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Review Archive for author's that start with ... J

The Fisherman's Daughter (Molly Jackson), The Way Of Fire (Christian Jacq), Vadim (Donald James), The Lighthouse  ( P D James), The Private Patient ( P. D. James), Faith (Peter James), Dead Simple  (Peter James),  Looking Good Dead (Peter James), Not Dead Enough (Peter James), Dead Man's Footsteps (Peter James), Web of Evil (J A Jance), Hand of Eveil (J A Jance), Autographs In The Rain (Quintin Jardine), Unnatural Justice (Quintin Jardine), The Ninth Life Louis Drax (Liz Jensen), The Road (Catherine Jinks), The Dark Mountain (Catherine Jinks), Blind Alley (Iris Johansen), Countdown (Iris Johansen), House of Many Ways (Diana Wynne Jones), Shade (Neil Jordan), Hotel of Secrets (T. J. Joyce), The Exception(Christian Jungerson),

                                          THE FISHERMAN'S DAUGHTER
                                                            by  Molly Jackson
                                                         ISBN  9781846050725
                                                                      442 pages
                                                          Century . London
                                                           December 3 2007
                                                                       $32.95
                                              reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                             January 3 2008

Here's some nice, unchallenging reading for the holiday season. THE FISHERMAN'S DAUGHTER is a love story stretching through a couple of generations and two countries (not counting the places Hamish visits during his seafaring days.)

The narrative begins, distressingly enough, with divers opening a container that is brim full of human remains. In this day and age, it's not difficult for a reader to  conclude, correctly, the nature of the cargo, but the book must spell out the circumstances of the callous slaughter.

Chapter One establishes that Robbie Fraser is a divorcé who lives by himself but is currently attempting to clear his mother's old flat subsequent to her death. His mother's solicitor had surprised him by saying that there was no mortgage on her home but there are many more shocks in store for him, the first one of which being  the unsigned letter urging him to go to a remote Scottish village because his father has disappeared. Robbie had no idea that his father was even alive, let alone living in Scotland.

Robbie travels to  Kinlochvegan and takes up residence in his father's house. There he meets Heather McBain, who tells him something of the history between their fathers, and the bad blood existing between their respective families.

The narrative jumps backward in time to when Hamish Fraser, as a young man, leaves his native village and goes to sea. He also relinquishes his sweetheart, which gives his rival, the dour and villainous McBain, the opportunity to woo Fraser's love for himself.

The villainy depicted in the prologue does not comprise a hefty part of the tale. Rather, Hamish's jaunting around the world and his initiation into both the ways of the sea and of the flesh occupy a largish portion. He does, eventually, manage to mature, but by then it is too late.

While it may not be deep, soul stirring stuff, it's an enjoyable read, especially for anyone with a hankering for a love story with a (relatively) noble hero and a dastardly villain.

The characterisation is adequate, although, at times, I felt the villains might be just that bit too hissable (but so, too, at times is the hero!) and the women -- except for Heather, who is nicely acerbic -- just too sweet.

The author certainly has the ability to write so I trust she decides to try something a bit more ambitious for her next effort. It would be good were she to put a bit more effort into the crime aspect of her next novel, as well.
 

                                    THE WAY OF FIRE
                                     by Christian Jacq
                              translated by Sue Dyson
                                     ISBN 0743259610
                                             388 pages
                                    SIMON & SCHUSTER
                                     November 2005
                                                $29.95
                           reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                      November 4 2005

Given that Christian Jacq fell in love with Ancient Egypt when he was thirteen years of age and that he began writing books on that topic almost immediately, it is amazing that he had to wait until he was forty  before his fiction achieved popularity. He is recognised as one of the world's foremost authorities on his favourite subject so readers of Jacq's many books that fictionalise Egyptology assimilate much of historical fact along with the fable.

THE WAY OF FIRE is Part Three of the Mysteries of Osiris series. Nonetheless, a reader who begins his acquaintance with the author with this volume will not have much difficulty in picking up the thread.

The first chapter in this episode of the Mysteries opens, ominously enough, with the reader being introduced to the Herald as that worthy forces a caravan bearing supplies to an Egyptian commander's team, to halt. When the merchant in charge of the caravan refuses to obey the Herald's orders to surrender his cargo, the Herald transforms himself into a falcon and sinks his talons into the merchant's heart, thereby terminating the discussion.

Iker, a young man who made his appearance in the earlier books, is the hero of this adventure. He has been named  Royal Son to Egypt's Pharaoh, Senusret. The tale recounts Iker's attempts to track and destroy the Herald. Iker has fallen in love with Isis, a priestess who is being initiated into the Mysteries so that THE WAY OF FIRE is both a love story and a history of warfare.

Egyptian civilisation was governed by superstition so it is not surprising that this novel is permeated with the supernatural. Magic is invoked on almost every page. Iker owns a donkey with whom he can communicate and becomes beloved of a hound named Flesh Eater with whom he also enters into a close bond. There is a lot of blood shed throughout the narrative but those interested in Egyptology as well as blood, guts and high adventure will no doubt find this tale fascinating. It is a great treat to be given an insight into the mysterious ways and history of that death obsessed culture.
 
 
 
 
 
 

                                                                VADIM
                                                              by Donald James
                                                          ISBN 0-7126-6994-9
                                                             Century. London
                                                                   $27.95
                                                            5th January 2001
                                                      reviewed by Denise Wels

                               Donald James is truly a man of many talents. Apart from writing scripts for
       various television series (including my all-time favourite The Avengers ) he has written
       fiction as well as reference books on modern history. One of his works, The Fall of the
       Russian Empire  predicted the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Vadim  is the third in the
       series of thrillers featuring Constantin Vadim, former Inspector in the Russian Militia. The
       prior adventures are Monstrum  and The Fortune Teller.

                             James studied History at Cambridge after spending time as an intelligence
       officer while doing National Service. One can only speculate as to what from these
       experiences sowed the seeds for his subsequent fictional creations.

                              The Inspector Vadim books are set partially in the former Soviet Union,
       although Vadim  sees a goodly part of its action in the United States. The fact that my fingers  turned blue while I was reading of Constantin's experiences in the bitter Russian winter is no doubt a tribute to James' knowledge of the cold in the country which he is so able to
       portray in print.

                             This novel is set in 2020, although not  science fiction. Vadim is instructed by
       lifetime friend, Roy  Rolkin, Governor of  the northern province of Kola, to go to the United
       States to find a striker for their soccer team. (And how I wish blurb writers would actually
       read  the books they were promoting. Vadim was not  sent to the U.S. to solve a series of
       baffling murders.) Before Constantin leaves Moscow he receives a plea from  sister Olga,
       whom he has not seen for many years, and who lives in the United States, to rescue a
       friend of hers who has been arrested and is in gaol in Moscow.

                          Vadim liberates the mysterious and libidinous Katerina, who offers him a job
       working for her in the United States but he declines since he is committed to obtaining a
       footballer for Rolkin. Nonetheless, their lives become intertwined.

                              As a result of an all too possible outbreak of a mutated form of tuberculosis  in the Russian conglomerate, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union who do not hold
       valid vaccination certificates are thrown into detention in a re-opened Ellis Island. Since
       Vadim's certificate is in Russian he is detained and must seek help from Katerina to obtain
       his freedom. Then the murders begin.

                             This is a political thriller following the fortunes of a Presidential candidate not
       aligned with either of the major parties but whose popularity with the voters suddenly
       surges, due in part to his commitment to a Russian Aid policy. The action is truly
       hair-raising, not the least because of the political twists and turns. Be warned, however:
       gore abounds.

                         The writing is that of a master craftsman with excellent, if convoluted, plotting.
       There is a switching of tenses from present to past which I found somewhat puzzling. I
       eventually came to the conclusion that by writing in the present tense, James gave credibility
       to Vadim's bafflement concerning the events in which he found himself, as opposed to his
       knowing what happened, when the narrative switched back to the past tense.

                        I can sincerely recommend this as a real heart thumper.
                                    THE LIGHTHOUSE
                                             by P D James
                                        ISBN 0571229328
                                                323 pages
                                          faber and faber
                                          October 7 2005
                                                $29.95
                                    reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                         September 26 2005

P D James is, together with Ruth Rendell, one of the most enduring of British women crime fiction writers. Both authors have received many awards and both have been rewarded by the Establishment in that each now bears the title of Baroness. Despite these superficial similarities, there would be little point in comparing the work of the two. P D James came relatively late to writing - she was forty-two when her first book, COVER HER FACE appeared - but her long life has ensured an impressive bibliography. THE LIGHTHOUSE is a further episode in the adventures of Commander Adam Dalgliesh, the ever popular protagonist who made his debut in the author's first novel.

Commander Dalgliesh is given the task of deciding whether the death of a writer on an isolated island off the Cornish coast is suicide or murder. It is a very delicate task and one which, of necessity, must avoid the attentions of the media as  Combe Island has now risen above its bloodstained antecedents - did the original inhabitants enrich themselves from looted vessels? - to become a refuge for the powerful wanting to retreat, for a time, to a place where there would be no need for personal security measures beyond those afforded by the island itself. The dead writer was a difficult person who had no friends on the island, not even his daughter and his personal secretary, and was raising the level of disquiet by announcing his intention to move permanently to live on Combe. It was an unfortunate circumstance that, since Nathan Oliver was born on the island, he was one of the few people entitled to opt for permanent residence there.

Oliver liked to introduce a certain realism into his books. Wherever possible, he would place a real world character fitting the characteristics he required in one of his fictional people, into a situation mirroring that which he wished to incorporate into one of his novels, then observe how the non-fictional person would react. Given some of those situations, it was not unlikely that some of his victims might seek revenge in a form possibly as drastic as death. Neither Dalgliesh nor his team finds it convenient to be removed from their normal surroundings to pursue the investigation but they must subordinate their wishes to the call of duty. As the case continues, a second victim falls foul of the murderer while Dalgliesh himself is temporarily felled by an agency that could well prove as lethal.

P D James writes in a style that can best be described as 'elegant'. Her prose is polished and she displays a great respect for the language. One would be committing lèse-majesté were one to describe James' novels as 'thrillers' since they far exceed the narrow confines of such categorisation, being more at home in the realms of higher literature. Her characters are all provided with realistic and convincing motivations and backgrounds. James. nonetheless, provides genuine and intricate puzzles for her select group of sleuths whom she baffles until the last - as she surely does her readers. Her selection of the island of Combe as the location for the murders of THE LIGHTHOUSE was  inspired as it, of necessity, banished the need for many words which would otherwise have been necessary to indicate that there was only a limited number of suspects.

P D James ably demonstrates that her ability to construct intricate plots and believably human characters continues to grow and improve over the decades.
THE PRIVATE PATIENT
by P D James
ISBN 9780571242450
395 pages
faber and faber
November 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 21 2008

The book begins, innocuously enough, from the point of view of the respected journalist (and soon to be corpse) Rhoda Gradwyn. Her face is marred by a dreadful scar, one incurred when she was a child, but until the age of forty-seven, she had never felt the need to rid herself of it. Now she consults a plastic surgeon and requests an operation to remove the scar, and arranges to have the procedure done at Cheverell Manor, in Dorset.

The first few chapters are told from the point of view of the journalist. In those chapters she meets aspiring actor Robin Boyton for lunch (for which she has to pay) and he discloses his suspicions about a will which left an estate to his cousins, the Westhalls, but nothing for Robin.

Rhoda travels to Dorset to inspect Cheverell Manor, meet the staff and spend the night. Then, after travelling back to London, returns to Cheverell Manor for the operation. She is told the legend of the Cheverell Stones and the story of Mary Keyte, a girl accused of witchcraft and burned when tied to one of the Stones. Just the sort of story to inspire fear in a nervous patient-- which Rhoda is not.

Rhodaís operation is successful. After it, she is relaxing in her room when, contrary to her orders, she receives a visitor, a lethal intrusion from someone she doesnít identify for the benefit of the reader.

While the author doesnít saturate her work with corpses, she does knock off another, not exactly innocent, bystander. That person is a claustrophobe who meets death inside a freezer.

I found the novel to be somewhat lacking-- although when one considers the authorís ago one can find plenty of excuses for her not being as inventive as in her younger years.

On the positive side, James retains her gift for description. The countryside comes alive under her pen, as does the manor house and its environs. I was disappointed, however, in the attempted spookiness of the burning of the witch at the Cheverell Stones. It simply wasnít spooky.

There is no doubt about the elegance of the authorís prose. It was, in my view, the plotting and characterisation where the book fell down. In a lesser author, I would have described the whole as ìacceptableî, certainly not as ìbrilliantî. I would certainly never judge PÝDÝJamesí output on the basis of this one book, however. Her previous novels will always shine brightly in my recollection.
 
 

I have come late to the work of Lewes resident,  Peter James. The award winning film producer and author has many books, including a children's novel, already to his credit. If you, like me, Gentle Reader, have been deprived of this author's work until now, you will, also like me, be able to begin at the beginning of a brand new series, that featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. Grace, like his creator, works in Lewes. Similarly, he and James share an interest in the occult.

The tale begins on a light note. Four friends are escorting a fifth on a stag night. Another of their group, Mark  Warren, minority business partner of Michael  Harrison, the bridegroom and victim of the evening, was supposed to be one of the party but misses the celebration because his plane is late.  Michael has an unfortunate sense of humour and had been responsible for embarrassing pranks played on his now married friends when he was in control of their stag nights. Now is the time for their revenge. All five of the celebrating friends have been drinking. Michael, semi-conscious, is placed in a coffin and - well, if you suffer from  claustrophobia, perhaps you should skim some of the descriptions of Michael's fate. Shortly after his disposition, the remaining four friends are involved in a car crash and killed, thereby depriving possible searchers of a knowledge of Michael's location.

Ashley Harper, the bride-to-be is comforted by Michael's friend Mark. They are interviewed by Grace whose own life has been blighted by a disappearance, that of his wife, Sandy. Grace is determined to find Michael, whose whereabouts are unknown since none of the prank playing friends survive long enough to disclose that piece of information, before the wedding. Grace is a  little reluctant to use his contacts within the world of spiritual mediums (not to be confused with the better known category of media which tend to plague him) but eventually overcomes his reluctance.

The plotting of this mystery is sound. I had some misgivings about the inclusion of the supernatural element in the narrative since in some other authors' works such an inclusion has detracted from the novel. Happily, that element is not overdone. In fact, Grace is made to suffer for his belief, one that is surely unusual for a Detective Superintendent. The evil characters of the story are, perhaps, a little too evil and uncaring but the hooligan friends are, alas, convincingly drawn. The reader may well squirm at the various plights in which Grace finds himself - not the least one as a result of a blind date - while possibly experiencing emotions akin to horror at the developments overtaking Michael Harrison.

The next in this series will be on my 'to be looked out for' list.
                      LOOKING GOOD DEAD
                              by Peter James
                                    406 pages
                             ISBN 1405048425
                                   MACMILLAN
                                  June 3 2006
                                         $32.95
                         reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                 August 10 2006

A review of DEAD SIMPLE quoted on the back cover of LOOKING GOOD DEAD describes the work as 'gripping'. Ordinarily, I would dismiss such claims as trite and exaggerated but this most recent Detective Superintendent Roy Grace adventure seemed to reach out and grab me by the throat, with the author simultaneously pounding my chest and almost unbearably accelerating the pace of my heart. I read it in one sitting.

Law student Janie Stretton is being carefully watched by people unknown. They have been sampling what they think of as 'eye candy' for some time, invading her flat as well as simply regarding her movements outside, as they wait for their right moment.

Tom Bryce is attempting to answer e-mails as he travels home on his regular train. He is distracted by someone whom he describes in his thoughts as a 'dickhead'. After said dickhead alights from the train, Tom notices a CD accidentally abandoned by the man. Being a conscientious fellow, Tom takes the CD home to see if there is a clue to its ownership in its contents.

Bryce is not terribly enthusiastic to discover that his wife Kellie has once more been spending time on e-Bay, snapping up 'bargains' despite the increasingly shaky state of their finances. He goes upstairs to work on his laptop and decides to investigate the CD lost by the stranger. To his horror, he witnesses what appears to be the brutal slaying and mutilation of a beautiful girl, a girl he later learns is Janie Stretton.

A woman walking her dog is understandably distressed when her pooch retrieves some body's detached hand. Roy Grace and his team are assigned to investigate and eventually a woman's body, minus her head, is discovered. But who is she?

Tom is warned by the owner of the site on which he inadvertently witnessed the murder that he must not go to the police or he will be risking his life and those of his wife, his son and his daughter. Regardless, when he realises the significance of what he saw, he notifies the authorities. His computer has crashed, however, all his files evaporating into the wide reaches of cyberspace, leaving no trace of threatening e-mails or snuff movies.

Roy Grace is still haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Sandy, nine years previously. He has not had a successful date in the elapsed time but hopes that will change when he takes out Cleo Morey, the Senior Pathology Technician at the mortuary. His optimistic elation is somewhat tempered by the Assistant Chief Constable, Alison Vosper, admonishing him for highly publicised police shortcomings with a previous case and threatening to bring in a rapidly elevated Chief Superintendent who might displace Grace. Then, of course, there are the pressures from the current case of the unidentified murder victim to flatten him further.

This is, once again, a wide ranging thriller (and I use that word advisedly since the thrills come thick and fast.) Once again James introduces the notion of police consulting mediums about crimes. Grace, despite being hauled over the coals for his actions, can't break his addiction to seeking supernatural aid and in this case seemingly strikes someone with a genuine line to the hereafter when he encounters a cop turned medium.

In addition to the snuff movie aspects of the story, the plot flirts with an ineffective Witness Protection program and paedophilia. There is also an extremely creepy computer geek who thinks of himself as the Weatherman, memorising the shipping forecasts, which he continually mutters to himself and calling himself 'John Frost.' The murderers, operators of the snuff site, are very nasty villains indeed and the reader is held in apprehensive suspense as the malevolent malefactors seek to murder the Bryce family-- on video footage, of course. Waste not, want not.

Some horror authors (in which genre James formerly played) improve their crime fiction with a little extra blackness to heighten suspense and terror  and Peter James certainly has the knack to wind the reader's emotions to an agonising level of suspense and maintain it there.

One trusts that it won't be long before James dusts off his doughty Detective Superintendent once more and turns him loose to lock up more baddies as well as solve some riddles in his personal life.
                                                   NOT DEAD ENOUGH
                                                             by Peter James
                                                          ISBN 9780230014695
                                                                MACMILLAN
                                                               August 3 2007
                                                                       $32.95
                                                       reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                                August 20 2007

I am quite happy to admit that I have enjoyed Peter James'  Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series.  The books are intelligently written, giving a tug at the heart strings for Grace's plight at having lost his wife, Sandy, while never actually giving an indication of where that lady may have disappeared.  NOT DEAD ENOUGH gives Grace what may prove to be a clue but will it be enough to cause a split with his girlfriend, Chief Mortician (or Senior Anatomical  Pathology Technician, according to her amended title) Cleo Morey, the woman who had won his heart over an earlier corpse?

The story begins with someone, who thinks of himself as a time billionaire, stalking a woman. The woman is Katie Bishop, wife of a very successful London businessman, but she is slated for death. Before she is executed, Katie thinks, uneasily, that there is something about the face and the voice of the killer that is "uncomfortably familiar".

Roy Grace is lending his roof to colleague Sergeant Glenn Branson, whose wife, tired of her husband's hours and job, has thrown him out of their jointly owned, mortgaged house. Grace feels extremely guilty since Glenn was shot during a prior investigation but, as this investigation winds on finds Glenn's presence at times inconvenient.

The story runs on smoothly and fluently. The suspense is maintained reasonably well (I found myself, several times at least, silently warning a character "No! Don't do it!") but my problem lies with the resolution of the story. I felt it was something that might have been lifted from a fairy tale. Unfortunately, I can't very well give details since I would make myself most unpopular with the reading public, but I did feel it was something of a copout. It was so obvious that all the time I was thinking "James is too good a writer to resort to this." Alas, he wasn't. Perhaps, though, I am alone in that estimation of the book. After all, it is possible (though only just) that such an occasion should arise -- although there is an extra twist which I felt was pushing the bounds of credibility just that tiny bit too much.

The characters are believable enough (villain excluded) although I felt Cleo was just that bit too much forgiving of Grace for a signal transgression.

I enjoyed the way the author brought to life the Brighton area  so shall forgive him for what I saw as a lapse in his plotting.

One trusts that James' next book has a plot that is an improvement on this one because, as I said previously, I usually enjoy the Superintendent Grace novels.
DEAD MANíS FOOTSTEPS
by Peter James
ISBN 9780230703773
469 pages
MACMILLAN
July 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 30 2008

The storyline takes place in two timeframes, one just after September 11 2001 (and we all know what happened then) and one closer to the modern day.

Ronnie Wilson is a small time crook. He is also down on his uppers. He is in New York, attempting to boost his finances by interesting an entrepreneur in one of his schemes. He has a very important appointment with his mark, errmm, that is, his proposed angel, in the Twin Towers on September 11, but, fortunately for him, he is given the opportunity to begin a new life when he realises that, with a little careful planning, he can be presumed dead in the catastrophe-- and never mind the effect on his wife.

If you, dear Reader, are somewhat uneasy in confined spaces, you might be more comfortable skipping a portion of this work, since Abby  Dawson, a major player in the prose, becomes trapped in a lift. To add to the fun, she is on the run from a very threatening fate that might just swallow her whole.

Roy Grace, meanwhile, is facing professional discomfort. Detective Superintendent Cassian Pewe is starting work at the behest of ACC Alison Vosper, Graceís boss. Grace is not popular with Vosper and he fears that Peweís presence will make him even less popular.

A human skeleton, eventually recognised as female, is discovered in a drain and Grace and his friend Glenn Branson are part of the investigative team. As always, when human remains are found, Grace fears and hopes they are those of his wife, Sandy, who disappeared nine years previously.

Grace, meanwhile, is facing problems in his personal life, as well as the detecting he must do in his professional capacity. How popular can one be with oneís girlfriend if one is constantly calling out in oneís sleep for a former lover?

As is usual for James, this is a top notch mystery. The concurrent tales are well done and the September 11th descriptions masterly. I was not once tempted to think ìOh, not again!î in the face of them-- and goodness only knows, the world has been subjected to very many descriptions, both verbal and pictorial of those dreadful times.

The characters are depicted well. The reader is even able to dredge up a little sympathy for crooked Ronnie, although the larger portion of pity lies with Grace. Abby, on the run from some rather nasty people, is also able to scare up some empathy from the reader.

I do, nonetheless, have one criticism to make, and that is of the ending. It has nothing to do with the major plot but I am afraid that when I read it, I had to groan. I feel it was a mistake on the authorís part and I trust he will resist the temptation to repeat it in future Grace books.
           WEB OF EVIL
              by J A Jance
    ISBN 9781416544272
                  357 pages
         Simon & Schuster
          February 1 2008
               $29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
          January 31 2008
 

Now here's a narrative that really begins with a bang. And yes, I do know it is a pretty poor  joke. A man is tied up in the boot of a vehicle when he realises a train is approaching. The reader feels sorry for the victim until the disclosure that he is the rotten, cheating husband of Ali Reynolds, the protagonist of the tale. While the reader may not actually cheer at the disclosure, any sympathy is somewhat eroded.

Ali has set up a blog site at cutlooseblog.com (which is, in fact, a blog site owned by J A Jance - I couldn't resist looking) and there she communicates with the wider public. She screens comments to the site (of course) but feels most people sympathise with her about her intention to go to court with her previous employer because said employer decided she was too old.

Since Ali's husband, Paul, was killed when she was near the scene of the fatal, understandably, she becomes a suspect. Perhaps murder is seen as an easier option that divorce.

Paul was to be divorced and married the weekend after his death, just in time to legitimise his fiancée, April's offspring. Unfortunately for Ali, she is still the major beneficiary of the will so Paul being killed when he was, gives her an even better motive for murder.

Edie, Ali's mother, hastens to her daughter's side but complications ensue when Ali meets April and immediately feels empathy for her - after all, her husband, too, had died before the birth of their baby and Ali had had to fight to bring up their son alone.

While the reader must always be prepared for a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, I didn't find the stretch, in this book, to be too elastic, other than in some minor instances.

The blog, of course, seems to be proliferating in these times, with everyone (and his pet) seeming to have one. Whether an intelligent woman like Ali, is likely to have a tell all site, is perhaps open to debate - but I can't pass judgment as I rarely peruse blogs.

The characters come across, for the most part, as being realistic. Ali certainly is (except for her blog) as is Edie. April--well, perhaps. Certainly, April's mum is the sterotypical mother-in-law.
As to the baddies, once the motives are unwound, they, too, seem convincing.

Of course, there is a potential love interest for Ali so perhaps that is pleasure in store for constant readers - if Ali doesn't break his heart first.

This was  my first experience of a Jance novel and I must say I found it quite satisfactory.
HAND OF EVIL
by JÝAÝJance
ISBN 9781921470042
368 pages
SIMON & SCHUSTER
September 1 2008
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
October 13 2008

JÝAÝJance does a pretty good line in inventively knocking off baddies in prologues. Her previous Ali Reynolds novel had a bloke locked in the boot of his car, with the car placed in the way of a train. This outing has a thoroughly nasty fellow dragged along by a car in whose door his hand has been trapped. Heís not even permitted to jog along at a steady pace, either.  Hauled along at an ever increasing rate, he does eventually expire. Jance has no mercy on the female retiree whom she designates the finder. That lady loses the banana she has just consumed, and vows never to eat another.

Ali Reynolds enters the story as she tries to work on her blog-- cutlooseblog.com (the authorís own blogsite.)     She is forced to cease her work when the butler of the daughter of the woman who enabled her to gain a university education, knocks on her door and presents her with an invitation to tea. Ali had received a similar invitation twenty-five years previously, from the hands of that same butler, and that was the beginning of her successful career. At that time, the Ashcrofts were a wealthy family, comprising a mother and daughter; now, only the daughter remains. Nonetheless, Ali obeys the summons. A brief examination of the exterior of the house discloses that things are, perhaps not going as well for Miss Ashcroft as they did when her mother was alive.

Arabella tells Ali  that she wishes to write a book, one that might help young women. Arabella discloses that the son of her long dead stepbrother has approached her with a blackmail option. If Arabella does not pay him, he will advertise that Arabella was institutionalised when she was a young woman, will have her declared incompetent and take out a reverse mortgage on her house, from which he will help himself to large amounts of cash. Arabella declines Billyís kind offer but confides in Ali that, as a child, Billyís father had subjected her to incest.

Policeman Dave Holman is a good friend of Aliís. He turns to her when his ex-wife informs him that their thirteen year-old daughter has run away from their home. Crystal is hitchhiking her way from Las Vegas to reach her father. Of course, she has a ready supply of purchasing power in kind at her metaphorical fingertips. Whilst on the run, she sees a group of men take the life of another, so she becomes a target, since she has seen their faces.

Thereís an awful lot of paedophilia around the bookstalls recently.  Of all crimes, I think that is the one most likely to evince a reaction of horror from readers. In combination with murder it produces an unbeatable allure, so readers are drawn to such attractive plots.

Janceís characters are quite credible although I am beginning to wonder how plausible is Aliís devotion to her blog site. Still, I suppose I have every reason to know that lots of people interact with others and, in fact, can become close friends with strangers on the Net. Ali and her problems are certainly believable, although at times I wonder why Ali is so attractive to her friends. On the other hand, Aliís parents are very plausible, staunch and charming.

On the whole, I found I rather enjoyed this book, despite its themes.
 
 

                                             UNNATURAL JUSTICE
                                                       by Quintin Jardine
                                                        ISBN 0755309413
                                                               247 pages
                                                                Headline
                                                           January 1 2004
                                                                 $32.95
                                                     reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                            January 19 2004
 

Quintin Jardine, like Ian Rankin, is a Scot. He tells the tale against himself of awaiting the arrival of a plumber one day only to discover the plumber's name was Rebus! He does not appear to be waiting long for success in Rankin's wake, however, as he regularly makes the bestseller list with his crime thrillers. Pushed into writing his first novel by his disgust with a mediocre tale which he read while at his Spanish villa, the former journalist decided to write a crime fiction book which he was sure would be better than the one he disdained. It is obvious he has succeeded. that first novel was  Skinner's Rules, which was published in 1993, years subsequent to Ian Rankin's debut. There is no doubt Jardine is fast overtaking Rankin in the popularity stakes so that soon, perhaps, Detective Inspector Rebus might be looking to Bob Skinner as a superior officer. Others of Jardine's titles are:   Autographs in the Rain, On Honeymoon with Death, Thursday Legends, Screen Savers, Gallery Whispers, Murdering the Judges, A Coffin For Two, Skinner's Mission, Skinner's Ghosts, Skinner's Ordeal, Skinner's Round, Skinner's Festival,  Skinner's Rules, Skinner's Trail , Blackstone's Pursuits, Skinner's Mission, Poisoned Cherries.ÝThese titles include two series, that featuring Bob Skinner and the other, of which Unnatural Justice  is one, starring Oz Blackstone. There is a minor intersection of the two since Oz Blackstone, a movie actor, as an in-joke, has a part in a movie made of the Skinner series. As a journalist, Jardine had ample opportunity to rub shoulders with men on either side of the law. As an adviser, he was well-placed to observe the machinations of political figures. He takes advantage of both these vantage points to write about what he has observed over the years, incorporating his knowledge into his two series.

Mr. Jardine has not been kind to Oz Blackstone. The protagonist is arrogant, selfish, amoral and full of himself. Of course, he is a film star. Jardine has also visited on the hapless Oz a series of bereavements. His much-loved wife, Jan, was murdered prior to the beginning of this book which is more of a business thriller than a who-dunnit. The new Mrs. Blackstone is Susie Gantry, principal of a construction group. Oz is a member of her board but Susie  looks as though she may soon absent herself from business proceedings as she is pregnant with their second child and must needs take maternity leave.

Oz, at the beginning of the book, takes an inordinate amount of time putting the reader who may not have read previous books, in the picture about his antecedents, character and present success. Shadows are soon cast over the happiness of the Blackstone (or Gantry) duo. Oz is contacted by his father, Mac the Dentist (Susie's baby-to-be is constantly referred to throughout the tale by Oz as 'wee Mac') whom Oz idolises. Mac tells Oz that one of his patients is blackmailing him. She and her husband have accused Mac of a sexual assault on the woman while Mac had her anaesthetised, a crime of which Mac is completely innocent. Oz commissions his driver/bodyguard to 'take care' of the blackmailing pair but is horrified when they turn up dead and Jay, his driver, refuses to discuss his way of dealng with the problem.

Susie's biological father Joe Donn, dies, leaving a vacancy for a non-executive director on the board of the Gantry group. There are all kinds of intricate circumstances surrounding share holdings in the Gantry group, including the status of the shares of Jack Gantry, former Lord Provost of Glasgow and officially Susie's father, but now institutionalised as criminally insane. To add to the Blackstone's woes, the Gantry group is suddenly the object of a hostile takeover  by a stationery group run by a woman who, although having attempted to seduce Oz, now has little cause to love him. Soon it becomes apparent that someone is attempting to drive the share price of the Gantry group downwards, a move that would make a takeover less expensive than at the usual price. It also becomes apparent that Susie's appointment to her board is far from intent on behaving in a manner advantageous to his supposed boss.

The story abounds in perils for all the characters. Oz must balance his cinematic career against the demands of his and his wife's business life. He must also discover who the shadowy figure behind the figurehead of the hostile takeover bid really is. The action travels erratically from England to various loci around Scotland and back again. The apparent character and motives of some of the players is constantly changing and the reader is left as breathless and bewildered as Blackstone himself.

While there may be a bit too much emphasis for the business-challenged reader on the financial aspects of the tale, there is no doubt the whole is exciting. The mind boggles at just how Blackstone is to dispose of the Gantry group's Nemesis, once his identity is uncovered.

I noted with interest a coincidence between one of Ian Rankin's methods of disposing of corpses and one of Jardine's, as evidenced in this novel, and wondered if it might have been a joke on Jardine's part. Regardless, the work of the two authors is quite dissimilar but almost equally involving.

Jardine deserves his status in modern Scottish literature as one of its notables.
                                        THE NINTH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX
                                                                 by Liz Jensen
                                                            ISBN 0747572720
                                                                  227 pages
                                                                 Bloomsbury
                                                           September 3 2004
                                                                    $29.95
                                                     reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                             August 25 2004

'Chilling' is a sadly overused word in the realm of mystery fiction criticism. This having been said, I can only describe  THE NINTH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX as chilling. British writer Liz Jensen has written a novel, set in France, that explores several themes that may distress some readers, especially, perhaps, parents, yet makes the book eminently intriguing despite being (another over-used word) disturbing.

The narrative is told in a series of first person voices. The first voice to be heard is that of nine year-old Louis Drax. He is, for want of a better description, an information junkie. He has a vast general knowledge for a child of his age. He is also accident prone. On the first page he describes his Caesarian birth as he understands it and how, because of it, his mother hated him before she could love him. Louis goes on to list accidents (for example, falling onto electrified railway lines) and illnesses ranging from near cot death to botulism, that have befallen him. Louis understands secrets of his world, secret rules and laws. For example, there is the 'Right of Disposal' rule which permits someone to do whatever they wish to a pet they own.

Louis' father is a pilot and therefore subject to rules that are not secret. He is not permitted to drink alcohol. He doesn't live with Louis and Natalie, Louis' mother. Instead, Pierre Drax lives with his mother in Paris. Pierre still loves both his wife and son, nonetheless, so arranges to take them out on a special picnic to celebrate their joint birthdays.

Tragedy strikes the family picnic when Louis falls over a cliff and is almost killed. In fact, he is reported to be clinically dead until he is in the morgue and signs of life are detected. The child is placed in a hospital ward but is obviously in a coma and gives no sign of life until he is transferred to the care of Pascal Dannachet in a clinic in  Provence. Dr. Dannachet is engaged in an activity with Natalie to which Louis might object when Louis suddenly sits up then just as suddenly subsides giving no further evidence of consciousness.

Louis is, within his own mind, very active. He is talking to a heavily bandaged yet bleeding man who identifies himself as Gustave. This creature gives every indication of being a malevolent influence but is intent on hearing all of Louis' history. The reader learns of Louis' experience with a psychologist whom he has dubbed 'Fat Perez' to whom Natalie has taken him and the subsequent abuse Louis has heaped on Perez after their relationship is terminated.

The gendarmerie is looking for Pierre Drax. He has disappeared after Louis' fall which Natalie claims resulted from Pierre pushing Louis over the cliff. Mysterious letters signed 'Louis Drax' are delivered to people and the police fear Pierre Drax is intent on completing the murder of Louis and is threatening the people caring for him.

The lives of those who  attemptto help the Drax family are affected to a greater or lesser degree by the mystery surrounding the child's fall. Some innocent careers are destroyed by what has happened and a similar fate may befall others. Always there is an unseen predator waiting to strike both Louis and his mother but is it really Pierre Drax?

This is a complex psychological thriller. Apparently it is to be made into a film. It will be interesting to see how the wonderfully written prose will translate into action on the big screen. Liz Jensen has displayed great sensitivity in dealing with several disquieting themes which will need a great deal of skill to portray adequately on film.
                                          THE ROAD
                                            by Catherine Jinks
                                         ISBN 174114356X
                                                 399 pages
                                             Allen & Unwin
                                            October 8 2004
                                                   $29.95
                                  reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                           October 8 2004

Catherine Jinks is no stranger to writing. She has written more than twenty books encompassing a wide variety of subjects from mediaeval fiction (she studied mediaeval history at Sydney University) through children's fiction, adult fiction and now her first effort at suspense fiction. An Australian author, she has used her knowledge to paint a detailed picture of the country along the Silver City Highway which links Mildura in Victoria with Broken Hill (the Silver City) in western New South Wales.

The prologue to the story begins, menacingly enough, with an  aboriginal legend from the Dreamtime, that of Ngurunderi, who killed a wombat (not the sorcerer Parampari  in this history) whose blood became the Evil One. Ngurunderi had left the body of the Evil One where it lay but when he resumed his journey, discovered the land had become similar to a treadmill. For all the distance he walked, he remained in the same place.

In Chapter One, part aborigine Grace and her small son, Nathan, are fleeing Grace's abusive husband, John. They have sought refuge with old Cyrene, Grace's great-uncle. That the pair are not safe becomes obvious when, first of all, Cyrene's dogs are killed in a particularly gruesome manner then the adults are also faced with death.

Alec, a truck driver, sets out from Mildura en route to Broken Hill, along the Silver City Highway. The reader is introduced to the particulars of his life as they are to the lives of  Noel and Linda, who are travelling from Broken Hill with their three children. Chris and Graham are brothers who wish to follow in the steps of explorers, Burke and Wills. They, too, are travelling along the Silver City Highway, as are retirees Verlie and Ross. Elderly countrywoman Del is introduced fairly late in the book when she is called upon to rescue Noel's family when they run out of petrol. She might be perceived as being, psychologically, perhaps a little off-centre. Other travellers upon the apparently enchanted highway are widowed Col who wishes to visit his demented sister in  Broken Hill and yuppie Ambrose and his outré girlfriend Georgie, who are exiting the Silver City.

Soon, all the travellers are thrown together, unable to change their location by very much on the highway. Their vehicles run out of petrol and they find they are all being funneled toward the homestead where  several gory murders have taken place. The rest of the book deals with their attempts to leave the area and how the land somehow prevents this.

This is an excellent book. The excellence lies not in the plot - I have encountered that particular main theme in various works of science fiction - but in the author's story-telling ability, which maintains tension virtually from the first page. The dialogue, too, is superlative. Each character has his own voice which is unmistakably Australian yet does not fall into the trap of being aggressively Ocker - a trap into which too many Australian writers plunge. I trust Ms Jinks has more suspense fiction in store for us.
THE DARK MOUNTAIN
by Catherine Jinks
ISBN  9781741149951
471 pages
ALLEN & UNWIN
June 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 4 2008

THE DARK MOUNTAIN is far from a debut novel and the professionalism shines through in the polished prose of this historical piece. The setting is in the relatively new colony of New South Wales and the tale follows the fortunes of the Atkinson family, most especially that of the wilful daughter Charlotte.

The Atkinson children are unfortunately situated. Their father dies when the eldest daughter, Charlotte, is only six. To Charlotte, from whose point of view the story is told, the time before James Atkinsonís demise is a period of unalloyed pleasure. The fortunes of the family take a turn for the worse after that sad event.

George Barton, hired by Charlotteís father as overseer, is already present on Oldbury and John Lynch, later to become possibly Australiaís worst serial killer (but he had a reason for his killings-- God told him to do it) is also working on the property.

One day, Charlotteís mother leaves the children at Oldbury and journeys to Belanglo ( a place of infamy over a century  and a half later) in company with George Barton.There they are set upon by bushrangers and Barton is flogged. Mysteriously, Mrs Atkinson is spared but soon after returning to Oldbury, she and Barton are married.

After this, the childrenís lives, especially Charlotteís, are rendered miserable by their new stepfather. Eventually their mother, too, is reduced to such a state that they all forsake Oldbury and move to Sydney.

In Sydney, things at first improve, but Mrs Barton has a temper, as does Charlotte, and both ladies suffer because of it. Not only that, the dreadful Barton assails them, to the extent that they are forced to return to Oldbury, even more reduced in circumstances than when they left it. The laws of the day regarding women and property must be borne in mind when regarding what happens to the Atkinson family-- and thank goodness Australiaís laws are now very different.

This is a beautifully written and well researched novel. Jinks brings the old colonial days to vivid life, with the old class distinctions still so marked and the depicting of how a woman could fall from grace in the eye of society so very easily by marrying her overseer.

I found the characterisations to be somewhat lacking, other than Charlotte herself, that is. I would imagine this is because of a lack of detail to be discovered, at this distance in time, of Charlotteís siblings and other contemporaries. This is compensated for by the detail incorporated into the picture of colonial New South Wales.

For anyone with an interest in Australian history, this novel would be an invaluable resource to give one the feel of that colony.

                                     BLIND ALLEY
                                      by Iris Johansen
                                    ISBN 1405036532
                                         344 pages
                                        Macmillan
                                    January 3 2005
                                            $30.00
                            reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                      April 4 2005

Be prepared, Gentle Reader, to don your most serviceable suspenders as you venture into the realm of disbelief which could well be the domain in which you find yourself whilst reading this outing in the life of forensic sculptor Eve Duncan. For once (or will there be a later episode featuring Jane as central character?) Eve and partner Joe are not the chief protagonists. Instead, Jane Maguire, the teenager adopted by them seven years previously, is the individual most necessary to the plot.

Someone is killing women and removing their faces and fingertips. Mark Trevor, purportedly a Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard, offers his services to Joe Quinn, telling him that Scotland Yard has been involved in following the career of the murderer who has now struck in Joe's own territory. Eve Duncan is set to reconstruct the face of one of the victims and is horrified to find a resemblance so strong to someone she loves, it could almost be the woman herself. But that woman is still alive.

In the meantime, Jane is suffering a recurring nightmare. In the nature of a serial, each installment takes her a step further. She is trapped in a maze of tunnels, unable to breathe, and must trust herself to a man she knows is a former lover in order to escape. Somehow, the dream is bound up with events and terrors that are occurring in the real world.

This novel dabbles in rather a different milieu from that of the 'normal' crime thriller. There are many supernatural influences, such as the spirit of a murdered child in communication with her bereaved mother and the possibility of an actress dead thousands of years ago manifesting herself in the mind of a modern day woman. The idea of forensic sculpture is intriguing, to say the least, and the references to the volcanic eruption which destroyed Herculaneum absorbing. A romp featuring ancient slaves and their lovers, corrupt archaeologists, modern day detectives and, above all, the mysterious art of forensic sculpture, provides an entertaining read for mystery lovers.
                                       COUNTDOWN
                                           by Iris Johansen
                                         ISBN 0330422103
                                                513 pages
                                                  PAN
                                           March 3 2006
                                                 $19.95
                                      reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                          February 10 2006

If you, Dear Reader, have ever wondered what romance writers grow up to be, it seems that more and more are transmogrifying into crime fiction writers. Certainly Iris Johansen is one such although, like most graduates from that other genre, she retains the right to leaven her mysteries with a goodly dose of bodice ripping, or related activities. As she did in BLIND ALLEY, Jane MacGuire, Eve Duncan's adopted daughter, holds centre stage as her adventures become increasingly bound up with the fate of the slave/actress Cira, she who died two thousand years previously, after the eruption of Vesuvius destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii.

The novel begins with one of the book's villains, Grozak, temporarily getting the better of Mark Trevor, he who had loomed large in the life of Jane MacGuire when she was seventeen. Grozak steals a sketchbook from Trevor's possessions, something that will give him an advantage in his war with that swashbuckler.

At Harvard University, Jane, now twenty-one, is still attempting to eradicate Trevor from her psyche, following his determination not to become involved emotionally with a teenager. She constantly sketches him, hoping thereby to exorcise his memory. She no longer experiences the constant, unsettling dreams of Cira, the long dead actress who was attempting to flee from her master with a treasure trove of gold she had been given by him but suddenly, with the death of a friend, Jane finds herself plunged once more into an adventure involving both Trevor and Cira.

Unexpectedly, Jane is taken to Scotland, to MacDuff's Run, a castle owned by a laird, MacDuff, to whom a somewhat deranged young man named Jock is devoted. Jock is given to unfortunate bouts of psychological mayhem during which he may kill anyone threatening his beloved MacDuff. Jock was, at one time, kidnapped by the chief villain of the piece, Reilly, and brainwashed, or 'reprogrammed' into becoming a killing machine. Jock is, like most people, charmed by Jane, initially because of her resemblance to the statue of Cira which is currently stationed in the rooms inhabited by Mario, a young Italian university graduate who has been hired by Trevor to translate the scrolls discovered in Herculaneum, scrolls which could provide the answer to the mystery of the hiding place of Cira's gold, the treasure which all sides are seeking.

As previously indicated, there is a strong element of passion and bodice ripping in this oeuvre. The supernatural element is not as strong as it was in BLIND ALLEY, although it is still present. Torture, both psychological and physical, is employed and unexpected baddies keep emerging. For those enquiring minds who needed to know, the solution to the mystery of Jane's resemblance to Cira is unveiled and yes, there are plenty of hooks left embedded in the text to provide the anchor for yet another adventure but one wonders if there is room in such for more dreams of Cira.
HOUSE OF MANY WAYS
by Diana Wynne Jones
ISBN 9780007275670
328 pages
HarperCollins Childrenís Books
August 1 2008
$19.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 30 2008

Another Diana Wynne Jones book released hot upon the heels of THE GAME is a true cause for rejoicing. This volume is aimed, perhaps, at a slightly older audience than was the earlier work, but both will certainly add to that authorís reputation as a true enchantress.

This time, Ms Wynne Jones has added to her list of books in the series of HOWLíS MOVING CASTLE. Itís interesting to observe that Sophie, who was, in that initial volume, terrified of the Wizard Howl, is now almost in a position to intimidate her husband, the Wizard Howl (or Howell, depending on where the Moving Castle alights.) The protagonist in this adventure is not Sophie, but  Charmain (or Charming, again depending on where one is.)

Charmain is volunteered to look after her great Uncle Williamís house while he is being cured of a dreadful affliction, by the elves, who are really the only beings who can cure the malady. For the dreaded lubbock, the one remaining of its kind in the world, has laid its eggs in the wizard and they must be removed before the dreadful things hatch and eat their host.

Charmain has lived a very privileged life. She has never had to do anything for herself but neither has she been called upon to do magic, for that is not quite ladylike. Nonetheless, she soon  has to learn to do both things. She also has to cope with a boy named Peter, who is, apparently, to be apprenticed to her great uncle. The two, somehow, must muddle through and the only creature who is there to help is a little dog named Waif and she-- or is it he?-- seems to need quite a lot of help herself, especially when she suddenly finds herself many times her usual size.

Charmain has offered her services as a librarian to the King. She is delighted when His Majesty accepts her offer and Charmain has to leave her great uncleís cottage to go to the Kingís Palace. What a mess is in the offing, though, as the Kingís heir, Crown Prince Ludovic, and his entourage, are also there to attend a grand party. And there is something not quite right about the Crown Prince.

Of course Howl and Sophie are guests at the court and where they go, Calcifer, the fire imp, cannot be far behind.

The King is in dire trouble, because no matter how much tax is paid to him, somehow the treasury keeps getting empiter and emptier.

Fortunately for Charmain (although she doesnít seem to think it is good fortune) her great uncleís apprentice Peter is determined to help Charmain-- after his own fashion, of course.

It goes without saying that this is an interesting and magically satisfying book. All the characters, other than the wicked ones, are delightful. The baddies are quite tricksy to overcome but perhaps the Wizard Howl can do something to help Charmain-- but who is Morgan and where has Twinkle sprung from?

I still have to be convinced that JKÝRowling has overtaken Diana Wynne Jones in the magic stakes. The latter author seems to have a wider range than the former, although both are very, very good and she has certainly been writing for longer.

If it has not been made evident in this review, I had best confess that Diana Wynne Jones has been a great favourite of mine for many years now. Her plotting is always good and her characters, naturally enough, are quite magical.
 
 
 

                                                                                SHADE
                                                                                 by Neil Jordan
                                                                              ISBN 0719561876
                                                                                    317 pages
                                                                                 John Murray
                                                                       Hodder Headline Ireland
                                                                                   June 2004
                                                                                      $32.95
                                                                    reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                                                  June 18 2004

Neil Jordan is not amazingly prolific when it comes to writing books - NIGHT IN TUNISIA , THE PAST , THE DREAM OF A BEAST and SUNRISE WITH SEA MONSTER were written over the span of more than twenty years. His movies are more abundant and probably better known. His haunting THE CRYING GAME, won an Oscar twelve years ago but must surely be remembered vividly by all who saw it. Perhaps this latest book, SHADE, will be remembered just as intensely as that masterpiece by its readers. The novel is reputed to have been written as a moneymaking exercise when Jordan was unable to obtain funding for a movie about the Borgias.

Fifty years old at the time of her death, Nina Hardy knows exactly when she died in 1950 as she sees the time on her murderer's wrist watch as he carries her dying body to its final, inglorious, resting place in a septic tank. She bears George, her killer and lifelong friend, no rancour and it is left to the reader to wonder why until the final pages of the tale when the reason for the killing is revealed. The ghost of Nina haunts all the places and times where she spent her childhood, simultaneously,  and observes herself and her friends as they grow up. She is seen by at least three of the children, never realising the true identity of Hester, as they call her, after a doll of the same name 'dies'.

Nina is from a relatively well off family and the reader is treated to the history of her parents' courtship then her father's subsequent transformation from mediocre artist to accomplished businessman. Her father is an Englishman but he moves to Ireland, to the Boyne Estuary, after falling in love with Nina's mother. The magic of art, specifically work by Velasquez, has drawn them together and remains a foundation for their family. Their happiness is fractured when Nina's slightly older half-brother, whose existence has been hitherto unknown by all but her father, comes to live with them when Nina is nine. Nina is immediately enchanted by this semi-sibling whom she has dubbed 'Half' since she can't remember his name.

Nina, Gregory, her half-brother, the future murderer George and his sister Janie, grow up together, almost inseparable. George is slower, academically and psychologically, than the other three children and becomes a farm labourer as they go on to pursue their studies. George loves Nina but leaves her, as does Gregory, with whom Nina is more than a little in love, in order to fight in the Great War. After that, things are never the same for the erstwhile friends. Nina becomes an actress, a profession at which she shines after the seeds are sewn during the brief reign of the governess, Miss Shawcross. Janie becomes a teacher. Gregory becomes Nina's manager and George, poor George, is driven mad.

The story is told in a mix of present and past tenses which partially serves to differentiate the decades. It is also told in a mixture of voices, partly in the voice of the ghostly Nina describing the history in the third person and sometimes in the first, with the other characters taking turns at the first person toward the end of the book. The  legend of the Boyne becomes almost a character in its own right.The spirit of the maiden Boinn, whose death began the legend, is joined by that of the drowned governess, Miss Shawcross - more pleasant and acceptable to Nina in death than in oppressive life - as well as, eventually, the spirit of Nina herself.

This is a lovely, if not altogether perfect, novel. The writing is beautiful, the characters convincingly painted and the plotting delicately enmeshing. That Neil Jordan turned his talents to the creation of cinematic opuses rather than the crafting of books of fiction is definitely literature's loss.
                               HOTEL OF SECRETS
                                            by T J Joyce
                                    ISBN 9780908988730
                                               384 pages
                                                  Exisle
                                    September 3 2007
                                                  $22.95
                                  reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                      September 3 2007

Here is a nice little volume for anyone who ever wanted to know something about living in the wilds of Papua New Guinea. Of course, since it is fiction, there is precious little real knowledge but there is enough to give a reasonable picture of the discomfort -- though I notice none of the characters seems to have any problem with the mosquitoes, which can just about drive one mad, nor any of the diseases that can attack one without warning. That would, of course, tend to pad out a not very long book to unmanageable proportions.

The novel is set in the mid sixties and Part One familiarises the reader with the backgrounds of the four girls whose fortunes are followed in the narrative. Eilish is a member of the IRA, forced to flee Ireland because of her involvement in the Troubles;  Rhoda, born in Kenya, moves back to England with her wealthy father but then on to Sydney in New South Wales; Maureen lives in Sydney but when her mother remarries is forced into a different sort of life at the age of  fifteen;  Carol, unlike the other girls, is a student but she carries the weight of parental expectations and finds university beyond her -- not the partying, but the necessity of passing exams.

All four girls see an advertisement seeking women to work in an hotel in New Guinea. They each apply and are accepted. Meeting, they accept each other although friendship does not truly form for some time. They are met by Duncan,  the gentle, homosexual proprietor of the hotel but also by the local policeman who takes them back to the hotel and, later, takes them to more practical effect.

The development of the characters of the four girls is interesting to watch and quite well done. I especially liked the way Joyce depicted the girls dealing with the indigenous population in the public bar, bearing in mind the book is set around 1968, so not terribly long after it became legal for the indigenous people to drink alcohol. Thus, they would have had enough time to have become accustomed to the development and have overcome the initial teething problems of the new system. Independence, with its own set of problems, has not yet struck.

It is small wonder that the person selected to be the corpse fulfills expectations. The introduction of the sergeant, Mick, who conducts the investigation into the missing policeman is a welcome one. He is old enough to be the father of the girls so there is no question of any romantic entanglement that could distract from the investigation nor detract from the warmth of his personality.

The main interest of the book is the development of the four girls. While the setting of the book in New Guinea is interesting, it is a shame the author did not make the reader better acquainted with some of the towns there. I was wondering if Ms Joyce had actually spent time in New Guinea because if she has, it certainly wasn't at the time she depicts. Also, she has the girls taking quinine as an antimalarial, but that had been well and truly discarded by the sixties. One other fault I had to find with the narrative is that the spelling of Pidgin is, in places, well, idiosyncratic. For example, the indigenous women are meris , not maris. This fault alone made me think the author may actually have heard someone speaking Pidgin rather than looking it up -- which would have been beneficial. After all, there should still be books available, including the very useful THE BOOK OF PIDGIN ENGLISH by John J Murphy (another Irishman!)
 

Perhaps, having grown up in New Guinea, I am not the best person to review this book since I think I expect too much of an author writing about my home. Other than that, the narrative is quite good. even though the solution is pretty obvious
 

                            THE EXCEPTION
                          by Christian Jungersen
                      translated by Anna Paterson
                                     487 pages
                           ISBN 0297852515
                            September 1 2006
                                      $32.95
                       reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                 December 1 2006
 

One of the strengths of this novel lies in the success of the translator to keep the prose flowing seamlessly without any hesitation at translating difficult concepts, a capability that has been remarkably lacking in some recent releases. Jungersen's extrapolation from genocide to intra-office bullying with, in this case, lethal results, chills one to the bone, especially if one has worked in a similar sort of environment to that depicted in the novel.

Iben, a woman working in the Danish Centre for Genocide Information, is taken hostage while in Kenya. Her extraordinary bravery in the face of danger sees the death toll being less than it might have been.

Back in Denmark, Iben and best friend Malene, who also works in the DCGI, have a relationship that tends to exclude others: their secretarial colleague Camilla and, even more so, librarian  Anne-Lise. The duo's venom and bullying, directed against Anne-Lise, is seen and deplored by Camilla, a victim of bullying in her childhood, yet she dares say nothing against it.

Threatening e-mails are received by Iben and Malene and are ascribed to a terrorist, Mirko Zigic, about whom both women have written. Then Camilla, too, is threatened and suspicion turns to Anne-Lise.

Anne-Lise has never before worked in an inimical environment and feels herself being pushed into playing a role which is not natural to her. Her home life is disrupted as a result, to the extent that there is a mysterious break-in at her house.

Iben writes scholarly articles detailing The Psychology Of Evil, providing reasons for people to behave as they do when they become mass murderers. She is unable to draw a parallel between her own behaviour, together with Malene's, until she reads a diary written by Anne-Lise.

The author cleverly establishes just how normal and likeable are Anne-Lise's persecutors before he goes on to narrate the horrors they visit on their victim. He carefully contrasts the microcosm of evil against the macrocosm of genocide and makes a convincing case of it. His characterisations are impeccable with the shifting alliances seeming inevitable. The peripheral characters, too (Malene's boyfriend Rasmus and the women's boss, the conniving Paul) are as carefully constructed as the women.

This is a chilling tale, both in the wider aspect and, more especially, the more intimate. Anyone who has ever worked with a small group of people and observed the dynamics when someone does not get on with the majority cannot help but find the narrative resonate. As to the genocide, both historical and current, it can really jolt the reader out of any complacency he or she may feel and make them wonder of what, too, they may be capable.