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

Reviewed on this page: Mind's Eye (Paul McAuley), Players  (Paul McAuley), Singing Bird (Roisin McAuley), Money, Money, Money (Ed McBain), Hark! (Ed McBain), Alice In Jeopardy (Ed McBain), Fiddlers (Ed McBain), Broken Skin (Stuart MacBride), Flesh House (Stuart MacBride), Winterwood (Patrick McCabe), Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Sharyn McCrumb), Beneath The Bleeding (Val McDermid), A Darker Domain (Val McDermid), Romanitas (Sophia McDougall), Saturday (Ian McEwan), Underground (Andrew McGahan), Stag Hunt (Anthony McGowan), Verdict Unsafe(Jill McGown),  Dirty Little Lies (John Macken), Deep Black (Andy McNab), Death Club (Claire McNab), The Wombat Strategy (Claire McNab), Jack Kain: The Case of the Digit Serial Killer(Darren McNamara), No Help For The Dying (Adrian Magson), Wait For Me! (Margaret Mahy), Kaitangata Twitch (Margaret Mahy), Silvermeadow (Maitland), The Malcontenta ( Barry Maitland) All My Enemies (Barry Maitland) The Chalon Heads (Barry Maitland), Babel (Barry Maitland), The Verge Practice (Barry Maitland), No Trace  (Barry Maitland), Spider Trap (Barry Maitland),  Bright Air (Barry Maitland),The Big Ask (Shane Maloney), Genghis Khan Life, Death and Resurrection (John Man), The Return Of The Dancing Master (Henning Mankell), Chronicler of the Winds (Henning Mankell), Depths (Henning Mankell), Kennedy's Brain  (Henning Mankell), Forensic Detective (R Mann and M Williamson), Prime Time(Liza Marklund), Body Count ( P D Martin), The Murderers' Club (P D Martin), Fan Mail (P D Martin), Rush (Daniel Mason), The Tower (Valerio Massimo Manfredi), The Full Catastrophe (Edna Mazya), The First Counsel (Brad Meltzer), The Millionaires (Brad Meltzer), The Zero Game (Brad Meltzer), Witch (Barbara Michaels), While I was Gone (Sue Miller), Crow Stone  (Jenni Mills), City of Animals (Alan Mills), The Savage Garden  (Mark Mills), The Dead Hour (Denise Mina), Final Demand (Deborah Moggach), Skin Gods  (Richard Montanari), Broken Angels (Richard Montanari), Play Dead (Richard Montanari), Ravelling (Peter Moore Smith), A Gentle Axe (R. N. Morris), A Vengeful Longing (R N Morris), The Last Witchfinder (James Morrow), The Greater Good (Casey Moreton), The Shifting Fog  (Kate Morton), The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), The Third Person (Steve Mosby). Little Scarlet (Walter Mosley), Cinnamon Kiss (Walter Mosley),  Killing Johnny Fry (Walter Mosley), Fear Of The Dark (Walter Mosley), Diablrie (Walter Mosley), Hit  (Tara Moss), Labyrinth (Kate Mosse), Season of the Witch (Natasha Mostert),
                                       MIND'S EYE
                                         by Paul McAuley
                                         ISBN 0743238877
                                               423 pages
                                        Simon & Schuster
                                         November 2005
                                                   $29.95
                                   reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                          October 24 2005

Paul McAuley has distinguished himself in the science fiction field, where he has garnered unto himself more than a few awards. While there are elements of the fantastical in MIND'S EYE, it is sufficiently close to the possible to be classed as a mainstream (well.....) thriller rather than belonging solely to the science fiction genre. Everyone has heard that epileptics can be precipitated into a seizure by flickering lights or other related phenomena; why, then, should a pattern of lines not be able to bring about the same result? Why, too, should an ancient civilisation not have discovered the effect on the mind that such patterns (or 'glyphs', according to this narrative) may have and not incorporate them into their mystic lore?

Alfie Flowers is a photographer. When he was a child, he used to watch his grandfather smoke a strange powder. After his grandfather's death, Alfie tasted the "secret powder" then looked at some drawings of strange patterns hidden in a secret compartment. This transformed the brain of a healthy child into that of a sufferer of epilepsy. Alfie's father, an adventurer, treated the condition in an unorthodox manner which seemed to manage seizures reasonably well, but when the older Flowers disappeared, presumed dead, in the Middle East, Alfie's grandmother took the child to doctors to be treated in a less successful but more traditional method.

When Alfie is in his thirties, his attention is caught by graffiti featuring the same kind of patterns that originally caused his epilepsy. Hoping that the perpetrator of the graffiti can help him to reverse the effects of the original exposure, Alfie enlists the aid of his friend, journalist Toby Brown to track down the lad who appears to have emphatically anti- American political sympathies and is in hiding. Alfie learns that the artist goes by the tag name 'Morph' and that he is something of a protégé of the owner, Shareef, of a pirate radio station.

Alfie and Toby are not the only people seeking Morph. Harriet Crowley, a woman with ties to British Intelligence but also allied to an organisation called the Nomads Club, is also out to track down Morph but her search is linked  with her father and grandfather and MI5 and MI6. She is at risk from a villainous psychiatrist in search of the secrets of the glyphs and Morph as well.

All paths lead to Iraq and the tribe that originated the glyphs who used to live there. Harriet's grandfather as well as Alfue's was instrumental in the discovery of the tribe which seems to have died out except for the young man, Morph. All parties, by fair means or foul, attempt to solve the mystery of the glyphs and the  power they hold to  alter human minds, up to and including depriving people of their humanity and turning them into 'low men' who can be manipulated by unscrupulous people into becoming murderers and/ or suicides.

While the story has a very promising start and the outline is excellent, perhaps it suffers when the characters of the mad psychiatrist and his unscrupulous mercenaries are introduced. The psychiatrist without his insanity would possibly have been more intimidating than this evilly chuckling clone of the old time comic book supervillain Dr. Sivana.

There are references to Harriet's previous adventures in Iraq and her former connections to the Nomad's Club which I thought must have been in an earlier novel, but I was unable to trace such a work. Thus, I felt that various items, such as the 'low men' were left  insufficiently explained, despite the early introduction of those characters, until too late in the book. There were more than a few gory descriptions in the text some of which were, perhaps gratuitous. Some of the violence, too, tended to be overdone so that it could be thought to gripe rather than grip, to the extent of being tedious. A reasonably entertaining read although it could be improved.
                                           PLAYERS
                                     by Paul McAuley
                                 ISBN 9780743276184
                                             390 pages
                                  SIMON & SCHUSTER
                                          April 3 2007
                                               $29.95
                               reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                        March 22 2007

MIND'S EYE, the McAuley novel I had read prior to PLAYERS, was rather heavy on the science fiction theme. I am still trying to work out if PLAYERS is more sfish than its predecessor; possibly less but there is certainly a fantastical element despite ties to the Real World.

Detective Summer Ziegler is a cop who plies her trade in the Portland  Police Bureau's Robbery Unit. Having picked up teenager Edie Collier for shoplifting, some months previously, when the girl dies, apparently as the result of a fall, before paramedics can get her to hospital, Summer is given the task of breaking the news to Edie's family. The detective is taken aback by the apathetic attitude of the girl's mother but the stepfather obviously cared for the girl. Randy Farrell, the stepfather, offers himself to identify the body, which is at Cedar Falls.

Carl Kelley is Dirk Merrit's driver. Merrit used to be a millionaire; he had invented a computer game called TRANS but, by reason of his extravagant lifestyle which involves a great deal of plastic surgery to make him resemble an Overlord in his own computer game (but he sold the game to a big company) not to mention alterations to his home to make it resemble a castle that might reasonably belong in his game, his wealth has been greatly reduced. Kelley is determined to chouse Merrit out of what remains -- and take his life, into the bargain.

Merrit enjoys hunting as a hobby. His chosen prey is human. The bodies of his victims (or 'sacrifices') are relieved of their eyes and heart, as trophies for the victorious killer. Edie's boyfriend Billy Gundersen, a player of TRANS, becomes one of Merrit's sacrifices. Billy was getting just too close to the big treasure in the game.

Summer, unofficially, joins Detective Denise Childers of the Cedar Falls police in her investigation of Edie's death, which the pair believe to be murder, but Denise's boss is satisfied that the case is closed when the belongings of the dead girl are discovered in Joseph Kronenwetter's shack. The two women are dissatisfied with the obvious solution and continue to investigate.

The main theme of the novel is the computer game and the subculture of the people who play it. It is interesting to note that there was a trade in the real world of items regarded as 'treasure' in such computer games: e-Bay has introduced rules whereby such items are no longer able to be sold in their auctions, although other institutions still handle them. Thus, objects having no existence in the real world can be sold for real money. In effect, the motives for the killings in the  novel could quite easily be manifested in the real world, even if the objects have no external reality.

The characters are an interesting lot. Dirk Merrit might well almost exist today; we need only look at people who have multiple cosmetic surgery procedures to be convinced of that possibility and the enthusiasm with which young people embrace computer games provides its own probabilities. Summer and Denise are, in their own way, believable although the purpose for the inclusion of Summer's mother, a crime fiction enthusiast was not so obvious to me. Detective Hill, the bully determined to extract a confession from someone, even though the prisoner is innocent, is somewhat of a stock character.

There is a plethora of killings, both goodies and baddies, in this opus. I couldn't quite elicit any genuine shuddering from my mind at the author's description of the bloody deeds -- perhaps that was because my brain insisted that it was, after all, just a computer game. As to the necessity for  readers to suspend their disbelief -- the suspension has quite a firm bridge.
                                                             SINGING BIRD
                                                                    by Roisin McAuley
                                                                    ISBN 0755308530
                                                                         312 pages
                                                                         Headline
                                                                        May 2004
                                                                          $32.95
                                                             reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                                         June 3 2004

Lena Molloy has everything. Her friends crowd around her to wish her well as she vacates Hope House, the place she and her husband, Jack, moved to when they were first married. As the women are partying, Lena receives a phone call from a woman who played an important part in her past, Sister Monica. The nun was instrumental in arranging for the childless Lena and Jack to adopt a baby girl, Mary. Mary is now twenty-seven and an opera singer. Sister Monica gives as the reason for her call the fact that she is soon to retire, and wishes to see how 'her' babies had fared.

Lena's husband is in the southern hemisphere where he travels in order to sell smoked salmon. He will not be returning for some time. Lena and her best friend, Alma, decide they will venture to Ireland where they can meet Mary when she arrives to give a concert of Gershwin in Dublin. Alma has just relinquished her married lover and Lena is jubilant when she and her friend go to a quiet country hotel to stay, to discover widowed lawyer, Donal, staying there.

An orphan herself, Lena determines that the best gift she can give her daughter is one she was denied herself: the knowledge of her background. Lena tracks down Sr. Monica at St. Joseph's, somewhat bemused to discover the former home for unwed mothers has been transformed into an old people's home. To Lena's horror, Sr. Monica rebuffs her rudely. Nothing deterred, Lena follows the trail, discovering interesting facts about genetics along the way. She is certain she has a lead to the parents of her child when she finds  musicians who could well fit the genetic description she has built up within her mind of Mary's progenitors.

The author of this book obviously has a strong Catholic moral ethic. She imparts this to her protagonist. The story she relates is one that many people, adopters and adoptees alike, would find entrancing. The narrative is well told and the religious implications are not laboured. The characters are well drawn and the whole succeeds as a 'feel good' tale.
 
 

                                HARK!
                                    by Ed McBain
                                 ISBN 0752867865
                                         293 pages
                                             Orion
                                December 3 2004
                                            $29.95
                       reviewed by Denise Pickles
                               December 10 2004

Salvatore  Lambino may have left his birth name behind when  he became Evan Hunter but, as Ed McBain, he has certainly not discarded his interest in things Italian. His 87th Precinct novels, for which he is justly famous, always manage to include a cop or two with an Italian background. HARK! is no exception to this rule.

Several of the characters - mainly the baddies - go by names different from their birth names. As this tale begins, Gloria  Stanford faces justice (as her nemesis sees it) and death under a name her grandmother would not recognise. The killer is currently calling himself Adam Fen, a name different from that which Gloria herself would have recognised. The police know him only as 'the deaf man.' Despite having only a fraction of the millions of dollars left from the money Gloria stole from Adam she realises he isn't likely to let her retain what is left. Well, the police had intended burning  the haul of drugs which eventually yielded the money Gloria nicked. Adam is not too proud to take possession of what remains. Nor does he intend that the police shall remain in ignorance of the identity of either the murderee or the murderer.

The 87th Precinct sees the first of a barrage of cryptic notes, most of which contain anagrams. Adam Fen, is, of course, an anagram of Deaf Man, something which those near genius law enforcers soon recognise. The Deaf Man is a joker. He has something planned and intends notifying the cops of just what his plan is, well in advance, in his own way. He picks up a prostitute who is, in her own small way, completely ruthless and proceeds to use her in his baiting game with the police.

In the meantime, the individual members of the 87th - and Fat Ollie of the 88th - are pretty well taken up with their personal problems. One is involved with a television personality and is annoyed that someone is taking pot shots at him, another, Carella, is preparing to give away both his mother and his sister in matrimony - in the process dispossessing himself of most of his cash. Ollie is in love with someone who may one day reciprocate. Altogether, life proceeds normally on both professional and personal fronts for the cops as they attempt to solve the riddles posed by the murderer.

Although Evan Hunter is supposedly the author's 'literary' persona, there is no disguising that he is a master of good writing with a wide and wily knowledge. Ed McBain is, perhaps, not best known for 'in depth' characterisation but he writes an extremely entertaining and humorous novel. There are occasional glimpses of his characters as 'real' people - for example, the very genuine dilemma of Carella depicts him as a convincingly anguished soul. Despite the numerous murders and distressingly portrayed drug addicts there is not much to revolt a dedicated reader but there is plenty to delight.
                                     ALICE IN JEOPARDY
                                                    by Ed McBain
                                                 ISBN 0752867474
                                                          293 pages
                                                             Orion
                                                       April 1 2005
                                                              $29.95
                                           reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                        August 2 2005

It was a sad day for crime fiction when Death punctuated with a period the life of Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain. The blurb on the back cover of the novel announces that ALICE IN JEOPARDY  is a truly gripping book from a crime author at the top of his game. For once, I have no quarrel with a blurb. The publication could, indeed, be called a masterpiece of its kind and can only add to the reputation of the crime fiction writer who began that career in 1956 with the landmark 87th Precinct novel, COP HATER, landmark,  in, amongst other things, that it had no single protagonist but an entire station of police. ALICE IN JEOPARDY is unlike the 87th Precinct books in that it concentrates on a single character, Alice Glendenning, and what befell her subsequent to the death of her husband, Edward.

The action of the tale stretches from Wednesday May 12 until the following Monday. Wednesday doesn't begin well for Alice. She wakes late and is late getting her children, ten year-old Ashley and eight year-old Jamie, silent since the drowning of his father eight months earlier, to school. The day becomes steadily worse when she fails to make a sale (after the death of her husband, Alice has been attempting to make a career in real estate but failing dismally) to a client, who seems more interested in her than in a house. Then a blonde named Jennifer runs over Alice, breaking her left ankle. It would seem nothing more could go wrong with the day but it does. When Alice eventually gets home, she is greeted by housekeeper Rosie, with the news that the children haven't arrived home. Instead, the telephone rings and a woman tells Alice that she, the caller, has the children and if Alice calls the police, the children will die. Then a ransom demand is made for the exact amount that should be paid to Alice by the insurance company but  has been unaccountably delayed.

Nosy Rosie calls the police. When they seem, to her, to be doing nothing, Rosie also notifies the FBI. Between the agencies  there is internecine warfare which provokes what Alice perceives as imminent danger to the children. Ashley and Jamie were seen by onlookers to be picked up from school by a blonde woman but Alice feels that the caller to her telephone number was a black woman.

This tale could well be described as tense, taut and terrific. It is replete with McBain's trademark humour but this does not diminish by one whit the dread felt by the reader until the writer wishes it so. The plot is full of bumbling, ineffectual, yet somehow believable people on both sides of the law but pride of place is occupied by Alice who, despite the physical pain of her nobbled ankle is pushed on to investigate by the mental anguish occasioned by the danger to her children. Although the identity of the kidnappers is established fairly early in the piece, the tension is maintained with the introduction of peripheral bad characters threatening the well-being of Alice and her blood family.

We can but hope that there are some unpublished works awaiting release into the light of day and the stage of crime fiction. It would be unfortunate for McBain fans were they left mourning his death without any prospect of further books from this large figure in the annals of the genre.
                                           FIDDLERS
                                             by Ed McBain
                                          ISBN 075287 3741
                                                 257 pages
                                                  Orion
                                          December 2 2005
                                                  $29.95
                                       reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                              December 6 2005

Given that Evan Hunter/Ed McBain died earlier this year, one can only wonder if there are more 87th Precinct novels remaining unpublished in that illustrious writer's files. Reading FIDDLERS is like meeting  old friends and it would be a shame to think we will no longer meet Fat Ollie, Steve Carella and the rest again.

Carella and Meyer are investigating the shooting of a blind violinist at the Ninotchka nightclub. The man was killed by a gunman  using a Glock. The finishing touch to the crime saw the victim's face being disfigured by a bullet.

The next main actor of the plot is introduced to the reader when he hires two prostitutes for the night. This is the killer, Charles. The girls find he is impotent but one, Regina, thinks she can help him if they meet one on one. Charles takes care of his next murder before meeting Reg for their next tryst.

The killings continue with the murderer employing the same tactics on each occasion and each victim. All the corpses have lived long lives and the detectives are hard put to it to trace the person who must, in his youth, have developed sufficient hatred for various people to motivate him to seek them out and destroy them with the ferocity exhibited by the bald killer.

The tale is told in McBain's usual, succinct and easily understood style. His sketches of the characters comprising the Precinct are wonderfully painted. The reader is drawn into the personal problems of the detectives as much as he is into the motivations and unravelling of the mystery which impels  the killer. The possibility that even police may have wayward teenagers is explored along with the love lives of Fat Ollie and Kling

McBain's trademark humour is everywhere and we can smile at the same time we mourn the passing of the author.
                                      BROKEN SKIN
                                        by Stuart MacBride
                                      ISBN  9780007250752
                                                 439 pages
                                  Harper Collins Publishers
                                                 May 8 2007
                                                    $32.99
                                    reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                            April 10 2007

BROKEN SKIN provided my first encounter with author Stuart MacBride. I can see I shall now spend a lot of time locating his previous books. I guess that gives, in itself, an abridged form of this review.

 The book opens from the point of view of a rapist as he stalks a seemingly unwary girl. The rapist is savouring the anticipated reaction of the woman as she becomes Number Seven, his seventh rape victim. The miscreant is horrified when his prey,  PC Jackie Watson, turns the tables and inflicts some painful physical damage on him prior to his arrest. Mind, I am still a little puzzled by the names Jackie tells the animal: Christine, Laura, Gail, Sarah, Jennifer, Joanne and Sandra. By my count, he seems already to have notched up seven victims. Perhaps Jackie has, unknowingly, included a name from someone else's tally. The author surely couldn't have made such an arithmetical error.

Meanwhile, Jackie's boyfriend, DS Logan McRae, has come in contact with a corpse, someone who has apparently been sodomised to death. Perhaps the local bondage scene needs to be carefully scrutinised and who better to help with the scrutiny than a policeman who is an enthusiast in the B&D milieu?

While there is not, perhaps, as much of a portrait of Aberdeen as Ian Rankin paints of Edinburgh, the story is a good one. DI Insch's determination to lead an impeccable production of THE MIKADO provides some amusing lowlights for the reader while DI Steel, the lesbian detective, is a larger than life character who supplies more than just a few difficulties for Logan McRae. Also, the insertion of words probably unknown to the casual, non-Scots reader but possibly part of the Aberdeen dialect may educate said reader in the vagaries of the Aberdeen dialect.

As if the above were insufficient material for the tale, MacBride features an eight year-old murderer to lighten the tone of the novel.

The book is well constructed and suspenseful. The flashes of humour stand in marked  (and greatly appreciated) contrast to some of the horrors of the plot. The creation of the abominable defence lawyer, Hissing Sid Sandy  Moir-Farquarson is a capital notion. No doubt, were he suddenly given existence in the real world, readers would joyfully line up in order to pelt the man with uncooked haggis.

One criticism I have is  about the depiction of the young murderer. I think the author skimped somewhat on the detail that he might have provided to make that sub-plot a tad more credible. My second criticism (although I think this simply points out my Real Life prejudice rather than a possible reality) is an astounded disbelief that any woman could protect a man she knows is a rapist. Regardless, the entire book leaves me anxious not to miss the next installment in the adventures of DS McRae.
          FLESH HOUSE
        by Stuart MacBride
      ISBN 9780007244560
                  496 pages
      HarperCollins Publishers
                   May 2008
                     $29.99
      reviewed by Denise Pickles
        February  19 2008

It's not very often that I let a book get to me - and that is just as well, given some of the volumes I review-but I have to admit that FLESH HOUSE managed to sink its claws deep into my subconscious. I think, too, that it may have converted me to vegetarianism - although I reserve the right to change back to being a meat eater when I next go past Adelaide's wonderful Barbecue Inn.

The prologue is set in 1987. A stranger in fancy dress brings a small boy and his friend home. The father, intent on a Halloween party, doesn't take the time out to thank the stranger (just as well!) but reflects that the day is turning into a complete nightmare-but the nightmare hasn't really begun.

In (almost) the present, DS Logan McRae  is involved in an investigation that has uncovered human remains amongst animal meat. DI David Insch is busily throwing his considerable weight around but not getting any forrarder. The investigating team is not being helped by having a BBC cameraman dogging their heels. The Beeb has decided to film for the length of the investigation, so Logan et al are lumbered with cameraman Alec for the duration.

Logan is doubly lumbered in that all members of the team who investigated the 1987 butchering are called into the investigation. One of them is now a Chief Constable. Faulds comes to help in the investigation and Logan is called upon to look after him.

The point of view frequently shifts to a captive, Heather, who is being held by the Flesher, her husband, Duncan, already having fallen victim to the murderer, but, luckily for Heather, her mind supplies her with the spook of her husband (and other victims of the criminal) for company. Heather is also fed delicious, nutritious meaty meals by her captor.

The reader gets the detecting part of the investigation in full strength, but only Heather's pale and somewhat diluted version from the other side. Well, she has taken refuge in insanity in order to protect herself.

The identification of the baddie came as a complete surprise to me (as well, no doubt, to the police.) The human side of the investigators was well done, with the upset in Logan McRae's love life examined closely. A cliff hanger in that department is left open for the next book, although I didn't find it particularly enticing, something on Logan's professional side having taken a heartier grab at my mind.

I found the characterisation very convincing. MacBride interpolates quite a few somewhat unpleasant habits of his people into the prose to make them truly live.

Good plotting, good characterisationÖ.. What more could a discerning reader wish ?
 
 

                                            WINTERWOOD
                                                by Patrick McCabe
                                                      242 pages
                                               ISBN 0747586934
                                                   BLOOMSBURY
                                                December 1 2006
                                                          $29.95
                                        reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                November 25 2006

Patrick McCabe's prose sings with the voice of an angel -- a fallen angel who has seen the darkest of horrors and the most malevolent of perversions. In WINTERWOOD, McCabe takes a seemingly normal journalist (yes, Virginia...) returns him to the home of his youth then revives memories of a childhood at odds with the life he currently leads.

Redmond Hatch, in 1981, was asked by his employers at the Leinster News to write an article on folklore and the changing ways of Ireland. Redmond returns to his former home of Slievenageeha Mountain to listen to the tales of the old folk there. He meets Ned Strange, an elderly fiddler who is determined the children of the area won't forget the old way, to the extent that he regularly holds a children's ceilidh at which he teaches the youngsters the music and songs of the old folk and the old days. Of course, he teaches the select few a little more than that but the reader is not at first enlightened on that head.

Redmond returns to his wife Catherine and his daughter Imogen at the end of the assignment but begins a series of interviews with the old reprobate, despite having been warned by the local barman that people should not trust Ned's stories as they are largely untrue.

As time passes, Catherine is unfaithful to Redmond and leaves him, mirroring Ned's own story with his beautiful, childless wife.

Redmond is horrified to learn that Ned is, in fact, a paedophile and has murdered the small boy who claimed to be his best friend.

Redmond is forbidden by the courts to see his daughter but fakes his own death, returning to Ireland to stalk his family. Hatch, now Dominic Tiernan, is not alone. He is haunted by the shade of Ned Strange.

The journalist has retrieved memories of his childhood, which was far from idyllic. After the death of his too young mother -- or was it murder? -- his father places him in an orphanage in which he is visited by his Uncle Florian. The terrifying trysts see the lad dancing hideous hornpipes which deliver untold pleasure to his uncle.

The depressing tale told in musical prose continues as the personas of Ned and Redmond seem to merge, with the horrors perpetrated by Strange seeming to become understandable and even acceptable to the formerly sane journalist. His second marriage, inevitably, fails but that wife escapes the fate of Catherine, his first wife.

It would be nice to imagine McCabe as a jolly Irishman, bluff, goodtempered and without a malevolent thought in his body save what he commits to paper. Perhaps the dark imaginings of his novels are solely to balance in a small way his exuberance and general joie de vivre. I'd like to believe so but somehow doubt that could be true of an author capable of imagining these dark perversions.
 
 
 

                                                                    Foggy Mountain Breakdown
                                                                              by Sharyn McCrumb
                                                                               Ballantine Books rrp
                                                                                   copyright 1997
 
 

             In this anthology Sharyn McCrumb, who has won all five of the most prestigious mystery awards, showcases examples of her wide ranging styles of writing.

             Being greedy, I prefer novels to short stories as I enjoy watching authors develop their characters in believable depth and like to sink myself into engrossing stories for extended lengths of time. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoy McCrumb's shorter fiction since she is able to engage one's interest, create believable characters about whose fates the reader cares and all within the limitations of the short story form.

             In her mysteries set in the Appalachian mountains, the author uses haunting, almost poetic language that reflects the supernatural highlights of the stories. Don't let this style of writing fool you into thinking that McCrumb is only capable of the slightly eerie expressed in musical language: the novels about Elizabeth MacPherson are the very antithesis of the Appalachian tales and are written in a  down-to-earth manner.

            In this collection Sharyn McCrumb shows she understands the entire gamut of human emotions from the vagaries of teenage puppy love to mature and weathered affection: from humour to dark tragedy.
 

          Unlike some other authors, Sharyn McCrumb never strains to be picturesque and poetic. Her writing is never overdone and contrived but shows that she has a sense of humour.In her story Happiness is a Dead Poet'which deals with the bitchiness and politicking at a literary conference, a successful author, on being approached by neophytes seeking advice on writing romance novels instructs 'Try sticking your finger down your throat.'

          I read McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombies of the Gene Pool, both, like Happiness is a Dead Poet set during a writers' convention, although those conventions being science fiction, and initially was struck dumb by her transition from the haunting, evocative She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket'which had been my previous examples of her narratives to the everyday straightforward prose which she uses so well. It is not very often that I have found a mystery writer who is able to master successfully such different styles.

          In this anthology Precious Jewel is one of the Appalachian tales, and a very satisfying one it is, too, reflecting on the lack of understanding of grown children for their elderly parents. In Gerda's Sense of Snow the author takes the old Snow Queen story and translates it into modern day circumstances with the snow being of a higher room temperature than that in the earlier story. Another narrative, Telling the Bees concerns miscegenation of a sort ...a former mountain boy, now a successful big city lawyer who wants to take his more civilised bride on their honeymoon back to a cabin where he spent the happiest times of his boyhood. John Knox in Paradise'sees an inversion of the old Thomas the Rhymer faery tale. I will not enumerate the other stories at greater length. Suffice it that each is of a very high standard and deserving to be read.

             McCrumb has every opportunity to become stickily sentimental, but never gives in to temptation. Her writing is always clear. she plots convincingly and without forcing her poesy. The cadences of the language in her Appalachian tales are lovely but not overdone.

             Nothing in this anthology leads me to change the high opinion I formed of McCrumb's writing when previously reading her expertly crafted novels.
BENEATH THE BLEEDING
by Val McDermid
ISBN 9780007243280
Harper
July 1 2008
$19.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 13 2008

Well loved Scottish author Val McDermid trots out another tale in her Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan series. A serial poisoner is on the loose -- but then there is an explosion  at a football stadium and thoughts turn to terrorism.

Profiler Tony Hill begins his helping Carol at a disadvantage. His knee falls victim to a crazed axe man in a secure psychiatric facility and it is fortunate that the damage isnít worse. As it is, his actions prevent the patient from marauding further. Nonetheless, Tony is confined to hospital for a remarkably short time, although his sheer willpower enables him to come to the aid of DCI Carol Jordan.

Dr Elinor Blessing correctly diagnoses ricin (an obscure drug) in a poisoned patient. The poison is inevitably fatal but the patient, a famous footballer, suffers for an extended period before finally ìpopping his clogsî (as his creator expresses it.) Elinorís expertise is challenged still further in a later case.

Whilst Tony is hospitalised, he is made the victim of an unexpected visitor-- his mother. Fortunately for him, her visit coincides with one by Carol Jordan, who is able to act as some sort of protection for Tony from his very unpleasant maternal relation.

Part of the story is told from the viewpoint of Yousef, a young Muslim man.  He reassures a mysterious voice on the telephone that he has everything in hand -- and follows through on his promise, although not in quite the way he had planned.

Carol Jordan is, literally, muscled out of the way by CTC, a counter terrorism unit whose macho members donít even have the courtesy to provide individual names to the police.

While the characterisations of Carol and Tony are well done, others, for example those of Yousef and Vanessa Hill, could have been less cartoonish and more realistic.

One thing that puzzles me is the way McDermidís police seem able to invade peopleís private space without a search warrant. Other British crime fiction seems to make much of the fact that the police, except in special circumstances, do need that piece of paper and it is not easy to obtain.

 The plotting of this novel is, as one would expect of the popular author, excellent. Perhaps it is as well that Jordan and Hill are not romantically involved since, from the exchange between Yousef and his love, I donít know how convincing such an expansion would be.

One aspect of this book that I particularly enjoyed is the rivalry between different departments within the police. Now that I found especially convincing, human beings being as they are.

Another interesting concept is that of the ìpoison gardenî. How useful would one of those be to a successful serial killer.

As always, McDermid has turned out a well written, plausibly plotted work. Long may she continue to write.
A DARKER DOMAIN
by Val McDermid
ISBN 9780007243303
371 pages
HarperCollinsPublishers
October 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 12 2008

I always feel that a novel has much more power when the times, places and circumstances have been lived through by the author, rather than simply researched. Somehow, there seems to be an extra depth to the work, an extra resonance. Val McDermid certainly lived through the awful time of the Minersí Strike. Not only that, she lived in places that were hit by it and suffered along with the families of the miners, the people to whom ìscabî was about the worst description in their lexicon and the people to whom it applied worse than traitors to their country.

The modern action begins in a Fife police station. Misha Prentice Gibson wants to report a missing person. There is, however, a catch. The person she is reporting is her father and he has been missing for twenty-two years. Detective Inspector Karen Pirie, who is in charge of cold cases, is given the case and her doughty Sergeant Phil Parhatka as back-up.

Under ordinary circumstances, Misha would not waste her time looking for her father but these are not ordinary times. Her small son is suffering a rare disease that requires a bone marrow transplant and the preferable donor is from the family. Apparently the only eligible donor is the childís grandfather, the man who has been missing for twenty-two years. Sasha would do anything for her child even to the extent of tracking down her strike breaking father---than which, at the time, there was no greater sin for a true blue miner to strike break, even though it was to keep food  on the table for his children.

Mishaís search has some far reaching side effects. The true story of the killing of Catriona is likely to come out and perhaps there was one fewer scabs than thought that went to Nottingham. Of course, there is also the minor mystery of money that has arrived irregularly from Nottingham for Prenticeís family, over the years.

McDermidís mysteries are always well plotted and this is no exception. There are twists and turns sufficient to keep any puzzle addict enthralled. I do occasionally have a few problems with some of the characterisation but any debit is overwhelmed by the  credit established by the superb atmosphere established in this work.

To her credit, McDermid doesnít attempt to build up a romance. One minute itís not there and the next it is, with only an odd hint here and there to say anything is happening. This treatment works, too, which is just as well, since I have the impression that McDermid doesnít feel capable of writing titillating romance. So letís hope that this author continues writing mystifying puzzles unleavened by romance.
                                      ROMANITAS
                                   by Sophia McDougall
                                         ISBN 0752868942
                                            452 pages
                                              Orion
                                    September 1 2005
                                              $29.95
                                reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                      September 9 2005

ROMANITAS is a debut novel and what a remarkable achievement it is. It is the first book of a trilogy in which the world is divided  between two empires: the Roman Empire and the Nionian Empire (Nionia being an expanded Japan) with a few bits and pieces of independent country thrown in (our Australia, in the map thoughtfully provided by the publisher, is shaded as Nionian territory.) Sophia McDougall is no novice writer - she is an established playwright and poet -  but for all that, this is a new genre for her and the work shows remarkable sophistication.

The narrative begins with the funeral of Leo, brother to the Roman Emperor Faustus, and his wife Clodia. They, together with their chauffeur, were killed in a car accident and now their embalmed bodies are consigned to the care of the gods. The dead couple's son, Marcus Novius Faustus Leo, presumed to be the Emperor's choice as successor, gives a funeral oration but instead of remaining at the Imperial palace,  returns to his father's villa which has fallen into some neglect as Leo and his wife did not believe in slavery so kept too few servants to maintain the property in top condition. Varius was Leo's private secretary but is now his executor. He realises there are things he must discuss with sixteen year-old Marcus, matters concerning, amongst other things, the deaths of Leo and Clodia, which Varius is convinced were not accidental. Before Marcus' life can settle into what would be perceived as a normal course, Varius' wife, Gemella, is killed, poisoned by confectionery intended for Marcus. Marcus must, therefore, flee for his life. Varius gives him vague directions to a refuge for escaped slaves, in the Pyrenees.

Una is a teenage slave. She and her younger brother, Sulien, were sold separately after the death of their father. Sulien has a mental gift that permits him to visualise the ills and wounds that beset people and heal them. He is bought by a doctor who trains him in medicine and treats the boy as a son. Una, too, has special powers. She is able to sink herself into other people's personalities and perceive and alter their thoughts and influence their actions. Sulien is convicted of a crime of which he is innocent but is sentenced to die by crucifixion. Una, despite not having seen her brother for years, is able to rescue him and set free other convicts awaiting execution. Together they set off, determined to eke out a living in hiding. Instead, they encounter Marcus and reluctantly agree to help him seek the refuge for escaped slaves until he can regain his rightful place in the Empire.

McDougall has spun an enthralling tale and an opaque mystery. She has built a plausible alternate history which she outlines at the conclusion of the novel. She also explains the expansion of the political system of old Rome into her modern version as well as justifying the names she bestows on people and countries. The author has produced some wonderful characters and provided excellent motivations for them, not the least being the fear of an hereditary madness to spur Marcus along his way. The modern Rome that she creates is fearsome in its extrapolation of all that was evil in the ancient version, including a disdain for human life and rights, Her idea of the development of a scientific form of crucifixion is truly chilling.

While McDougall's achievement is wonderful, a word of criticism of her publisher should be said. There are numerous typographical errors spattered throughout the text. While they do not detract from the power of the novel, they are annoying to the reader as they could so easily have been removed. I, for one, very much look forward to reading the two further episodes of the trilogy but trust more care is taken in their copy editing.
 

                                 SATURDAY
                                    by Ian McEwan
                                  ISBN0224072994
                                          280 pages
                                   Jonathan Cape
                                        London
                                 February 1 2005
                                           $49.95
                          reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                   March 3 2005
 

To describe author Ian McEwan as 'talented' would be an understatement. This multi award winner has built an unparalleled reputation for the excellence of his writing from the appearance of his first short story through to this latest novel - not forgetting the Booker Prize which he garnered in 1998 for AMSTERDAM. In SATURDAY he confines the action of an imporant portion of the life of a London neurosurgeon to just one day.

Henry Perowne - who, according to an interview I read with McEwan, lives in the author's house - wakes unaccustomedly early on Saturday, February 15 2003. He sees what he at first thinks is a meteor in the dark skies but later discovers is a crashing cargo plane. As he watches the flare in the sky, he reprises the previous day of operations in his mind's eye, the successes as a result of his deft hands and supervision. He doesn't wish to wake his much loved wife Rosalind, the woman who was reading Law when he was a student and the two met. Instead, he goes to his kitchen where he discovers his son, musician Theo and has a conversation with him. Henry's daughter, Daisy, a poet like her grandfather, John Grammaticus, is returning home from Paris later in the day.

Henry goes back to bed only to waken two hours after Rosalind leaves the house. He has an appointment with his anaesthetist friend Jay Strauss for their customary Saturday squash game. This Saturday is different from others in that an anti-war rally protesting against the Iraq war, is disrupting traffic on London's streets and Perowne is briefly prevented from following his usual route to the squash courts. Waved across by a policeman, the neurosurgeon is further delayed when his car clips another which pulls out without the driver taking care. Henry is confronted by three thugs in one of whom, the leader, Baxter, he perceives symptoms of Huntingdon's Chorea. Henry escapes a beating by speaking to Baxter of the latter's condition but humiliates the man when Baxter's followers desert him in contempt.

The squash game goes against Perowne despite his successful efforts to reverse the trend. Emotions see-saw within the partners and could almost end their friendship. Equilibrium is restored, however, after the match and the two part friends. Perowne's happiness is  considerably disturbed when he goes to visit his once vibrant  and athletic mother now living in a nursing home, a victim of Alzheimer's. The day proceeds well and predictably enough with Daisy's arrival as well as that of Grammaticus, then, late in the evening, the events of the morning return to haunt the family.

This is an enthralling novel. The perfect prose obviously written with great care devoted to each scrupulously considered word, unfolds the meticulous detail of one family's life over one momentous day. Perceptions change and outlooks shift as life affects the characters of the drama. The moral tales are told against the background of the surgeon's mind and his apprehensions and judgments - chiefly of himself - in the light of the unfolding events. The reader's interest doesn't flag despite the amount of detail - the squash game occupies sixteen pages. It is impossible not to appreciate each and every fact as it is presented.

This story is an intriguing examination of one family on a single day. The depth of characterisation isimpressive as is the analysis of chance and coincidence on people and their perceptions and moral judgments of themselves. In short, another tour de force from this wonderful writer.
                                            UNDERGROUND
                                                 by Andrew McGahan
                                                        296 pages
                                                ISBN 1741149312
                                                   ALLEN & UNWIN
                                                   October 6 2006
                                                           $29.95
                                     reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                    October 4 2006

In UNDERGROUND, award winning Australian author Andrew McGahan dips a far from tentative toe into the murky, insect infested depths of politics adjacent to the tangled jungles of terrorism, treason, treachery and resistance.

Leo James, slightly out of true realtor and twin brother of  Australia's illustrious Prime Minister of the near future, Bernard James, is living it up  in the fast decrepitating ruins of his latest  business venture, a Queensland resort being battered by Cyclone Yusuf. Just as well the cyclone hit at such a time as the resort was doomed to failure. At least now it is the insurance companies that will have to carry the burden rather than Leo himself.

Seeking to find safer shelter than the penthouse suite, drunk and drug ridden Leo attempts to make his way to the security complex near the front gate. Before he can gain access to that haven, the realtor is accosted by men in possession of an Australia Post van. He is forced, at gunpoint and after being beaten, into the back of the van.

A woman calling herself Aisha tells the hapless captive that he has been taken prisoner by the Great Southern Jihad, representatives of New Islam, a religion having precious little in common with Islam as the world knows it. Aisha informs James that they are the people who nuked Canberra. Yes, my fellow Australians, our dearly beloved national capital is no more, having been reduced to a pile of cinders by a nuclear device.

What a boon this was for the government! It gave them the excuse to round up all Muslims, not being too careful of their wellbeing along the way. Wideranging new powers are bestowed on the Prime Minister and his functionaries as they try to establish order and a return to a balanced existence.

Leo's initial imprisonment doesn't last long as soon after  his capture he is 'rescued' by federal agents who inform him that he has been declared dead by his employees at the resort.

A kangaroo court of one sentences Aisha to death but just as the execution is about to take place, Leo and Aisha are retrieved by a representative of OU, or Oz Underground. This rescuer, for a change, seems set on removing the pair from danger and a seemingly endless journey beset by plentiful perils and oceans of blood ensues.

Leo, as the first person narrator, addresses himself to mysterious 'interrogators', men who are not averse to inflicting torture on the antihero of the piece. Mind, Leo James is not one of Nature's strong men and the amount of violence visited upon his person is unnecessary since he is quite willing to divulge everything he knows before any thumb screws are turned -- which doesn't prevent the torture from taking place.

In a novel rather reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984, but perhaps enlivened by rather more dark humour, the picaresque adventurer reflects on the nature of politics, deceit and his twin's meteoric rise to ultimate power. A thinly veiled ('Mum, who IS that masked man hidden behind a burqa?') depiction of John Howard's government, the scenario contains just enough that is possible to draw shudders from the least conspiracy minded of readers.

As the curtain is drawn over any further adventures of the close relative of The Man, the reader is left with some rather disturbing thoughts on which to meditate.
                                                                             STAG HUNT
                                                                             by Anthony McGowan
                                                                                ISBN 0340836318
                                                                                      326 pages
                                                                              Hodder & Stoughton
                                                                                    April 1 2004
                                                                                        $32.95
                                                                  reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
                                                                                    April 6 2004

There are quite a number of new authors being released in recent times. British writer Anthony McGowan is another such. The mini biography supplied by his publisher informs the curious reader that he has worked as a nightclub bouncer, an Open University Philosophy tutor, a journalist and a civil servant. While McGowan makes peripheral use of his civil service background, it would be rather good to know what inspired him to create the delightful characters peopling his semi-Gothic debut novel,  Stag Hunt.

The story is told in a combination of first and third person. The first person narrator is Matthew Moriarty, supposedly an uncouth, relatively uneducated working class man from the north of England. But Matthew has Secrets, A Past. The prologue is unpleasant. A young boy in boarding school is awaiting his nightly tormentors : 'the smiling one, the one who hurt, the shy one, the one who cried and the one who kissed.' How charming. The reader can only feel sorry for the poor little buggered!

Matthew Moriarty is invited to an ancient mansion  in the Cornwall countryside by the brother of his ex-girlfriend. Dom Chance is not terribly tactful, making it quite clear that the stag party weekend invitation is only being extended to Matthew because so few of his proper friends have accepted the invitations given by Dom's best man elect, psychiatrist Gubby. It is also made quite clear to Matthew that he is not to be amongst the wedding guests. All but one of the guests - and that one departs early in the peace - were school friends of Dom's. The school was one of England's public schools (what we unlettered Australians would call a private school) and it was there that the abuse of the child in the prologue took place. It soon becomes apparent that the school victim and almost all of the then abusers are present for the festivity. But who is which?

 The first murder is that of the Classics master from the school - not one of the guests invited to the ancient pile, location of the haunted weekend. The former teacher was a pervert who, although not actually touching the young boys, derived great pleasure from tempting them to perversions between themselves. The next murder is that of 'the smiling one' who never actually appears at the mansion.

Matthew has an unlucky history when it comes to women yet he is attracted to - and attracts - beautiful black Sufi, one of the two women set to cater for the men.

On the first night, the men indulge in ghost stories, although Matthew does not disclose his own haunting tale of what occurred to him in Tunisia. The story of the haunting of the house where they are staying is told, full of murdered babies whose cries may be heard by the unwary inhabitants of the rambling old place.

Unaccountable violence occurs, lines of communication with the outside world are cut, the reader is made privy to the secrets of some of the guests and a competent atmosphere of terror is generated.

The narrative is extremely well constructed. The prose is faultless, the tension built expertly and the characters almost believable - well, on a dark and stormy night one might believe and hope to avoid them! Altogether, this opus is an excellent little thriller. I hope to see more of Mr. McGowan's work before too much more time elapses.

                                                                 Verdict Unsafe
                                                                     by Jill McGown
                                                                      Fawcett Crest
                                                                     copyright 1997

            Jill McGown employs a tactic I have noticed being used by other mystery writers of late: she has two characters, DI Judy Hill and DCI Lloyd who have a will-they won't-they relationship throughout eight books spanning twenty years. Presumably this is intended as a hook to maintain the reader's interest and stimulate him/her into buying the next book in the series. The individual books are, however, stand alone.

           I like McGown's writing: her characters are convincing and the incidents, although unpleasant (this book involves a serial rapist) do not dwell enthusiastically on the gore and ripped tissues. She does like to lay false trails but the red herrings are not overwhelmingly smelly, so that the acute reader may pick up the correct track.

           The author employs a mystery tactic used by at least two other writers with whose work I am familiar : Colin Dexter kept the given name of Inspector Morse secret until the latest of his books that I have read and Gillian Roberts protagonist, Amanda Pepper, does not know the given name of her boyfriend. This last author is one I would dearly love to review. She is humorous and witty and I hope she has a new book out soon.
 

          McGown, alas, does not employ humour in her stories. Life and death are very grim and earnest for her characters.

         This book begins in the courtroom where Judy Hill is watching the trial of a young man, Colin Drummond, whom she has helped catch. This man is accused of being a serial rapist and has threatened that Hill  will be his next  victim. Although he is found guilty and gaoled, he is out again within eighteen months.

         Judy finds herself being targeted  by Drummond who phones her repeatedly on his brand new mobile toy. She is not the only one receiving threatening calls: all his previous victims, save the one who committed suicide, are now finding themselves in renewed peril and one at least has severe psychological problems to overcome from the rape which she suffered.

       The story line moves through the prostitution scene in the small towns of Stansfield and Malworth. A very young prostitute, Ginny (perhaps MacGown DOES have a sense of humour since she thinks 'Virginia' an apt name for a prostitute) is probably the most engaging person in the story. She reminds me of  my computer in that one can not take liberties in instructing either Ginny or the computer: each is a very literal being. The prostitute wins Lloyd's heart in that he is fascinated by interviews with her as they appeal to his sense of humour.

        Against the main theme of the murderer/serial rapist runs the description of the serial burglaries throughout the towns. I thought I was pretty clever in working out the method by which the robberies were carried out, early in my reading of the book. Nothing is straightforward, though, and I discovered I was not as smart as I had believed.

       McGown skillfully plays with the way she draws her characters. Even though readers of all her books know that Judy Hill is totally innocent of corruption and would never stoop to tricks to convict people, all of a sudden the reader can find him/herself doubting  Hill's honesty. Could it be possible that she was involved in corruption at the Malworth station? Will she be unfaithful to Lloyd and sleep with the defence lawyer whom she initially despises?

      The author draws convincingly human characters. Lloyd is not the perfect, understanding, even tempered detective: he loses his temper and can be very unpleasant and unreasonable to Judy in a way that has no real justification save that he is human and a jealous and concerned lover. He is not, as so many fictional detectives are, ruggedly handsome and physically perfect... he is quite bald and very short.

       I shall continue buying Jill McGown's books even though I now know rather more than I wished  about rape and prostitution in England. At least I am always sure, when I buy one of her mysteries, that I will find it absorbing and convincingly realistic.
                                             DIRTY LITTLE  LIES
                                                    by John Macken
                                                ISBN 9780552154468
                                                           525 pages
                                                        CORGI BOOKS
                                                    January  1 2008
                                                             $21.95
                                                  reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                                     November 29 2007

Once again, I was delighted to read fiction by someone working in the field about which he writes. Oh, the pleasure of knowing that the only inaccuracies the reader is likely to spot are spelling or grammar!

The novel opens with a bloody murder but then reverts to a sad tale of possible adultery, sixteen weeks prior to the murder. Dr. Reuben Maitland needs to know if his wife is cuckolding him -- and also if he is the father of Joshua, son of his wife and previously acknowledged as his own. Throughout the book, I kept yelling at him "For Pete's sake! Just do the test!" I would have thought that a man devoted to discovering the hidden truths of science would be unable to resist unearthing the truth about his child's parentage. After all, if he is to have any input into the upbringing of the child, he would need to be able to predict any possible future health problems.

Maitland is fired from his job at GeneCrime, where he perfected the science of Predictive Phenotyping. That science is able to take something from a crime scene and not only analyse the DNA and find a likely suspect from someone carrying that genetic material, but also provide a probable picture of the suspect together with a possible prediction of the person's attitude and actions. Despite his expulsion from  GeneCrime, Maitland manages to set up his own laboratory and, with the help of insiders, attempt to solve what becomes a series of murders.

While the plot is not bad, I thought that some of the twists were gratuitous. Occam's Razor is a good rule to observe for a writer, no matter what his background knowledge.

The science is not difficult to follow -- the content makes anything that might be a little abstruse, quite clear.

The characterisation is a different matter. I thought Reuben Maitland contained some inconsistencies-- but then, that is probably common to all humans. The minor characters did not seem to come to life unless they are villains about to perform some torture, murder or otherwise nasty behaviour.

The author tells us that a new GeneCrime novel will be available in 2008. I'll look forward to reading it. I feel that this author could well be worth watching.
 

                                          DEEP BLACK
                                         by Andy McNab
                                       ISBN 0593050290
                                               394 pages
                                           Bantam Press
                                       November 1 2004
                                               $32.95
                                reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                      October 31 2004

Such biography of Andy McNab as is to be found on the Net almost qualifies as a thriller in its own right. I wondered just how old McNab was when he joined the infantry in 1976. He was described as being then 'a child soldier'. One assumes he wasn't terribly old when he became a member of the SAS in 1984. He saw operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland. A vast experience for any author on which to base successful novels. During the first Gulf War, McNab was taken prisoner for six weeks and tortured horrifically. It amazes me that he is able to think back to his experiences in order to profit from them in his current life as a thriller writer. BRAVO TWO ZERO and IMMEDIATE ACTION are his account of his command of his eight man covert patrol unit and his autobiography, respectively. Both featured on best seller lists - and no wonder.

The first few chapters  of DEEP BLACK comprise a flashback to Bosnia in 1994. Nick Stone is on a special mission intended, so Nick thinks, to assassinate the CiC of the Bosnian Serb army, Ratko Mladic. On his way to the location of the action, Nick befriends a little girl, Zina, and an older woman. Zina is shivering in the intense cold, so Nick gives her his red jacket. They are making their way to Sarajevo, a destination Nick silently deplores.

While waiting to call the Paveway, which is to kill Mladic, Nick watches, with horror, the abuse by the Serb soldiers of their Muslim prisoners. A bearded Muslim, whom Nick dubs 'Beardilocks', appears on the scene and against all apparent odds, rescues some of the prisoners. Some women are left behind, presumably for the amusement of Mladic's men. Zina is one of those girls. To increase the horror, Nick sees Zina killed and he feels his red jacket which she is wearing makes her murder easier. Then he is told the mission is aborted - and Mladic continues to live.

The time switches to October 2003  and the location to Washington DC . Nick has been reliving the past horrors in an appointment with a psychiatrist, Ezra, working for George, a spymaster who is Nick's current employer. Nick is sickened by his work and by George, to whom he proffers his resignation - which is not accepted.

 Nick attends a photographic exhibition portraying the very horrors he has been reliving, including pictures of Zina and Beardilocks. While there, he is accosted by Muslim Jeral, whose life he had saved when the two were in Bosnia. Jeral invites him to his home where he meets Jeral's wife, Renee and baby daughter Chloë. Jeral is a photographer and intends going to Baghdad where, before settling down to a regular job in the U.S., he wants to make a last attempt to get a really great photograph that will make his name. His intended subject is  Hasan Nuhanovic - whom Nick recognises as Beardilocks, who had saved some Muslims from Mladic's men, despite leaving some others to a grisly death.

Jeral asks Nick to accompany him to Baghdad, where Nuhanovic is said to be organising Muslims in an attempt to undermine the West's dominance of the world. Nick refuses but later, when approached by Renee, relents. After all, he has no job and no longer has any human for whom he cares.

Although the novel is tightly plotted and very well written - I found myself unable to put the book down in order to go to sleep - the greatest attraction is in the author's knowledge of the horrors of war portrayed therein. Other writers devote time to researching their subject and many of them succeed in producing gripping tales. Somehow, however, McNab's surpasses those researched books by the detail he is able to incorporate, sometimes almost as an afterthought, in these pages. Perhaps the novel should bear a warning for the squeamish readers, since some of the scenes could sicken the unwary. The portrayal of day-to-day life as it continues in Baghdad, despite the ongoing trauma of war, is particularly fascinating. I could not help but feel, though, that the only reason for part of the story being set there was just so McNab could include that depiction rather than in order to advance the action. I was not convinced by the reasons given in the tale.

This was the first book of McNab's I have had the good fortune to read. It won't be the last.
 

                                                                           DEATH CLUB
                                                                             by Claire McNab
                                                                               Allen & Unwin
                                                                           ISBN 1-86508-587-1
                                                                                   $19.95
                                                                                June 8 2001
                                                                        reviewed by Denise Wels
 
 

      Claire McNab, author of the Inspector Carol Ashton mystery series, which includes Chain Letter, Inner Circle, Double Bluff,  Body Guard , Dead Certain and  Lessons In Murder , amongst others, also writes under the nom de plume  of Claire Carmichael. Some of her novels under the latter name include  the Virtual Realities  series, of which  Cybersaur  is one of the titles.This series is science fiction, aimed at a young audience, and I have enjoyed those books I have read of that cycle. Since McNab, now living in the US, was once a schoolteacher one can assume she gained an insight into the preferences of children for the literature which she produces in that genre.

           Death Club  is set in a country club in N.S.W. The club is run by fashion designer  Gussie Whitlew who has instigated the Whitlew Challenge for women golfers, hoping it will become an annual event. To Gussie's dismay, the body of a girl is found in a bunker, having been done to death by someone wielding a sand wedge (one of the cast remarks that a different iron might have been better suited to the task.)

          Gussie is predatory in her sexual appetites and even sets her sights on Inspector Carol Ashton who, however, is in love with a woman FBI agent about  to visit Australia.

          The book contains a colourful list of characters including the corpse, Fiona Hawk, who was, at the close of the first day of play, when all play ceased abruptly for her, the leader of the tournament. On the side of the goodies is Sergeant Mark Bourke, whose wife is an artist who produced work beloved by Gussie. Detective Constable Anne Newsome is another of the Inspector's able assistants while Carol's Aunt Sarah is one of Gussie's opponents, protesting against golf courses in general and this one in particular.

          The author introduces the reader to the jealousies and rivalries extant between players in a tournament as well as the relationships some of them have with their caddies. The chicanery of players' agents is not free from criticism nor is the behaviour of their exploitative relatives. Davy Vere, Gussie's chief fixer and enforcer is a sinister presence throughout the tale.

         The plot of this novel, while reasonably circuitous, is not deep; likewise the characterisations could reasonably be described as sketchy. Despite these criticisms, the book is entertaining .
                                 THE WOMBAT STRATEGY
                                                 by Claire McNab
                                                ISBN 1555838367
                                                      204 pages
                                                  alyson books
                                                  Los Angeles
                                                 June 10 2004
                                                     $28.95
                                         reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                             September 5 2004

Claire McNab, who has been known to cater for juvenile readers under the nom-de-plume of Claire Carmichael, has written another novel for adults with THE WOMBAT STRATEGY. Although Australian born (like her heroine Kiley Kendall) she (also like Kiley) now lives in Los Angeles. She may be more familiar to readers as the author of the Inspector Carol Ashton and the Denise Cleever series.

Kiley is a likable bushie. She is suffering from a broken heart as her lover, Wollegudgerie schoolteacher Raylene, has thrown her over in favour of Kiley's very own hairdresser. How mortifying! Fortuitously, Kiley's father Colin, an Angelino private detective, has died, leaving his daughter a 51% share of his successful business. Kiley, therefore, sees a possible easing of her distress in flight to L.A. and an investigation of the investigative possibilities there. Her mother, soon to remarry, is left to manage the family pub back in Australia.

Ariana Creeling, the icily gorgeous 49% owner of Kendall & Creeling is understandably aghast when Kiley lobs on the agency's doorstep with her stated wish to become a P.I. like her dad. Ariana has no hope of withstanding Kiley's wishes, as Kiley has vowed to adopt the strategy of the wombat, that fat little Australian marsupial who, when he wants something, keeps his eyes on that goal and simply steamrolls over all obstacles in his way.

Kiley is installed in the living quarters of the agency where she makes the acquaintance (and seemingly wins the heart) of the redoubtable Julia Roberts. No, not the star of the big screen but a feline who apparently possesses rather more disdainful charm than her namesake. In the business side of things, Ms. Kendall seems to get on well with most of the staff, including Melodie, the receptionist who is frequently noted for her absences as she chases after that elusive screen role which will ensure her fame.

Australian Dr. Dave Deer is a media luminary. He and his famed 'Slap! Slap! Get On With It' therapy (which, on closer inspection might be suspected of having a little  tickle included in the method) are well known to  Hollywood personalities who embrace it avidly. Some of Deer's records have been stolen and, fearing possibly blackmail demands on his clients, Dave requests that Ariana provide the services of the agency in order to retrieve the records, thereby protecting his own career. Ariana decides that Kylie, embedded in the Deer household as the cousin of Deer's wife, will be in an ideal position to solve the mystery.

Kylie is not used to the luxury on display in the Deer (rented) mansion; neither is she comfortable with the too friendly hospitality extended by Dr. Deer. Why should she be interested in him when she is inclined to amorous thoughts about Ariana? Nonetheless, she sets about her task despite her distaste for some of Deer's clients, including compatriot movie director, the unpleasant Jarrod  Perkins.

Of course the tale includes the requisite amount of murder and mayhem needed to produce a successful thriller as well as some sly digs at American culture (where in L.A. does one find proper loose tea in that uncivilised city?) There are some delightful characters invented to populate this tale, not the least being Kylie herself - although I was charmed by Julia Roberts. Perhaps there is an overuse of Ockerism in the language but since the story is narrated in the first person by a bushie, this adds verisimilitude to the work. It is a light, amusing story with a reasonable plot which should see readers hoping for a serial Kylie.
                        JACK KAIN
                The Case of the Digit Serial Killer
                         http://www.jackkain.com
                        in conjunction with the DVD
                             by Darren McNamara
                                     March 15 2007
                       $49.95 (collector's signed edition)
                        $29.95 (regular DVD)
                     reviewed by Denise Pickles
                                February 5 2007

And now, as they say in the classics, for something completely different; completely different in the combination, at least. Jack Kain is at once a mystery movie,  a website and a game.

The movie stars Evert McQueen (as the great detective Jack Kain himself), Randall Mettam (as the imported Melbourne detective, Steve Wells,  foisted on the unwitting and unwilling Kain), Jennifer Eden as Detective Jenny Canter, the displaced regular partner of Kain, Brooke Stitt as the heavily pregnant, unfortunate wife of Kain, and Jack Henry as Chief Inspector Tom Watts, the man responsible for Wells' presence.

The film itself features some lovely shots of various sites in Sydney. The viewer is treated to footage of the 'actual' murders  as well as a picture of the home life of Jack Kain and some scenes of life in a police station. It's interesting to note that the interview with suspect Jerry Windsor was filmed at a Brisbane Police Station, using all police equipment. All in the interests of verisimilitude.

A serial killer is loose in Sydney. He strangles his first victim with her own hair a la Robert Browning's Porphyria's Lover. He amputates the victims' left thumbs and uses them to plaster subsequent corpses with fingerprints. Jack Kain is assigned the case -- but he is also assigned a new partner, Melbourne import Steve Wells. There are two suspects and the detectives (and game players) must decide who is the callous killer.

The creator of Jack Kain has gone to a great deal of trouble to provide the game player with all possible material that would be available to 'real' detectives. One can access the autopsy reports, criminal history of the suspects in police files and a contemporary newpaper article (with a somewhat suspect journalistic by-line.) Of course, the player has an advantage over the detectives in the case in being able to watch the murders (over and over.)

The game  will be launched on March 15 and will continue for twelve weeks. Purchasers of the collector's edition of the DVD (which is signed by the stars playing the two detectives) get two entries into the game and those of the regular edition have one chance. Those who buy the DVD before March 15 get bonus entries.

There is an extravagant reward being offered -- $100,000 -- to a successful sleuth (or successful sleuths) and the prize will be awarded amidst much fanfare and the presence of  actor  Peter Phelps (who will be a part of the ending of the film.) Ricky Ponting will be present at the launch.

If you fancy yourself as a detective, always solving the case before fictional protagonists, why not sign up for the game? It promises to be a good fun experience and the possible reward is, well, richly rewarding.

                                  NO HELP FOR THE DYING
                                             by Adrian Magson
                                            ISBN 0954763475
                                                   277 pages
                                               Crème de la Crime
                                                 September 2005