Peter Corris), Salt And Blood (Peter Corris), Master's Mates (Peter Corris),The Coast Road (Peter Corris), Taking Care Of Business ( Peter Corris), Saving Billie (Peter Corris), The Undertow (Peter Corris), Appeal Denied (Peter Corris), Open File (Peter Corris), The Big Score (Peter Corris), Riptide (Catherine Coulter), The Butcher Bird (Geoffrey Cousins), Demolition Angel (Robert Crais), Hostage (Robert Crais), The Forgotten Man (Robert Crais), The Two Minute Rule (Robert Crais), The Blue Feather (Gary Crew and Michael O'Hara),
Now May You Weep (Deborah Crombie), In A Dark House (Deborah Crombie),  Water Like A Stone (Deborah Crombie), Natural History (Neil Cross), Bye Bye Baby (Lauren Crow), Dreams of Rescue (Laura Shaine Cunningham),

 SIZE 14  IS NOT FAT EITHER is ostensibly a novel for adults, but, despite various gory and somewhat intimidating scenes, could well be included in the 'young adult' category. This adventure is the second in a series in which the protagonist, Heather Wells, is a former pop star. The unfortunate woman (now in her late twenties) is several times bereft: her mother absconded with her money, her father has been gaoled as a white collar criminal and her fiancé was caught by her with his -- well, in a compromising position with her  amatory replacement. Now, relatively penniless, Heather is the assistant director of a New York College dormitory (or residence hall.)

Heather is a friendly person. She is always careful to maintain amicable relations with as many influential people as possible -- this category including her friendly neighbourhood drug dealer Reggie. Well, one never knows and, in the event, Reggie plays a pivotal role in the drama.

One depressing morning, after an object of Heather's casual lust has told her, if not in so many words, that she is fat, another of Heather's friends, Magda, the cafeteria's head cashier,  takes her to the cafeteria's stove where a pot is softly simmering. Unveiled, the object cooking is a cheerleader's noggin.

Heather, of course, intends to eschew  detecting, when so commanded by the detectives on the case, but somehow, the fates conspire to trap her. Not only that, her life becomes complicated by the addition of her newly liberated father, to season the mix.

Naturally, there are loads of  action-packed adventures to test Heather's mettle and even to threaten her life. She spends a good deal of the text in amorous admiration of Cooper, her landlord and the brother of her former fiancé. She is also called upon to rescue some of her charges from the hospital, for one reason or another.

Just so long as you are not expecting deep, philosophical insights into life's mysteries nor a particularly challenging puzzle this novel will provide a pleasant afternoon's (mostly) lighthearted read. Some things, for example, Heather's incessant concentration on her increasing fat (well, she does insist on consuming great amounts of cream, not to mention chocolate) and various objects of her lust can become annoying but, on the whole, you could do worse than read this title.
                                                           HEART SICK
                                                          by Chelsea Cain
                                                      ISBN 9780230016033
                                                             MACMILLAN
                                                       September 3 2007
                                                                   $32.95
                                                   reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                          August 17 2007

Did you know that 18% of female serial killers are nurses? Neither did I, but in author Chelsea Cain's world, this is an established statistic. Mind, that is according to Detective Archie Sheridan, captive of serial killer Gretchen Lowell. He has been drugged by the killer, so perhaps his mind is not as retentive and analytic as it might be but we may as well give him the benefit of the doubt.

The woman psychiatrist offered herself as an adviser to the task force investigating the murder of twenty-three people. Archie led the investigation but was himself taken captive and tortured but his abduction differed from that of other victims in that he was freed and his captor imprisoned. Two years on, Archie is a wreck of his former self. His marriage has broken up and he is addicted to pain killers, the torture to which he had been subjected by Lowell necessitating the administration of the opioid.  Archie's health notwithstanding his former partner wants him to return to work as head of the task force. There is a new killer on the loose.

Susan Ward is a young journalist sent to cover the investigation, or, more specifically, to write a story about Archie Sheridan. Since she had attended the school from which victims have disappeared, it seems logical that she write the story.

There is something reminiscent of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in this work. Archie, who feels a bond with Gretchen since her attack on him, feels the need to consult her about the case. After all, she is a psychiatrist as well as a serial killer, so what can he lose? His need makes a novel twist for the tale.

Apparently there are further books planned for the series. Interestingly, the series will be based on Gretchen Lowell rather than on the detective.

I liked the picture Cain painted of the only partially rehabilitated Archie Sheridan. It seemed to me to be very convincing. His teaming with the damaged Susan Ward was appropriate, his addiction to the presence of his captor perhaps a trifle less so. Somehow, were I taken prisoner and tortured by someone, I can't see me being determined to see the person who hurt me, as frequently as possible, but that's just me.

Although Chelsea Cain is an established writer, this is her first attempt at a crime novel and she has done a good job of it. It will be interesting to see if she can maintain a high standard in future books.
SWEETHEART
by Chelsea Cain
ISBN  9780230704084
359 pages
MACMILLAN
August 6 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 27 2008

Susan Ward is, as usual, trailing after a good story. As constant readers may be aware, Archie Sheridan, the law enforcement officer, and Susan are are both damaged people, Archie, perhaps being the more damaged of the pair. He had been captured by Gretchen Lowell, the Beauty Killer, and kept imprisoned by her, while she went merrily about her vocation of carving (sculpting?) various artistic works onto her victimsí persons. Of course, Archie did not escape merely with the designs made manifest on his person, but also, apparently, with Gretchenís heart-- both metaphorically and physically transferred to his body.

Henry Sobol is Archieís partner. Together they investigate a murder in Forest Park, the place where they had first uncovered a victim of the Beauty Killer twelve years previously. Now, however,  Gretchen Lowell is imprisoned, so whoever dunnit to another corpse in the woods, that person canít be Gretchen.

Archie, while having had his marriage broken by the killer, is still living with his ex-wife and children. Gretchen has kept him staunchly attending her as she doles out the names of her victims (and, therefore, the places she worships) a meagre one at a time at weekly intervals. Eventually, Archie is convinced that he can never fully recover while constantly visiting Gretchen, so he attempts to take steps--away from the beautiful murderer.

Susan is investigating the story of a US senator who has been  having an affair with a girl, with whom he had begun the affair when she was under age. She was the babysitter of the children of that fine, upstanding politician. If his story and connection with the girl is made known, the Senatorës political career might find itself abruptly truncated.

Meanwhile, a careless constable effortlessly ruins the crime scene in the woods. Could he, possibly, have left any untouched evidence at the crime scene, or will Justice, in the form of Archie and partner, prevail?

Chelsea Cain has made a reasonable fist of another mystery.  Of course, one must make a willing suspension of disbelief in several directions: first of all one must ìbelieveî the translation into fiction of the opus but then the more extended trapeze act into belief in a masochistic love affair between a slightly defective detective and the psychopathic murderer.

I wouldnít care to examine the characters of Archie and Gretchen too closely but the other baddies seem sufficiently convincing. I would believe in a politician wishing to extend his political life more than he deserves.

The author is not bad, either, at replicating the atmosphere in the places where murders occur-- sort of a Place of the Skull spookily setting the scene.

Obviously, from the ending of the book, another murder or six is in store for the fortunate aficionado in the next book.
 

Oh well, however one gets oneís kicks.
                                            THE ACCIDENT MAN
                                                    by Tom Cain
                                              ISBN 9780593058060
                                                      416 pages
                                                   BANTAM PRESS
                                                    August 1 2007
                                                            $32.95
                                          reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                       July 10 2007
 

Free lance journalist "Tom Cain" has produced a true thriller, one that will have you holding your breath as you turn the pages, only remembering to breathe when the black spots start appearing in front of your unwilling eyes -- after all, you wouldn't want to waste any time that could be spent finding out more of the adventures of  Sam Carver, just because you carelessly blacked out.

I have to admit that THE ACCIDENT MAN has a great deal of gripping power -- more, even than Tarzan's Grip. It contains deadly deeds performed by a SNAG (sort of -- well, he does have qualms when collateral damage takes out any innocents while the nefarious are being executed.) As the author says "Samuel Carver made very bad accidents happen to even worse people." The action begins when Carver is in the middle of taking out a middle eastern slave trader; that task successfully completed, he returns to his hideout in New Zealand but he is called out of hiding by his chief employer and instructed that he must perform a further execution of a baddie or have his own career brought to an end. Reluctantly, Carver assents and is assigned the task of knocking off a Pakistani bad guy with close ties to terrorists. So off he goes to Paris.

Max, Carver's employer, has pulled a swiftie on the assassin. In order to have a backup plan, Carver goes to the target's apartment but is horrified to discover paraphernalia that could only belong to a woman there. Max mollifies him (or intimidates him) by pointing out that civilians, such as a  target's pilots, are always collateral damage in these exercises. Carver puts aside his wavering and gets on with his sabotage.

Carver positions himself at the Alma tunnel through which he has been told his victim will pass. Sure enough, a Mercedes, driving much too quickly, enters the tunnel followed by a man brandishing a camera on a motorbike. As the world knows, the attempt is successful and Carver's target dies.

Unbeknownst to him, Russians, too are on a murderous mission. Their target is Carver himself. Needless to say, since this is at the beginning of the book, Carver survives and has the female part of the two person team become his ally. Perhaps.

As is so common these days, fictional heroes (or anti-heroes) become surrounded by people determined to double-cross them at any cost. It seems that every man and his dog is out to get both Carver and the Russian woman, Alix. They seem not to be able to find safety even in Switzerland and certainly Carver's very existence and knowledge of his identity is threatened.

There is, as previously indicated, no lack of thrills and spills in this goosebump creator. Of course, the identity of the victim of the chase in the Alma Tunnel will add interest to the book, and why not (unless there could be any resonance with the real world in the fictional events.) The characters are very nicely drawn, thank you, both the semi-callous assassin and the Russian woman, survivor of dreadful hardships and bringing up. A computer nerd makes a convincing aide for Carver and then there is the super rich Russian puppet master with a taste for the young and beautiful.

One thing with which I was especially impressed in this adventure was that when people were in desperate struggles, they did not immediately recover from grievous ills inflicted on them. They didn't receive a bullet wound that nearly takes their lives and be ready to take on the next group of villains the next day. No fear. Instead, they are given very human reactions and require time and health care to get back to a semblance of themselves.

The connection to the real world would no doubt do a lot to ensure some success for the author but his writing would leave little doubt that the novel should be a huge hit. I am afraid that the unmasking of the pseudonymous Mr. Cain left me unmoved since, aside from his bearing the same name as the son of a friend of mine, I'd never heard of him before. Still, he is half a world away so no doubt that explains it. The public is told that THE ACCIDENT MAN is not a one off so I greatly look forward to another well plotted adventure.
 

                                                    THE RULE OF FOUR
                                                  by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
                                                                ISBN 1844130061
                                                                    372 pages
                                                               Century London
                                                                May 3 2004
                                                                    $29.95
                                                     reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                              May 18 2004

THE RULE OF FOUR  is an astonishing first novel. Of course, the fact that it took the two young authors six years to write may have given it a sheen that a book over which the authors had laboured less may not have displayed. The main action of the work is set in Princeton college, New Jersey, where Ian Caldwell distinguished himself in history. Thomason had an apparently equally distinguished career at Harvard so between them they have written a convincing novel detailing the lives of undergraduates. They explain any liberties they have taken with their locales as well as the customs and traditions of Princeton but to those of us who never studied within those hallowed halls, the narrative loses nothing for the history or geography of the place being less than 100% accurate.

Tom Sullivan is the narrator of the piece. He is a final year student at Princeton. His father was an academic who, together with two of his contemporaries, was fascinated by a five hundred year-old manuscript,  the HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI, written by an ancient Roman nobleman. Fra Francesco Colonna had signed his name in an acrostic comprising the initials of the titles of the chapters of the screed. The text of the work is written in seven languages, including Egyptian hieroglyphics, While the content is a maze of weak plots and subplots together with mysterious drawings, scholars have been convinced, since the earliest days, that there is a key to understanding the work, if only that key can be found. The senior Sullivan devoted his life to the study, uncovering a small part of the riddle and he expected Tom to follow in his footsteps. To his great disappointment, Tom wishes to distance himself from the work which he perceives to have alienated his father from his family. The two are involved in a car accident which kills the father and nearly kills the son.

Tom makes friends with an unlikely trio - impressively large black medical student Charlie, Paul, the scholar who is fanatical about decoding theHYPNEROTOMACHIA and Gil, who is the president of the illustrious Ivy. At the commencement of the present tense narrative, they are within the last few days of their life at Princeton and, despite Paul needing to finish his thesis by midnight, take time out to disport themselves in the forbidden bowels of the college - a maze which plays a large part in the latter stages of the novel.

In the third person past tense, Tom relates how Paul lured him into a partnership to carry on the work of his father. Tom is dismayed to discover that he is following all too closely in his father's path, neglecting the relationship with his girlfriend while concentrasting on solving the multiplicity of riddles within the book. Throughout the story, Tom is constantly battling his increasing fascination with the old work in order to secure his present relationship.

Sullivan Senior's former colleagues are now influential within Princeton, with one being Paul's mentor. Against the background of the frenetic pace of the closing academic year, the unfolding of the deciphering of the riddle is documented together with the murder of a graduate student who has helped Paul.

It is a somewhat  trite concept to the laity that academic jealousies and hatreds can run high. The fact that a study of an ancient manuscript could cause people in the present day to take a life seems incredible - yet even in real life this is possible. Certainly, these two authors are well able to convince the reader that such passions are a distinct possibility. The research that has gone into the novel is impressive. The scholarship that is displayed is always intriguing and, amazingly, never boring. The characterisation is convincing, from the dedicated, conscience bedevilled Charlie through the rebellious Tom and the Christ like figure of Paul - not to mention the more socially oriented Gil - all are extremely believable. The puzzle, while it has not been solved in the real world, is pursued in a way to maintain the reader's interest throughout. My one small criticism is that the constant switching from present tense to past can at times be confusing.

One wonders if the two authors, best friends though they be, may have the patience to produce another such involving novel. I can only say I vehemently trust that they can.

                                         THE VOICE OF THE VIOLIN
                                              by Andrea Camilleri
                                    translated by  Stephen Sartarelli
                                                 ISBN 0330492993
                                                          265 pages
                                                           PICADOR
                                                      March 3 2006
                                                           $19.95
                                    reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                    January 3 2006
 

Theatre and television director Andrea Camilleri came late to crime fiction writing so, inevitably, the English reading crime fiction audience had to wait even longer than the Italian aficionados to be introduced to Camilleri's very popular Inspector Salvo Montalbano. Camilleri has, like many authors, received bad as well as good reviews but I have to say that I enjoyed my introduction to the work of the best selling author.

The somewhat irascible Montalbano is not having a good day even before the police car in which he is travelling crashes into a Twingo parked by the side of the road. No one in the house outside which the car was parked is at home so Montalbano leaves a note under the windscreen wiper. Later in the day, when the note is apparently undisturbed and no one has rung the police station to complain about the crash, an uneasy feeling tempts the inspector to a break and enter into the Twingo's house, where he finds the corpse of a young and beautiful woman. He must fabricate circumstances which will enable the body to be 'discovered' legitimately.

There are no clothes nor any objects which might identify the woman but once identification has been made, Montalbano finds himself removed from the case, which is given to the Flying Squad. Captain Panzacchi soon thereafter claims the case has been solved and the murderer, a young, retarded man known to be obsessed with Michela Licalzi, the deceased, has been shot while threatening the police with a hand grenade.

Montalbano has every reason not to believe the neatly presented solution and soon resumes his own examination of the case.

The reader can sympathise with Montalbano. He is having personal  as well as  professional problems. His girlfriend, who lives not in Sicily but in the north, is being skittish, the lad whom they intend adopting has other ideas about with whom he would like to live, Salvo himself is attracted to the best friend of the murdered woman and, perhaps most earth shattering, his subordinate Catarella, who invariably mangles the language and misdelivers telephone messages, is seemingly being converted to received Italian by the computer course to which, in a spirit of mischief, Montalbano has sent him.

Perhaps the author relies a trifle too heavily on what he attributes to intuition for his protagonist. I am not too sure I was satisfied by Montalbano's learning the truth of the matter from music, in which he perceives the voice of the dead woman. Even so, an argument for the use of the piece as a simple inspiration for the inspector's subconscious could be made. The characterisations could have been more convincingly done since the goodies (apart from the delicious Catarella) seem to speak with one voice to impart a single thought. I was in two minds, also, about the validity of a police inspector having as a friend a journalist to whom he shows special consideration  in handing out statements (although things may be done differently in Sicily). Then, too, whenever I saw the name 'Mimi Augello' (Montalbano's male second in command) I found it difficult to suppress an impulse to wonder if his tiny hand was frozen.

Like Donna Leon, whose mysteries are set rather further north, Camilleri places heavy emphasis on corruption within official circles.  Unlike Leon, he doesn't attribute only likable characteristics to his protagonist.

This is a charming addition to the annals of crime fiction. I trust it won't be too long before further Montalbano adventures are translated into English so that this reviewer, for one, may form a definite opinion about the series.
                                                  ROUNDING THE MARK
                                                          by Andrea Camilleri
                                                      translated by Stephen Sartarelli
                                                                264 pages
                                                        ISBN 0330447254
                                                                Picador
                                                           September 3 2006
                                                                $32.95
                                                  reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                         September 6 2006
 

Inspector Salvo Montalbano is feeling betrayed and depressed. He has devoted his working life to being an ethical policeman determined to solve crimes and lock up criminals while following the rules. Well, it has to be admitted that at times he might bend the rules a little but only in the best interests of his profession. The media are trumpeting news about the police using corrupt practices to further their own ends and Montalbano is deeply distressed.

After a sleepless night, Salvo decides, despite the cool weather, to go for a swim. He gets into the sea and swims - and swims and swims. He apologises when he hits someone's foot but is horrified to discover the foot is part of a dead body. The problem is, how will he get the corpse back to land?

Montalbano divests himself of his bathers and, using a decorative cord, fashions a makeshift towline attached to both himself and the body and attempts, despite cramp and exhaustion, to get the dead man back to shore. This is accomplished with great difficulty but after that the unfortunate's identity must be established.

When Deputy Commissioner Riguccio rings Montalbano to see if he can borrow a substitute pair of spectacles, since his own had just broken, Salvo takes them down to the port himself. A boatload of illegal immigrants has just docked and a boy aged about six runs away from a woman claiming to be his mother, a woman who has two other children. Montalbano approaches the child, who has hidden, and gains his trust, taking the boy back to the woman despite the child's obvious distress. It is not long before the distress becomes Montalbano's own when he hears the child has been killed by a hit run driver.

It soon becomes obvious that the drowning case and that of the child's death are linked and Montalbano's attempts to resolve them totally deplete his reserves of strength and, indeed, take him beyond what is safe.

Despite the grim subjects of murder, torture and child trafficking, this is a very funny book. Montalbano's adventure with the drowned man had me laughing very loudly indeed and a vein of humour runs through the entire narrative. Salvo, of course, consumes more than a few gourmet meals during the tale as well as being treated to the company of  a woman other than his girlfriend Livia. All the time, however, he is contemplating handing in his resignation as he goes about tracking down some truly nasty criminals.

Camilleri reintroduces favourite characters from his previous books without whom, no doubt, Montalbano would be lost. The door slamming, word mangling Catarella (a favourite character of mine), Mimi Augello (whose wife is heavily gravid)  and Fazio are all there to lend comfort and support as well as carrying out their police duties to help their boss.

Montalbano is a delightful creation. He is principled but very human, not above chucking the occasional wobbly when things go wrong and certainly subject to weaknesses of the flesh.

Camilleri is an excellent writer capable of making his audience laugh while at the same time holding before them gruesome horrors. He deserves the success and recognition currently being bestowed upon him. Plaudits should also be given to Stephen Sartarelli for his smoothly flowing translation.
 

                                                              God Save the Queen
                                                                by Dorothy Cannell
                                                                         Bantam
                                                                    copyright 1997

                   Dorothy Cannell has been one of my favourite comic mystery writers since I discovered her work in '97. She always has an assortment of eccentric characters and an almost believable plot which is never really too obviously contrived. She is not averse to taking pot shots at various popular or semi-popular icons, either. In her book How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams she took the mickey out of those impossible looking cover male models of the mass produced romantic market. I always feel that the only reason they are casting adoring glances at the likewise apparently self obsessed heroines, as they strive to keep their best profile toward the artist/photographer, is that there must be a mirror placed strategically beyond the swooning woman, aping television's idiot boards.

                 While Dorothy Cannell's previous seven novels have featured the one protagonist it is only toward the end of God Save the Queen that we discover a tenuous link to Cannell's  prior work.

                 In God Save the Queen'we meet Flora Hutchins who has grown up at Gossinger Hall in the care of her grandfather, the extremely patriotic and Gossinger family adoring loyal butler, after the death of her mother when Flora was aged three. She was, at an early age, imbued with a fear of and dislike for the Lady Normina who ruled the castle in the twelfth century as well as a possibly unhealthy respect and affection for The Family. As a surprise birthday gift for her grandfather Flora has written to the Queen to ask for a warrant for  Hutchins' silver polish, but the butler, who has an unparalleled knowledge of silver, as well as the secret recipe for the polish, dies before Flora can receive a royal reply. Has Hutchins achieved his demise as a result of an accident, being stuck in the garderobe (an antiquated toilet which is never used but always kept locked),having apparently scrawled a note saying simply 'God Save the Queen' in a final paroxysm of patriotism or was his death encouraged a trifle by an anonymous agent?

                Cannell introduces a marvelous cast of characters... Hutchins the butler; a shifting panorama of housekeepers; the dreaded Lady Gossinger  who bears a chilling resemblance to the long dead Lady Normina and who married Sir Henry as a result of her misunderstanding Sir Henry's greeting on meeting her when she visited Gossinger Hall as a tourist (Sir Henry was too embarrassed to tell her he mistook her for the new housekeeper  rather than having proposed as a result of overwhelming love at first sight);the honourable but fusty Sir Henry Gossinger himself; Sir Henry's nephew Vivian, long the object of Flora's self effacing affections; Miss Sophie Doffitt, she of the uncanny resemblance to the Queen Mother and many others, including the ghastly pre-teen Boris, great nephew to Lady Gossinger who would prefer her links to her family to be forgotten. Even the Queen makes a brief appearance. The mysterious disappearance of Queen Charlotte's centuries old new purchase of a swan shaped silver tea-strainer, possibly pilfered by an ancestor of the elderly stable boy cum handyman Tripp  still provides an intriguing subject for current conversation at the castle.

                The author manages to imbue her characters with life and somehow encourages the reader to accept each forthcoming incredible premise as believable until the entire unbelievable work has been painted. The puzzle is very fair, the characters, delightful in their whimsicality, are only slightly overdrawn from what one sees in day to day life. Even the ending and resolution, while totally improbable, at the time seem almost credible.

              And my reaction? I could not stop giggling through the entire delightful romp.

                   Stephen Cannell did not do well at school. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time and, indeed, until his own daughter was diagnosed with the same disability. Cannell suffers from dyslexia. He always wanted to be a writer despite his extremely low grades and it is a real tribute to his courage and persistence that he is now a very popular author. He did not commence writing fiction in book form until nearly twenty years after beginning his writing career for television. The author's  television successes include The Rockford Files, Baretta, and Baa Baa Black Sheep to name just a few of the many hits he has created. A multi-talented man, Cannell not only writes books and even scripts for movies, he is an astute businessman and has also become a successful actor

                      Cannell's first novel was The Plan, published in 1995. Following that, he produced, in rapid succession, Final Victim, King Con, Riding the Snake and The Devil's Workshop. The next novel was The Tin Collectors, to which The Viking Funeral  is a sequel, featuring Cannell's hapless hero Sergeant Shane Scully of the LAPD. It is very interesting to note that Stephen Cannell is a perfectionist in that he rewrites his output constantly in order to produce the tightest action and mots justes for an elegant whole.

            The Viking Funeral  opens just before Scully's inamorata, Alexa Hamilton, is about to receive the Medal of Valour, together with promotion to lieutenant, for an operation which also involved Scully. He however, instead of receiving joint honours, was forced to undergo psychiatric treatment. His mental health is further in question by both Alexa and the authorities when Scully claims to have seen his old friend Jody Dean. Jody had committed suicide some years previously. Shane is contacted by Jody, however, and is told that his friend is  one of a group of undercover police investigating the 'parallel market', the device whereby money obtained from the drug trade is laundered.

                 Scully manages to convince Alexa and the new police chief that there is a group of police, known as the Vikings, who have all been reported dead but  who have become corrupt while pursung their top secret undercover work. Shane is himself given a covert mission  to penetrate the band. He has to rely on his friendship with Jody, whom he had always idealised unrealistically and, it turns out, unjustifiedly, to keep him safe amidst the gang of inimical and savage drug using former policemen in order to survive their hatred.

              Despite Cannell's constant rewriting, at least one inconsistency escaped his attention - when Shane interviews Jody's wife, he is convinced that she is unaware that her husband's death was faked. This was confirmed by Jody, yet later in the book Scully mentions that Jody's wife was aware her husband lived. That is a minor criticism in the face of the plot construction. The author has gone to a lot of trouble to research the parallel market which does, in fact , exist. He has manufactured a very plausible plot concerning just how the predators could be preyed upon by a ruthless band of criminal former law enforcers. And more poweer to him for that. On the debit side of the writing, I had difficulty with the author's use of what is apparently the Los Angeles dialect combined with a kind of thieves' cant. At times the combination was almost incomprehensible.No doubt, too, Cannell would have been restricted in his television shows from showing too much that is bloodthirsty, but those same restrictions do not, unfortunately, inhibit him in his fiction writing. Some of the torture and murder scenes in this book are amongst the worst of the blood spatter through which  I have gingerly tip-toed  in the large volume of suspense fiction which I customarily read. Another quibble I have is with an event toward the end of the book. Scully was an orphan, a foundling who has always wondered about his parentage and just why his mother abandoned him. That question is resolved in a way that I considered equivalent to the camel being swalowed despite the devourer straining to ingest  a gnat. Likewise, I had problems accepting the telepathic bond that exists between Scully and Jody, a faculty which can be turned on and off at very convenient times.While it is unlikely that Cannell's output will ever be regarded as belles-lettres, there is little doubt that this novel will be received enthusiastically by those aficionados of the genre who are not averse to gobbets of flesh and buckets of blood.

                                                    PARADISE CITY
                                                 by Lorenzo Carcaterra
                                                     ISBN 0743495748
                                                           485 pages
                                                       POCKET BOOKS
                                                     December 2005
                                                              $18.95
                                               reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                     December 19 2005

The writing of Lorenzo Carcaterra has spanned a wide spectrum ranging from straight reporting through movie and television scripts, non-fiction books and, now, fiction. In interviews on the Net he admits his work is inspired by the stories to which he listened when he was growing up. His family and neighbours lived in a harsh world where many worked on the wrong side of the law as they struggled to eke out an existence. PARADISE CITY is the first in a series to feature Neapolitan cop Giancarlo Lo Manto. a man born in New York City who  at fifteen and after the death of his father  was removed,  to Naples.

The narrative begins with a prologue giving details of the funeral of Lo Manto's father. The Camorra, the crime gang governing the sector in which Lo Manto senior worked, exacted money from ill paid workers. His refusal to pay the tribute resulted in his death being mandated by Don Nicola Rossi. At the funeral, young Giancarlo swears vengeance. After the move to Naples, a city on which the tentacles of the Camorra still has a stranglehold, Giancarlo becomes a policeman as soon as he is able. Given his motivation and his intelligence, not to mention what must be a virtually indestructible physique, Lo Manto becomes one of the best.

In New York, Pete Rossi, son of Don Nicola and the most recent crime boss, is feeling the cost of the depredations made by Lo Manto's warfare against his empire. He determines to lure the cop back to the US where he may be assassinated when Rossi is prepared to wreak his own vengeance.

This is a very violent, action driven tale. Lo Manto is inflicted on the reluctant Jennifer Fabini, another cop who prefers to work by herself, as a baby-sitting job. Unfortunately, neither character is developed to a great extent, a criticism which may also be leveled at the character of streetkid Felipe, whom Lo Manto uses as an assistant. To my mind, the book could have been improved greatly had more care been devoted to the development of the trio. Indeed, I felt that the people the author describes on his web site as inspiring his books came alive to a greater extent than those in this fiction. Quite possibly a degree of reality may have been injected had the author given explanations as the story progressed for Lo Manto being virtually omniscient with regard the plans and actions of his enemies.
 

The narrative sparks during the fights. The reader can feel the enthusiasm Carcaterra has in choreographing the many battles of the story. While it is possible, one supposes, that the conditions described by the author as an integral part of the tale could prevail, it is unfortunate that he gives way to a climax and conclusion that could perhaps be described as sentimental schlock.

Since further adventures of Giancarlo Lo Manto  are apparently in the wind, it would be nice to think that more attention to characterisation may provide rather more reality and interest.
                                                    CHASERS
                                               by Lorenzo Carcaterra
                                             ISBN 9780743285384
                                                         341 pages
                                               SIMON & SCHUSTER
                                                        July 1 2007
                                                             $29.95
                                       reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                       June 18 2007

This novel is a sequel to Carcaterra's  APACHES. If you, Dear Reader, followed the action of the previous novel and found it involving, then no doubt you will be equally impressed with this outing. If, on the other hand, you find something repellent about a diet of endless dead bodies, oceans of blood not equating to your preferred chalybeate, perhaps you had best look elsewhere for your literary feast.

My favourite sequence of sentences occurs on the first page of the work . A young woman has been shot. She is a waitress and has what seems to me the most amazing reaction to this event. "Her left arm twitched and one of her shoes landed near her neck, a low-heeled pump resting on its side, black strap snapped off. She had bought the shoes with the money from her last pay check, paying more than she could afford for a pair of Ferragamos she had always dreamed of owning. She closed her eyes and wondered if she would be buried wearing those shoes." Come on! With the strap snapped? Actually, my quarrel is not with the strap but with the notion that a dying girl would be absorbed by such a strange contemplation.

More credible reactions follow. The girl's uncle, Giovanni "Boomer" Frontieri, a former policeman, retired because of injury, surveys the scene and decides to wreak vengeance. He rounds up the friends who survived the Apaches episode, then adds to their number from other wounded veterans (not the least being a young Forensics expert, nicknamed Quincy, who has unfortunately contracted AIDS). Perhaps the most unusual of the team is Buttercup (my favourite character) a reputedly drug addicted Neapolitan Bull Mastiff. She has been wounded badly but is such a good cop she has a full pension. Like the other Apaches, she still needs the rush given by the successful take down of crooks.

When oh when is Mr. Carcaterra going to learn that less is more? The pages of this novel are not so much gore spattered as veritably flooded by the red stuff. Human limbs, too, decorate the chapters of the tastefully written novel. It would have been nice if some thought had been put into bringing the characters to life rather than sentencing so many of them to death but the author obviously prefers working with a killing hand rather than a creative one.

The New York of the author's imagination is owned by several gangs: Italian, Russian, Latino and goodness knows what else. Oh, and one gang, the newest, is owned by a conscienceless turncoat priest who prefers other people's money to his vow of poverty. Boomer manages to set them at odds with each other in an attempt to have them annihilate each other.

Unfortunately, all the characters, even the women (but Buttercup doesn't talk) speak with the one voice. Thus, if one loses one's page in the middle of a conversation and accidentally opens the book in the middle of another speech, it is not always possible to work out that a different person is in charge of the dialogue.

If the story could be winnowed from the chaff of assorted body parts and whole corpses, it could have been made into an intriguing novel; as it is, it's unfortunately difficult to strain for the connective thread.
                       THE MASTER OF KNOTS
                                  by Massimo Carlotto
                        translated by Christopher Woodall
                                     ISBN 0752868144
                                            184 pages
                                                Orion
                                         March 4 2005
                                               $29.95
                             reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                        April 5 2005

Massimo Carlotto must surely have enough material in his brain to power a lifetime of writing crime fiction. He was the subject of numerous trials after having been falsely accused of murder. He spent time on the run, spent far too much time in gaol before his eventual release and would have stored up more than enough cynicism about law enforcement agencies and criminals to envisage many scenarios on which to base his plots. If, as Carlotto claims in an interview I read on the Net, every murder he features in his books is based on fact, then there are some rather dark people inhabiting the sunny land of Italy.

Marco Buratti  is an unlicenced detective who 'covers his arse' by owning a club as well. Mind, the barman he employs is nominally the owner of the club but Marco, aka the Alligator, is happy with the situation. He has two associates who help him in his investigations and takes on cases only when the clients come with a suitable reference. Beniamino Rossini, a 'gangster of the old school' as Marco describes him, and Max the Memory, a man with a mind like a filing cabinet for trivia, comprise Marco's cohorts in the detecting business.

The prologue to the book describes the imminent death of a woman at the hands of someone who appears to be an expert in applied physiology while he also seems to be a perfectionist when it comes to detail. As the reader discovers a little further into the book, the torturer is the  titular Master of Knots. The victim is, paradoxically, racked with pleasure at the same time as she is aware of her impending death.

Marco is approached by Mariano Giraldi who requests the Alligator investigate the disappearance and presumed kidnapping of his wife Helena. It doesn't take long before Marco and his friends discover that the apparently respectable Giraldi is involved in a profitable sideline of sadomasochism whereby he sold his wife's services as a slave. Something went wrong with the amusement, resulting in Helena's absence. Giraldi has another slave to his name and she, too, is advertised in various discreet sites on the Web so that assignations with eager masters may be set up.

I can't say I took to any of the characters in this novel. Certainly the reader must expect them to be calloused - after all, they have all spent time in gaol and bear the scars of their imprisonment - but sympathetic they are not. They seem quite ready to kill people if offered the slightest pretext. Beniamino sports a collection of bracelets on his arm, one for each man he has murdered. The tale is extremely dark (well, they don't call this kind of fiction 'noir' without cause) and readers who prefer their fiction light and rollicking would do well not to read it too closely if they have a weak stomach. A good many pages are also devoted to Max's political activism which I can not, for the life of me, see advance the plot in any way.

It is always difficult to review a translation adequately without a knowledge of the culture that produced it.  Quite probably I am alone in finding the subject matter and characters distasteful. Best read it for yourselves and make up your own minds.

                                                                       THE ADVERSARY
                                                                         by Emmanuel Carrere
                                                                    translated by  Linda Coverdale
                                                                                 Bloomsbury
                                                                         ISBN 0-7475-5417-X
                                                                                    $17.95
                                                                       reviewed by Denise Wels

               Emmanuel Carrere, the reader is told, 'one of France's most critically acclaimed writers, is the author of  screenplays ....and five novels including The Moustache  and Class Trip.'  As such, one would expect him to have a reasonable grasp of the art of building tension and leaving the reader wondering. Perhaps it is because the crime of which Jean-Claude Romand was the perpetrator was so horrible that the scribe felt comfortable in relying on melodrama  rather than more subtle plot subterfuges to get his message across. But then, Carrere did not have to invent the plot: Romand had already performed this office for him.

            The book opens with the author calmly stating how, on the morning of January 9 1993, he was with his children in a parent-teacher meeting while Jean-Claude Romand was busily involved in killing  his children  as well as his wife. Presumably this is an attempt to highlight the horror existing in the difference between the lives of normal Frenchmen and the lives of the very abnormal. The book then goes on to describe how  some time later Romand's best friend, Luc Ladmiral, is called to the scene of a fire which has destroyed the house belonging to the Romands. The bodies of Florence Romand (whose head has suffered injuries) and her two children are being retrieved from the pyre, as is the still living Jean-Claude. Then it becomes apparent that all three had been killed prior to the fire. In addition, news comes that Jean-Claude's parents had also been murdered.

            Romand was supposedly a medical scientist working for WHO. He was a well respected member of his community. He had attended university with his wife, Florence, who later became a pharmacist, and with Luc Ladmiral, himself a doctor.  The truth soon came out after the murders. Romand was no doctor. He had failed to attend a second year exam, and such was the esteem in which he was held by his friends, no one even noticed his name was absent from the list of those who passed the exam. Not much deterred, Romand goes on to pretend he finished his course and obtained a prestigious job. It was Romand's failure to sit his exam that supposedly was the starting point for his later heinous crimes. It says something for the naiveté of his parents that they never questioned the fact that he continued to draw his allowance from their bank account. Since his relatives as well as those of his wife, were vastly impressed by Jean-Claude's learning and capabilities, they were more than happy to give him large sums of money to invest for them. These funds he embezzled and so was able to live happily for an amazing two decades. Then the money dwindles, his mistress demands the return of her investment and the pseudo-medico sees the shaky edifice of his existence crumble. There is only one obvious (to him) way out of his dilemma - to kill everyone he can.

                The elements of a good plot are all present but somehow this book fails to grip despite the author's self-confessed obsession with the murderer. Carrere had already, before receiving permission from the killer to write the real thing, turned the narrative into fiction so perhaps he did not feel the need to extend himself quite so much in the true tale. The language of the book contains a fair bit of rhetoric and is rather extravagant. In comparison with many books of crime fiction, this biographical work fails to grip. If this is  true crime , give me fiction any night.
                           NEW ENGLAND WHITE
                                by Stephen L. Carter
                                 ISBN 9780224080941
                                             557 pages
                                       Jonathan Cape
                                             LONDON
                                      August 1 2007
                                                $32.95
                                 reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                        August 9 2007

I feel I should post a disclaimer before writing a review of this book. I do not live in the USA.  The only knowledge I have of racial division in that country I have gleaned through reading, primarily fiction. Although, here in Australia, we are said to have our share of racial prejudice, I can't say I have seen it first hand so really I am not qualified to comment on the philosophical aspects of NEW ENGLAND WHITE. The interaction between the races comprises a hefty chunk of the book which is written by a black Professor (the proper kind, not simply a lecturer) of Law at Yale University.

Julia Carlyle,  wife of the President of the university, Lemaster Carlyle, is Deputy Dean of the School of Divinity in Elm Harbor. Their eldest daughter, Vanessa, is receiving psychiatric care because she has an incendiary tendency toward arson. Lemaster and Julia are driving home from a university do one night when they are forced to stop. They have seen the remains of a corpse that have been, well, interfered with by animals seeking a meal during the depths of winter. To make matters worse, the victim, a lecturer in Economics, was once the lover of Julia -- before she married Lemaster, of course. Kellen Zant was obsessed with Julia and had never stopped loving her or wishing he had not let her go. Now someone has murdered him and left him where Julia and her husband must be the people to discover his body.

Thirty years previously there had been another murder in the town.  Gina Joule's drowned body had been discovered and the authorities of the time quickly decided the malefactor was a young black man. Julia's daughter, Vanessa, is writing a paper on the death -- and Kellen Zant had taken an inordinate interest in both Vanessa and the paper.

Lemaster (or "Lemmie" as his intimates know him) is a friend of the President of the United States. Lemmie is also an official of a black secret society. Somehow, everything is connected to both the murders.

I would think the term "murder mystery" would be more appropriate for this work than the more common "thriller". The only thrills I experienced come late in the book when Julia is investigating the university library. The mystery of the murders, while seemingly at the heart of the book, are less a part of the plot than the topic of race is a part of the book.

The characterisations are well done and Julia and the rather stiff Lemmie are convincing, as is Vanessa and the officer responsible for the safety of the campus, Bruce Vallely.

I did find one of Carter's idiosyncratic expressions intensely annoying -- but that's just me. He kept referring to "the darker nation" and "the paler nation." Surely to goodness the entire nation is an amalgamation of the two races? Apparently he used the same words in his first novel, THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK  (a work in which Julia and Lemaster appear as minor characters.) Perhaps the expression is intended as a euphemism but it strikes me as euphuistic rather than euphemistic. I wish he'd drop it but have no doubt if he essays further into fiction, the phrases will be revived.
PALACE COUNCIL
by Stephen L Carter
ISBN  9780224087193
514 pages
Jonathan Cape
London
September 1 2008
$34.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 11 2008

If one is interested in modern American history, especially if one has some curiosity about the place of African Americans in that history, it would surely be difficult to do better than to read PALACE COUNCIL. This is a well researched look at the evolution of what Carter calls ìthe darker nationî from a relative situation of powerlessness onto a standing of equality with whites (should that be  ìthe paler nationî or even ìthe nation of palefacesî?)

The story begins in 1952. A lawyer has been at a meeting of which he thoroughly disapproves. The author confides that the lawyerís death is imminent.

Eddie Wesley wants to be a writer. He is in love with Aurelia, who has no matrimonial interest in him. She is destined for greater, more financially rewarding things. But Eddie stumbles over the corpse of a white man, the lawyer from the prologue. Castle is holding a Cross of St Peter, an emblem which has great significance throughout the novel.

Eddie has a sister named Junie. To his consternation, Junie disappears and Eddie spends decades searching for her. Against the backdrop of his search, the increasing importance of the people carrying the Cross of St Peter becomes evident. Meanwhile, Aureliaís intimacy with those of political importance, most especially Richard Nixon, whose flaky personality is disclosed unflatteringly, increases as she becomes one of the senior figures of the ìczarinasî of Harlem.

This is a fascinating tale for anyone with an interest in American history, most especially anyone who might be intrigued by conspiracy theory. The interest is increased by the strong protagonist from whose point of view, as a black man, the  politics of the time are seen.

The character of Eddie has obviously had a lot of time devoted to it, of Aurelia, less so. To my mind at least, Aurelia seems strangely acquiescent to the expectations of her family and I wonder how a man such as Eddie could continue to be fascinated by her, down the years. Junie is a different matter, vaguely glimpsed and never really understood by Eddie-- or, perhaps, the reader.

The poet Milton, while not making any anachronistic personal appearance, is quite important to the work in that his poetry has special significance t the conspirators and therefore to Eddie, who must solve the clues presented to him.

I canít quite make up my mind as to the impact the book has on me. Certainly I learned a lot about modern American history and also about the impact African Americans have had on American society. I canít say that any of the characters, even Eddie, were terribly attractive.

While the basic premise of a secret society running, or even wishing to run, the United States, is a bit iffy, this book is an excellent way to learn the almost contemporary history of that country in a painless manner.
 

                                                                BLINDSIDE
                                                                 by J. R. Carroll
                                                              ISBN1741142067
                                                                    415 pages
                                                              Allen & Unwin
                                                              January 9 2004
                                                                    $19.95
                                                  reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
                                                              January 11 2004
 
 
 

Former English teacher for more than two decades, J. R, Carroll did not permit lack of publishing success - he indulged himself by writing short stories as a hobby - deter him from his primary ambition of becoming a writer. Carroll had done National Service and this inspired him with the plot for his first published novel, Token Soldiers,released in 1983, The history of the book itself gave Carroll a first hand insight into crime - the publisher defrauded him (and others) of the royalties from his work. Perhaps, then, it was a natural progression for Carroll to turn from writing about war to writing about crime. Catspaw , The Clan, No Way Back, Out of the Blue, Hard Yards and Cheaters are some of the thrillers written by this Melbourne author.

Blindside is essentially about rogue cops - favourite characters of this writer - and a crime that twisted itself inside out from everyone's perspective. It begins in 1992 with three law enforcers breaking into the home of a Greek Victorian crime figure. Not disdaining the use of excessive violence, they force the old man to open his vault. Eventually George Petrakos obliges, disclosing sex aids, money and drugs but his wife, porn starlet Stephanie, walks in on the scene and the duo must be subdued.

Eleven years later, Shaun McCreadie is released from gaol, doubt having been cast on his guilt for the murders of George Petrakos and his wife. The ringleader of the hold-up merchants, Mitch, as well as his fellow miscreant Andy, have been killed. Shaun is the only survivor and determines to recover the money the trio had stolen and attempt to piece together what really happened on the day of the crime.

Shaun retrieves the treasure from its hiding place in the wild but along the way meets Joanna Steer, a woman who resembles him to an uncanny extent. Joanna is the wife of a barrister with a taste for underage flesh and he has problems of his own to solve in order to preserve his unblemished reputation so he may become a judge.

Together, Shaun and Jo take on the crooked hierarchy of the police force, both past and present, gradually finding the pieces of the puzzle that fit together to make the unlikeoly - and extremely dangerous - whole.

Blindside is not for the squeamish. While Carroll certainly has an ear for dialogue, it is unfortunate that he includes quite as much profanity as he does. I am no stranger to bad language (is anyone who has associated with male teenagers?) but I felt I was being violently buffeted about the head by its proliferation within the first chapter. Carroll is noted for his graphic violence as well as his graphic sex scenes and he has not stinted on these in this book. For those readers with strong stomachs, and  even for those  with slightly weaker digestions, this is a book well worth persevering with for the rewards in tight plotting and  excellent characterisation. Carroll's portrayal of corrupt cops would make any Melburnian hesitate before even requesting directions to an unknown street!  The professed criminals at times seem more appealing than their counterparts on the opposite side of the law.

The tortuous plot sees Shaun reassess his beliefs and loyalties many times throughout the book. He is not a pleasant man and he seems to become always more violent as he encounters more rogue elements within the police force. Betrayal and disloyalty are the names of the game and the reader is left wondering if there is one person of unalloyed goodness in either Melbourne or Sydney.

All this having been said, the book is an entertaining, if gore soaked, romp, one which is interesting not only for the rapid action but also for the plot twists.
 
 

AMBUSH is the latest of Paul Carson's peripherally medical thrillers. The Irish physician now resident in the United States turned his attention from the non-fiction of the medical world to a full length novel in 1997, when SCALPEL proved eminently successful. His newest release displays more of an interest in death than healing but this is only to be expected, after all, in a thriller.

Chicago-raised (despite being the son of Irish parents)paediatrician Scott Nolan has married an Irish girl, Laura, and moved to Dublin where he is seen as a stellar acquisition for the City Hospital. His name has become very well known to the general populace as he has been teamed with the Justice Minister, Harry Power, in a stated attempt to eliminate illegal drugs in the city. Unfortunately, his name is too well known to the underworld and on an unpleasant, snowy morning, when the visibility is poor, Scott survives an assassination attempt which takes the life of his beloved wife, who was wearing items of Scott's clothing and driving their car, rather than walking in the vile weather. Shortly before this, Harry Power has survived a similar assassination attempt masterminded by the same assassin responsible for the death of Laura Nolan, Irishman Sean Kennedy. Power's policeman bodyguard loses his life while protecting the anti-drugs crusading Minister.

Scott has always been loathed by his brother-in-law, Detective Mark Higgins but now Higgins states categorically that Nolan, rather than Laura should have died and simple loathing has escalated to hatred.

Sean Kennedy has a motive for his attempted assassination of the drug destroying duo. He and his partner of convenience, former policeman Jay Davis, have an ambitious plan to become millionaires through drug dealing in Ireland. Kennedy, never a paragon of sensitive benevolence, murders those he commissioned to perform the failed killings then sets about advancing his inroads into drug dealing. He is domiciled in Holland where he is the sometime protector of some prostitutes. He travels from there to Bangkok, where he was once resident, in order to set up a cargo of drugs which will, once landed in Ireland, ensure he and Davis become enormously wealthy.

In the meantime, Nolan is seen by his employing hospital as a liability so, so far as the public knows, he returns to the United States to work there. In reality, Scott has vowed to avenge the murder of his wife and proposes a plan to the Irish authorities. He and his brother-in-law must needs form a partnership, distasteful to both.

The story is, for want of a better description, action packed. The heroes are not quite as golden hued as they might be but the villains could scarcely be blacker. The descriptions of the locales are convincing and the mind sets of the baddies terrifying. The plan of revenge formulated by Scott and undertaken by him and Higgins is ingenious, albeit unpleasant. There is a delicious touch when a hardened cop faints at the sight of an injection. In summary, this is a good, thrilling tale.
                                           BETRAYAL
                                           by Paul Carson
                                         ISBN 0434013048
                                                374 pages
                              WILLIAM HEINEMANN: LONDON
                                            August 2 2005
                                                   $32.95
                                    reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                            August 4 2005

Paul Carson is noted, and justly so, for his medical thrillers that rush along at the speed of a laser. The Dublin physician has penned books on health but one can only assume these did not contain quite the pace nor the plot of SCALPEL, COLD STEEL, FINAL DUTY and AMBUSH, his novels prior to BETRAYAL.

True to habit Carson plunges his protagonist into peril within the first few pages of this latest work. Dr. Frank Ryan, Chief Medical Officer to Harmon Penitentiary, is summoned to the prison at 3.30 a.m. Reluctantly, he leaves his lover, Lisa Duggan, in order to answer the summons given him in a distinctly suspicious phone call. He would have done better to remain in bed since once he is lured outside his  fortress of an apartment, he is set upon and nearly killed. He regains consciousness in what he is told is a hospital, but is it?

Once Ryan is released from where he is being nursed and attempts to return to work, he learns he has become an embarrassment to his employers. Not only that, Lisa has disappeared and people where she worked deny all knowledge of her. In an attempt to solve the mystery of Lisa's disappearance and his own abduction and near slaughter, Ryan pursues all avenues, both savoury and unsavoury, the latter involving one of Dublin's most notorious criminals. Frank's search takes him as far afield as Belgrade while his unlikely assistants include a journalist who does not inspire much confidence in his good faith. Ryan's hair raising exploits and misadventures are told in counterpoint to his upbringing in country South Australia.

Carson's prose is always well written and to the point. His invention of political manouevrings and plots are worthy of the most tortuous schemes devised by a spymaster. Ryan, as a character is not, perhaps, the most charming sort of fellow you would like to meet down at your nearest billabong; he seems to have a greater interest in matters amorous than problems medical but then other novels of Carson's also contain steamy slabs of sex. Nonetheless, the reader is likely to be convinced  by the adventurous doctor. Perhaps the character of Lisa, the girlfriend, is not quite so credible.

It is always entertaining to read books written by authors with special knowledge of a subject and here Carson shines when discussing questions pertaining to the medical. His references to things Australian were, perhaps, not quite so accurate. Although he pays tribute to South Australian sources in his acknowledgments, presumably he didn't ha