Review Archive for author's that start with ... S
Review Archive for author's that start with ... S
Reviewed on this page: Out Of Mind (Catherine Sampson),
Outlaws
(Kevin
Sampson), The Hanged Man's Song (John Sandford), Dead Watch (John
Sandford), Invisible Prey (John Sandford), Sovereign C. J.
Sansom), MurderOlé (Corinne Holt Sawyer), The Stone Angel
(Katherine
Scholes), The Crystal Skull (Manda Scott), In The Shadows
(Margaret Scott), Devil's Corner
(Lisa Scottoline),
Killer
Smile (Lisa Scottoline),
Dirty Blonde (Lisa Scottoline), Daddy's
Girl (Lisa Scottoline),
Lady Killer (Lisa Scottoline),
Stalin:The
Court of the Red Tsar
(Simon Sebag Montefiore)The Interior
(Lisa
See), Lime Juice (B. Selkie),The Untouchable
(Gerald
Seymour), The Unknown Soldier
(Gerald Seymour), The Walking Dead
(Gerald Seymour), Those Garrison Women
(Louise Shaffer), In Tasmania
(Nicholas
Shakespeare),
Snowleg
(Nicholas Shakespeare), Virgin Heat
and Florida Straits(Laurence Shames),
The Orange Curtain
(John Shannon),Wilt In Nowhere (Tom Sharpe),
Eye to Eye
(Caroline Shaw), The Mayor of Lexington Avenue (James Sheehan),
The
Fig Eater(Jody Shields),
18 Seconds
(George D Shuman), Lost
Girls (George D Shuman),
Everlost (Neal Shusterman, Iced
(Jenny Siler), Flashback
(Jenny Siler),The Kill Artist
(Daniel Silva),
Marching Season
(Daniel
Silva),Damn Straight (Elizabeth Sims),
Easy
Street (Elizabeth Sims), The Shadow Maker (Robert
Sims)
Blindsighted
(Karin Slaughter),
Kisscut (Karin Slaughter),
A
Faint Cold Fear (Karin Slaughter), Indelible (Karin Slaughter),
Faithless
(Karin Slaughter), Triptych (Karin Slaughter),
Skin Privilege
(Karin
Slaughter), Fractured (Karin Slaughter), The
Red Hat Club (Haywood Smith), Child 44 (Tom Rob Smith),
Cold
(John Smolens),The Prophet Murders (Mehmet Murat Somer)
Monsoon
Rains and Icicle Drops
(Southwell and Brouard),
No Way Home (Peter
Spiegelman),
Blindfold Game (Dana Stabenow),
One Dangerous Lady
(Jane
Stanton Hitchcock),
Lights Out (Jason Starr), Body of a
Girl (Leah Stewart), ,
Firecracker
(Sean Stewart),
The
Adultery Club (Tess Stimson),
Bubbles Unbound (Sarah Strohmeyer),
Bubbles
In Trouble
(Sarah Strohmeyer) The Decoy (Tony Strong),
Sasso
(James
Sturz),
Exit A (Anthony Swofford),
OUT OF MIND
by Catherine Sampson
ISBN 1405040815
294 pages
MACMILLAN
October 3 2005
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
September 21 2005
OUT OF MIND is the second novel featuring journalist Robin Ballantyne, from the pen of journalist and China expert, Catherine Sampson. Her first book was FALLING OFF AIR, a story in which Robin was, herself, a suspect in a murder. At least the same fate is not visited on the hapless protagonist in this episode but there are many other perilous occurrences that threaten her well-being.
The prologue introduces horror into eirenic beauty when a woman is admiring a wintry landscape imbued with serenity whilst reminding herself that "scenes of bucolic tranquility were always the scene of greatest betrayal". Sure enough, a man crunches across the ice and pulls a sack over the woman's head. The reader is left surmising the fate of the victim.
Robin's three year-old twins have not endeared themselves to Finney, the detective who had been in charge of the case investigating the murder of their father. Nonetheless, because he is in love with their mother, Finney transports the children and Robin to London's War School, a place where journalists learn how to survive on front lines when sent by their masters to cover warfare. Robin is investigating the disappearance of camerawoman colleague Melanie Jackson and the School was the last place where Melanie was seen. Robin (alias Goldilocks to Sal Ghosh who shares an office with her at the Corporation ) is actively discouraged by her bosses from pursuing the case, but she promised Melanie's parents not to give up and intends honouring her word. She disguises her continued interest by incorporating Melanie's disappearance into a story on missing people . Her investigation takes her as far away as Cambodia, where her suspicions, already aroused, about a former associate of Melanie's, are magnified.
This is a very interesting, albeit very bloody, mystery about a journalist written by a journalist. One need not cast around too far to identify Sampson's inspiration for the fictional Corporation for which the reporters work. Sampson does not attempt to glamourise either her profession or the difficulties encountered by a working mother in raising small children. Eccentric family members make an appearance in the story and complicate the life of the journalist slmost to distraction.
The book is tightly plotted, with regulation red herrings drawn across the path of heroine and reader alike - although the latter is quite safe in the grip of his armchair while Robin faces deadly forces and slightly crazy villains.
This is a fitting reminder to the reading public that a journalist's
job consists of rather more than simply belting a keyboard. Incorporating
reflections of the perils experienced in real life by the Fourth Estate,
the book could make readers think more than twice about the dangers to
reporters implicit in daily news bulletins.
OUTLAWS
by Kevin Sampson
Jonathan Cape London
ISBN 0-224-06005-8
$30.45
August 3 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
Merseyside author Kevin Sampson writes knowingly about drinking and debauchery... oh yes, and football as well. His previous novels, Awaydays, Powder, Leisure and the non-fiction Extra Time have garnered a certain following which this tale is unlikely to dispel.
Outlaws is a book about a singularly nasty bunch of Liverpudlian gangsters. It is told in an initially confusing first person from several points of view. The headings to each section identify the current speaker but if that part extends over more than one page sometimes it is necessary to look back to refresh the memory as to which character has the stage at the time. There is no distinct difference between the protagonists' speech patterns.
Ged is the leader of a gang comprising several members of whom the most prominent are his cousin Anthony (Moby) and his adopted brother John-Paul (Ratter). Ged is notoriously close mouthed about his projected activities and while he lets it be known he is organising some kind of heist he does not disclose the nature of the booty nor the date of the crime. The gang's normal hauls involve a certain amount of cooperation between couriers of the plunder and even the owners of the carrying companies (a stratagem of which most newspaper readers must be aware by now). Ged tells his menials that the goods will be light, which, to them, indicates it must be drugs.
Ratter has developed a respectable front in real estate and has also influenced a local councillor into becoming his parasitic ally. Unbeknownst to Ged, John-Paul has nursed a life-long resentment of his adoptive family and is determined to be free of them, formulating his own plan for a multi-million score and escape. Ged, for his part, has achieved a degree of respectability with his involvement in a charity and his friendship thereby with a police official. None too intelligent Moby follows his leader blindly but occasionally lets his bodily functions (he appears to be some kind of satyr) force him to disregard Ged's orders.
The narrative examines the lead-up to Ged's proposed coup and follows his personal life and that of his cohorts as Ratter plots their downfall. They are all ardent followers of soccer and Sampson's description of their excursion to an away game is tummy turning, to say the least. This is in contrast to the fact that shortly thereafter all will be attending the First Communion party for Moby's son. The hoodlums do have their own, strange, code of ethics which is exhibited as the story progresses.
Told in the local dialect the narrative may frequently befuddle the reader... that is, the reader that manages to persist in perusing the grot. I can't say this is the most appealing book I have read this year but it does keep one wondering about the final outcome right up to the finish.
THE HANGED MAN'S SONG
by John Sandford
ISBN 0743492188
321 pages
POCKET BOOKS
November 2005
$18.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 14 2006
A Pulitzer prize winning journalist who turns to crime fiction is bound to be well worth reading. John Sandford, or as he is known in his journalistic life, John Camp, has written quite a collection of thrillers with his Prey series being the best known. His Kidd series, of which THE HANGED MAN'S SONG is one, is less well known but is, nonetheless, utterly compelling.
For the reader, there is no secret about the murderer's identity. James Carp is shown as he brutally slaughters black hacker Bobby. Bobby is not exactly challenging as a murder prospect since he is the victim of a degenerative disease which sees him confined to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, he puts up a good fight, although not as good as the fight put up by his laptop which was the object of the killing exercise.
Kidd is a member of a hacker ring of which Bobby is an integral part. When Bobby doesn't keep an online appointment, alarm bells sound in his little community. Kidd and his sometime lover Luellen are busily working to ascertain if a casino is skimming undeclared profits but the call comes that Bobby is down, the priority is to locate Bobby's computers and make unavailable to the authorities sensitive information that could damage the individual members of the ring.
Kidd, Luellen and their friend John set out to discover the identity of the murderer and attempt to retrieve Bobby's laptop. Soon, stories begin to emerge on the media attributed to Bobby, stories that have political ramifications. Suddenly, very important people have an interest in retrieving the stolen computer.
Sandford's prose is tightly written. He never wastes words and, in an afterword, claims most adverbs have been eliminated. Certainly, the pace of the action benefits from the tautness of what remains.
Readers will gain an intriguing glimpse into the world of hackers in this opus. Possibilities that most of us would not have envisaged rear their all too believable heads and make us wonder just how safe and private our own little computers might be. Sympathy for the reluctant protagonist, Kidd, the man who only wants to be left alone to be an artist, is evoked even as the reader watches him indulge in shady deals and overt violence. The brotherhood of the hackers is depicted as something that overcomes racial divisions, even in the most prejudiced communities.
There is an element of the supernatural in the novel as Kidd, while
at the same time deprecating the art, scries the future by using his Tarot
cards: thus the titular Hanged Man. The entirety is a pleasing mix combining
energetic entertainment, a dash of violence and an overall sense of awe
at just what computer use and abuse may achieve.
DEAD WATCH
by John Sandford
373 pages
ISBN 074327623X
SIMON & SCHUSTER
August 1 2006
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 25 2006
Swerving from the tried and true paths of his Prey and Kidd series, journalist Sandford (John Camp) dips his toes (and a bit more) into the world of politics in DEAD WATCH. His new protagonist, Jake Winter, is introduced to the reader as a hunter and, at the instigation of his political masters, sets out to hunt for the identities of the kidnappers/murderers of Republican former senator, Lincoln Bowe.
The tale opens with Madison Bowe, wife of the ousted senator, realising she is being watched as she rides a mare on her farm. Returning to her house, Madison is faced by two Watchmen, a relatively new, ostensibly law and order group, intent on intimidating her. The men are flunkies of Virginia governor, Arlo Goodman, and they warn her not to attribute the recent disappearance of her husband to their organisation.
Vacationing political fix-it man and one-time academic Jake Winter is summoned to the White House by his boss, Bill Danzig, the President's chief of staff. The Democrats are finding themselves in an uncomfortable position as Madison Bowe's television appearance turns an unwelcome spotlight on them following the disappearance of her Republican husband. The canny lady has managed to capture on tape her encounter with the two Governor's men. The Governor belongs to the President's party and an upcoming election makes it imperative that the mystery of Bowe's disappearance be solved and that the solution not be laid at the feet of the Democrats.
Soon, the decapitated and charred corpse of the missing man is found. His widow, naturally enough, wants justice to be done to the murderers. Her husband's sexual orientation, knowledge of which could set the cat amongst the pigeons should it be known to the public at large, is not made publicised but is a handy device for the author to permit Winter and Madison to experience an unexpected mutual attraction.
Governor Goodman commissions his brother, a cold-blooded killer, to minimise possible damage to his chances of being selected as a vice-presidential candidate. There is a packet of metaphorically explosive materials, the premature release of which could damage the political campaign, to be found and protected.
The reader is escorted down the winding trail of the underside of political manoeuvering, the savage secrets customarily concealed from the public. Sandford's audience is treated to plausible scenarios as Winter attempts to unriddle murders which multiply as the trail becomes increasingly dense and opaque.
There is a danger that the reader may be confused by the sheer numbers of characters in the narrative; political alliances and designations are not always easily discerned, especially given the complexities of the somewhat convoluted plot. Regardless, the author manages to get across to his audience the less than edifying antics of the political machinery in the lead-up to an election.
None of the characters is shown to have an unalloyed pure and pristine character. Everyone has secrets to protect and few are the people brave enough and sincere enough to share with others the totality of their knowledge.
The tale relies heavily on action but there is also a satisfactory development
of character. Shafts of humour tend to lighten an otherwise rather depressing
and confusingly tortuous account. One can only hope that real life politicians
are not quite as black as Sandford's people are portrayed.
INVISIBLE PREY
by John Sandford
ISBN 9780743276252
388 pages
SIMON & SCHUSTER
July 2007
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 31 2007
INVISIBLE PREY opens bloodily enough, with two robbers becoming murderers (assuming they hadn't already achieved that status.) They bash two elderly women to death, then set about stealing some valuable antiques, whilst leaving many more within the house. Clearly, there is something even more psychologically wrong with one of the murderers than is common for his ilk. Despite his victim being definitely dead, he insists on beating her some more.
Meanwhile, Lucas Davenport is discussing what becomes the sub-plot of the novel: politician Burt Kline has been accused of statutory rape by a sixteen year-old girl who claims the relationship has been continuing for a year. As proof, she provides punctuation related evidence. I don't know about politically correct, but let's hope the senator's grammar is up to any court action.
The reader is introduced to the duo responsible for the murders and the robberies. A pair knowledgeable (naturally) about antiques but Murderer One cares for the items themselves whilst Murderer Two is more interested in the cash available for them.
While, one way or another, there is considerable gore tastefully decorating the novel, there is almost as much humour blackly ornamenting the text, some of it more obvious than some other. The characterisation is done well although the most vivid is of the baddies, whose names are bestowed, surely, with humorous intent.
I like the way the author has applied layer upon layer of subplot over the foundation of the plot. The interaction between the villains is a good example of this. The culmination of that relationship is rather delicious and certainly tastefully neat.
Altogether, the book is very well done. There is a nice balance between characters and plot, although at times I felt some of the domestic situations of the people might have been brought more to the fore, just to add more human interest. The humour could well be described as "irrepressible" and certainly provides a welcome contrast to some of the violence.
Given the success of Sandford's Prey series so far, this reviewer hopes
the author is not seeking a permanent stay of predation in the near future.
SOVEREIGN
by C. J. Sansom
ISBN 9780330436083
662 pages
PAN BOOKS
May 3 2007
$21.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 15 2007
SOVEREIGN is the third in the Matthew Shardlake series and I deeply regret that I've not yet read the previous two, DISSOLUTION and DARK FIRE.
Lawyer Shardlake, formerly a minion of Thomas Cromwell but now employed
by Archbishop Cranmer, is sent to York ahead of Henry VIII's
1541 Great Progress to the North. Henry has already faced down a rebellion
by the northerners and now wishes to establish his authority and quell
thought of a further rebellion. Shardlake must see to the welfare of Sir
Edward Broderick, now a prisoner for his part in the conspiracy to topple
the King. It would not do to have a damaged prisoner delivered to the torturers,
the 'experts' in the Tower.
Shardlake's other task is to help Master Wrenne, a fellow lawyer, handle the petitions to the King.
On arriving in York, Shardlake and his assistant Barak seek out Wrenne but before they can follow up their tasks, they become enmeshed in the murder of a glazier, Oldroyd, a man in whose house Shardlake discovers a chest containing documents which hint at the root of another conspiracy. Before he can investigate further, the lawyer is set upon by someone, stunned, and the casket stolen.
When Henry arrives in York, Shardlake's duties cause an encounter between them -- a very unpleasant and humiliating experience for the lawyer who becomes the butt of the merry monarch's wit. Shardlake is a hunchback, despised by some as an harbinger of ill fortune and subject to discrimination by the superstitious as well as those seeking to make themselves feel superior to others physically less fortunately endowed.
While the murder mystery is very well constructed, my own feeling is that the greater interest lies in the depiction of the time. The author provides vivid descriptions of both the pomp and the savagery of the milieu. I could have done without the word-painting of the human body parts of traitors, tastefully decorating aspects of York, however. I'm very glad I didn't read the work before I visited that wonderful city.
The novel deals also with the waning days of Henry's marriage to the feckless and foolish Catherine Howard. Fortunately, not much beyond the historical facts is given. Catherine's character has no depth so the reader's sympathy is barely stirred.
Catherine's is not the only personality that suffers from lack of depth of description. Of the relatively major characters involved in the action, Talasin Reedbourne suffers a similar fate. One doesn't feel, either, that one gets into the character of Jack Barak, Shardlake's man, despite his key role in the adventure.
Any criticism of the work, however, pales in comparison with the strengths
and scholarship of this tremendous book.
Murder Olé
by Corinne Holt Sawyer
Fawcett Crest
If you are looking for depth of character and character development in your mysteries, something along the lines of what you would find in Ruth Rendell or her alias Barbara Vine, and you begin to read one of Sawyer's novels... forget it.
Sawyer is very good with her descriptions of events amd locations, but in all the novels of hers that I have read (which is most of them) Sawyer's protagonists Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate (both widows of Navy Admirals) are pretty well static. Of course, they have an excuse since they are septuagenarians (I think) and Sawyer has as the background for her books a retirement village rejoicing in the name of Camden-sur-Mer.
Murder Olé begins with the death in Mexico of a new resident of the village, Miss Braintree, but this is attributed, at first, to a heart attack perhaps brought on by the horrors of the exhibit,'The Mummies of Guanajuato' as the horse drawn vehicle in which the residents rode passed through darkened passageways displaying increasingly horrible waxworks spectacles. By the time any doubt is thrown on the manner of the death, it is too late for further investigation. The tourists have returned to California and the body has been cremated.
The annoyance of the retirees at Camden-sur-Mer at being treated as demented infants (shades of Waiting for God) is responsible for the initial short tour, to be followed by two more short trips to Mexico. The elderly folk wish, amongst other things, to improve their Spanish so the bus tours led by the redoubtable Mrs Maralyn Wilson are organised. Characters from previous novels, in addition to Caledonia and Angela, such as dipsomaniac Grogan; post-adolescent policeman gangly and apparently inept Shorty Swanson, the identical annoying female twins the Jacksons; Tootsie (!) Armstrong and inevitably the detective Lieutenant Martinez, and others, make an appearance.
Despite her lack of producing in-depth characters, Sawyer is quite adept at sketching humorous situations as well as sickmaking (such as the bullfight) events. I also found myself feeling quite nervous and travel sick as she described the tourists' bus making its way along a steep winding road which had no safety rail.
The puzzle is laid out fairly and the clues presented well. If you are looking for a convincing plot ... and why should any rational reader looking for light entertainment wish to find something that might occur in real life... look elsewhere. Sawyer does not pretend to produce any deep psychological insights into the aged nor do more than give the reader a capably fast paced light and pleasant read. As such, she succeeds admirably.
THE STONE ANGEL
by Katherine Scholes
ISBN 1405037040
362 pages
MACMILLAN
April 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 17 2006
Tanzanian born Tasmanian resident Katherine Scholes has written books for children and young adults. She has garnered a well deserved award, the New South Wales State Literary Award, for THE BLUE CHAMELEON and one can but hope that the sensitively told THE STONE ANGEL is also recognised for the telling gives a wonderful insight into the mind of a naive young girl.
Stella is a journalist working in Addis Adaba. As a freelancer, she ekes out an impecunious living covering various troublespots but she jealously preserves her independence. Then one day she is given the news that her fisherman father is missing at sea; she must return to Halfmoon Bay, Tasmania and support her mother while the search is conducted in stormy seas with diminishing hope. Her mother is totally dependent on her father, a domineering man who demands total obedience to his word. Stella has not seen her family for fifteen years and had, until this time, no wish to do so.
Stella's thoughts turn back to the period just before her departure from Halfmoon Bay and the reasons for her not wishing to see her parents. She was to leave the town in order to continue her schooling. She had a boyfriend, James, whom everyone expected her to marry but while James is away, Stella meets a boy scarcely older than herself, a lone sailor, Zeph, who tells her he is sailing to New Zealand in order to keep his promise to meet his mother there. Stormy seas confine Zeph to Stella's favourite coves and the two fall in love, a union happily overseen by Zeph's cat, Carla.
Zeph leaves, unaware that Stella has fallen pregnant. He has promised to return to her but the days lengthen into weeks and still he doesn't return. Stella's adamantine hard father is told about the girl's pregnancy and insists she has the child and gives it away. She is to be sent to the mainland, to a home for unwed mothers, once her condition can no longer be hidden. She rebels, saying that she will keep the baby, but fate intervenes.
This is a remarkable story, detailing, as it does, the lack of freedom of a teenage girl and the absolute dominion her father has over both her mother and herself. The mother's complete obedience to and dependence on the man is horrifying. She has allowed him to order her life from the time they lived in England; she expects her daughter to obey him to the same extent. The insight into a teenage girl's plight, innocent and ignorant as she is, is extremely touching and the reader will no doubt cheer her on as she survives bitter disappointment before running away to an uncle who, it seems, is less than respectable but is still her godfather.
The characterisations are especially well done: the father comes across as terrifying while the mother is depicted as bordering on obsessive compulsive and completely ineffectual. The community, too, is very convincingly painted and the portrait of Stella is superb.
It is debatable whether a teenage girl in this day and age could live
her life in such a manner as to remain ignorant of all she needs to know
should she be caught in such a situation. It is likewise debatable whether
an adult woman could allow herself to be as intimidated and subservient
as Stella's mother, Grace, shows herself. Nonetheless, teenage pregnancies
are always possible and this story of a teenager who longs to escape and
fulfills her ambition should resonate with many people, teenagers and adults
alike.
THE CRYSTAL SKULL
by Manda Scott
ISBN 9780593055717
364 pages
BANTAM PRESS
January 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 20 2007
Every now and again it's a pleasure to desert hard crime fiction for a little while and, instead, take a gamble on a hit of fantasy. Thus, when I saw the promo for THE CRYSTAL SKULL, I decided to relax with something different for a while.
The book proceeds in two time frames the present and the sixteenth century. The prologue is set in mid- sixteenth century with a letter from Cedric Owen, a physician and Ph.D. who was educated at the (imaginary) Bede's college, Cambridge. He makes it clear that persecution for "witchcraft" is alive and well and it would be best for him to flee the university city forthwith.
Back in the twenty-first century, Stella and Kit are newlyweds. For a wedding gift, Stella has asked to be taken to an undiscovered cave. While Kit can't quite manage that, he has learned, from the work of Cedric Owen that he is deciphering, of a cave that has probably not been entered for four hundred and nineteen years, a cave complete with buried treasure.
Needless to say, they find the cave, "the cathedral of the earth". Stella finds Owen's "heartstone", a sapphire in the shape of a skull (or, as the author has it "an unfleshed man's head".) Despite the legend that everyone who has held the crystal skull has died, Stella happily takes possession of it. Then they discover they are being hunted, Stella finds she has some sort of telepathic communication with the skull, which has the happy knack of being able to warn her of imminent danger. Following such a warning, Stella is able to escape the cave but Kit vanishes, to be found, badly injured, another day.
The narrative jumps back and forth in both time and space. Owen travels to the New World and is instructed in the mysteries of his heartstone, a family heirloom, by Mayans, before returning to England.
The author cites end of the world predictions of various cultures, all indicating a date in 2012 and constructs her story on that postulate. The author also says that the crystal skull in the British Museum inspired the foundation of the story.
The tale is involving enough and obviously a great deal of work was done so far as the research necessary for the adventure goes. I am in two minds as to the success of the characterisation. I think the fantastical nature of the tale may have made my appreciation of the people rather less than it might have been had the elements of the whimsical been removed -- but then there would have been no story.
Taking all things into account, I feel the story is quite good and it
does make for a pleasant diversion for an afternoon.
IN THE SHADOWS
by Margaret Scott
Vintage
ISBN 1-74051-109-3
$22.95
August 3 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
Dr. Margaret Scott is a well known academic, occasional member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council, poet and novelist. She is also a regular panellist on Good News Week. Thus, I scarcely dare review In the Shadows but I shall give it my best fist and ascribe my lack of appreciation to my high scores in ignorance.
Dr. Scott is a Brit by birth but Tasmanian by preference. She has lived in Australia for decades and led a productive life. She has produced essays, articles and short fiction as well as her non-fiction Port Arthur ? A Story of Strength and Courage. Other work includes Changing Countries. (stories, essays and poems) and her other novel Family Album.
In the Shadows is a retitled release of her 1990 novel The Baby Farmer. It is founded on fact, the original crimes having been committed in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The story could have been narrated with great effect but, alas, to my mind, falls short of a gripping drama....indeed, it becomes a melodrama. One can almost see moustaches being twirled and virtuous maidens assailed to the accompaniment of gleeful laughter and 'Aha! Now I have you in my power, my proud beauty.'
The story begins with impoverished rake, Colonel Sam Fellowes, bemoaning to his sometime mistress Dolly, the fact that his home life is less than gladsome. His son Stephen is studying for the priesthood (and is seriously concerned about his soul), his daughter Elizabeth is an earnest type who wishes to become a nurse, and his wife, invalidish and vegetarian.... and controller of the purse strings... is much addicted to that pious Victorian fiction Eric, or Little by Little. Colonel Fellowes is much put out that his rival for Dolly's affection, James Hartshorne, is a former school friend of his son, .
Sam had got with child a housemaid formerly in his employ and had her summarily smuggled out of the house and into the care of a respectable woman to take care of Martha during her confinement and delivery. When the money ran out he then arranged for a former mistress to take Martha on as a maid, to which Gemma agreed.... but not when Martha was accompanied by her baby. Martha, therefore, puts her baby son Joseph into the hands of someone claiming to wish to adopt the boy. Only later does she discover that the woman with multiple names is, in fact, a baby farmer who takes on children for a fee then either murders them or simply allows them to die.
Sam's son Stephen and daughter Elizabeth become embroiled in the investigation... who is the mastermind behind the scheme? The Colonel runs around intent on continuing to sow his wild oats and ruin (almost) virtuous maidens while the remainder of his family attempt to do good in various ways. It is all an invitation to hiss the villain and cheer the heroes.
No doubt the story required a certain amount of research but it really
is unfortunate that the narrative style provoked in this reader at least,
a desire to laugh rather than to throw up one's hands in horror and righteous
indignation.
DEVIL'S CORNER
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 140505056X
393 pages
MACMILLAN
July 3 2005
$30.00
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 10 2005
It may seem to readers that the sub genre of crime fiction involving lawyers and technical aspects of law is a relatively new phenomenon but that is a false impression. Wilkie Collins was one of the pioneers of the category as early as 1862. More recently, such luminaries as John Grisham, the wonderful John Mortimer and Richard North Patterson have ridden the crest of the wave of interest in legal thrillers to bring to bear on the category their own legal backgrounds. There appears to be an ever increasing number of lawyers seeking respite from their trade in fiction but of the flood there seem to have been precious few women. Lisa Scottoline is one of this minority. While she has founded a successful series on the all woman practice of Rosato & Associates she has, with DEVIL'S CORNER, ventured away from her former protagonists and introduced a new actor, assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Allegretti.
Vicki and her professional partner, Bob Morton, are supposed to interview a confidential informant in a "straw purchase" case wherein two guns had been bought legally but passed on to someone else - as the narrative has it, "the violent equivalent of buying scotch for a minor". The case becomes violent indeed when the pregnant informant as well as ATF agent Morton are killed by two young black men. It quickly becomes apparent that drugs are involved and Vicki, guilt ridden at the deaths which she feels she could have prevented, determines to investigate.Vicki attends prison in order to interview Reheema Bristow, the woman whom the dead informant identified as her best friend and the perpetrator of the "straw purchase". On edge, Vicki loses control and attacks Reheema, who has been in gaol for a year, and finds herself in trouble at work as well as being sued by her assaulted victim. Reheema, as a result, is released.
Dan Malloy is Allegretti's best friend and colleague. He helps her - to an extent - but is not very happy when Vicki convinces Reheema, now resident in Philadelphia's Devil's Corner, to aid her after another murder takes place. Devil's Corner is, coincidentally, where Vicki's father grew up. Never a particularly salubrious locale it is now apparently doomed, having been taken over by drug dealers.
It goes without saying that the tale is exciting. There is a lot of violence portrayed - readers may need to skim some of the gory details of the corpses - as well as the puzzle as to just who is the ultimate mastermind of the crimes. The protagonist comes across as, perhaps, too naive for her position but that could be because it is relatively new to her. There is a heavy emphasis on humour provided by the unlikely partnership of the tall, beautiful, black ex-convict and the tiny, white attorney. While I did not see the resolution coming it is far from revolutionary in the annals of suspense. I leave it to individual readers to decide for themselves as to the validity of some of Vicki's actions and of the novel.
For all that the book does contain some flaws, it is not one that should
be missed.
KILLER SMILE
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 033041870X
437 pages
Pan Books
November 3 2005
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 10 2005
Now that KILLER SMILE is available in small paperback format, mystery fans will be able to purchase a thoroughly good read at a relatively low cost. Scottoline has provided her popular protagonist, Mary DiNunzio of the all woman firm of Rosato & Associates, with a case that is very dear to the author's own heart: the maltreatment of Italians living in America during World War Two. While the story is quite enchanting and, in places, very lighthearted, it carries a dark message and a reflection on the paradoxical inhumanity visited on Italian Americans by their own government. How can humane authorities accept the service of young people to fight its wars while imprisoning their parents for the crime of being born on foreign soil?
Mary is working late in the office as she attempts to locate relevant documents to pursue a case for compensation for the family of Amadeo Brandolini. He had been imprisoned as an 'enemy alien' in 1941. Shortly thereafter his wife had died and Amadeo was thought to have committed suicide. Mary's work is interrupted when the telephone rings and an irrational caller threatens both Mary and her boss. A young woman lawyer does not have an easy life, especially when she feels the office furniture threatens her after dark!
Judy Carrier is Mary's fellow associate and best friend. She helps Mary's search even when their boss, Bennie, decides the search is fruitless. The pursuit is not just frustrating but downright dangerous, as is proven when a friend of Mary's, a fellow lawyer, is slain. Of course, the death simply strengthens Mary's resolve to discover why it is so difficult to learn exactly what happened to Amadeo Brandolini and why. The 'who dunnit' is obvious from early in the story but the 'whydunnit' remains hidden until near the end.
Scottoline invents a wonderfully warm Italian family in Mary's relatives, the DiNunzios. The love that must proliferate in her own family permeates the background story of Mary's parents and their troubles. While the mystery is intriguing and the plot twists keep the reader guessing (while causing the reader to wish to shout a warning when Mary ventures into obviously dangerous territory ) it is the humour and portrayal of real, affectionate (albeit matchmaking) people that provide the charm of the tale.
A great deal of research, inspired by the treatment received by Scottoline's
own family during the war, has gone into the work and perhaps it is not
too much to hope that the novel can advance the cause of Italian and other
so-called enemy alien families on whom was visited grave injury by the
injustices of the past.
DIRTY BLONDE
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 1405089970
358 pages
MACMILLAN
April 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 26 2006
It was 1994 when Italian American lawyer Lisa Scottoline had her first book, EVERYWHERE THAT MARY WENT, released. DIRTY BLONDE is her thirteenth opus and, given the quality of the work, it is unlikely to bring the author bad luck. This book is not one of her series but is instead a standalone featuring a young judge, a woman with a shady secret.
The story begins at a party given by judges for the newest of their number. Cate Fante is now a federal judge and, as such, has a certain dignity and set of responsibilities to maintain. On her way home, on an impulse, she stops at a seedy bar and as she gradually unwinds, picks up a bit of rough trade, a tow truck driver who is already more than a little under the weather. She makes no bones about the fact she wants sex but at the same time she feels secretly ashamed of herself and wishes she were anywhere else doing anything else.
Six months later, Cate is presiding over a case which moves her emotionally, a case in which a young writer, Richard Marz, is claiming a powerful television producer, Art Simone, has stolen his ideas and characters in order to make a popular show, ATTORNEYS@LAW, a show that has made millions for Simone. Unfortunately, when discussions were undertaken between the two, no definite figure was given so no legal contract was entered into and Cate must find in favour of the defendant. Despite this, she lets it be known in no uncertain terms that Simone's actions were despicable and all her sympathies lie with Marz. Soon thereafter both plaintiff and defendant are dead, the apparent result of a murder suicide.
Cate's best friend, Gina, has an autistic child, Warren, a three year-old whom Cate dearly loves. She babysits him regularly two nights a week. Cate also has a boyfriend. Neither friend nor boyfriend knows of Cate's extracurricular hobby until one night Cate is nearly raped by someone she has picked up and must call Gina for help. Subsequently, the thug is found dead, having fallen from the motel where Cate had the assignation with him.
Now a detective, Russo, involved in the Marz/Simone case is out to get Cate in any way he can and, being a detective, it doesn't take too long for him to uncover Cate's illicit pastime. He also blames her for the death of his friend Richard Marz whom he has vowed to avenge. Soon Cate's secret life is very public, she is suspended and is in fear for her life.
There is a half hearted attempt to explain just why Cate, bright enough to be made a judge, should be silly enough to entertain herself as she does. Regardless, I didn't think it was nearly convincing enough. Despite this, once the reader swallows that very big and indigestible plot hinge, the rest of the tale goes smoothly. The story careers through dangerous situations and places, including a poisoned town (which exists in real life) and makes the reader have grave fears for the injudicious judge on every level.
Some of the characters in this are not terribly persuasive -- in keeping, perhaps, with the personality of Cate herself. The chief villain is a surprise but perhaps the shock value is not accompanied by adequate motivation.
Regardless of these perceived shortcomings, it is a thrill packed story
with a satisfying number of twists and turns and a shock resolution. In
summary: Law with a lightish touch.
DADDY'S GIRL
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 9780230014701
336 pages
MACMILLAN
April 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 20 2007
DADDY'S GIRL, Lisa Scottoline's fourteenth novel, sets out to be different. Of course, it can't be different in every way -- her protagonist is a young American of Italian extraction, but she is not a practising lawyer.
Natalie Greco is a lecturer (an untenured one) at Penn Law. She is desperate to obtain tenure but has to contend with a class of students who are less than interested in the distinction between law and justice in Shakespeare's play, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. While organising them into characters to read the play, Nat (nicknamed 'Gnat' -- a nickname with which she is, inexplicably, quite happy) comes in contact with colleague Angus Holt, a man whose lectures are extremely popular with his students. Angus is able to persuade Natalie to accompany him to the local prison where he lectures the inmates; he feels Natalie's lectures would be well received there.
Nat has some misgivings about the visit, misgivings that are shown to have a good basis in reality when there is a riot at the prison. She is rescued from the over-amorous attentions of one particularly loathsome prisoner but encounters a guard (or 'C.O.') who is dying from a stab wound. She attempts, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate him but, failing, hears his dying wish, that she take a message to his wife and tell her that 'it's... under the floor.'
The lecturer is determined to fulfil the dying man's wishes but along the way finds herself on the run from the law, a suspect in a murder and also suspected of deliberately wounding the guard's widow.
Suddenly, from being the downtrodden, negligible creature, seen as far less important than her brothers, even by her boyfriend, she must rely on her wits to escape the law and exonerate herself. Along the way, she discovers a formerly unknown 'station' along the Underground Railroad, the route by which escaped slaves were rescued and sent to safe houses and new lives in the free states. To my mind, the section dealing with the history of the road to emancipation of slaves provides the most interesting aspect of the book.
If you enjoy Scottoline's work in general, this book that depicts the
transformation of a mouse into, well, not a lion, but a self sufficient
woman capable of acting on her own principles, will also appeal. I can't
claim it is a masterpiece of deep thought and characterisation but it is
certainly a pleasant, entertaining novel.
LADY KILLER
by Lisa Scottoline
ISBN 9780230707016
355 pages
MACMILLAN
March 3 2008
reviewed by Denise Pickles
February 15 2008
I always enjoy reading Lisa Scottoline's Mary DiNunzio novels -not that I dislike her other books but Mary is a charming and extremely likeable heroine. Some part of me chimed in at that instant to comment ìToo nice to be a lawyer!î but my conscious mind, in combination with my conscience, immediately censored such an uncharitable remark.
Mary is presented with a conundrum (that's a word indicating a puzzle, for the benefit of a friend of mine who mistook it for a two syllable similar sounding word with a far different meaning). Her father and friends of his, all Dean Martin fans, wish to sue a lady from a rival fan club, one devoted to Frank Sinatra. She must solve this problem but, in the meantime, is presented with a far graver one.
Trish Gambone, the leader of a team of Mean Girls -- girls who behaved objectionably toward Mary in high school--is in the office, seeking Mary's help. Trish has a boyfriend who knocks her around and she wants to get out of the relationship. She needs Mary to help her - but spurns Mary's suggestions. Not only that, when Trish identifies the abuser, Mary recognises him as someone with whom she had had a brief fling in high school. But then both Trish and her boyfriend disappear and, shortly after, the drug dealing boyfriend's corpse is discovered. But where is Trish and is she still alive?
Mary, of course, feels it is incumbent upon her to investigate but she fails to take into account the effect the Mean Girls would have on her detective friend, so that she is shut out of the official investigation.
Mary puts herself in harm's way on every possible occasion. Mind, there is always the possibility that her love life might take a turn for the better, but she needs to stay in the land of the living in order to enjoy any up-turn!
Scottoline always portrays a wonderfully warm community feeling in her DiNunzio books. One could almost wish to be an Italian American, if those people are just as the author portrays them. Mind, the legal community is portrayed rather differently and Mary certainly faces difficulties in her job during this adventure.
Quite obviously, the author does a wonderful job in her portrayal of a warm (if not too bright) community of elders as well as Mary's best friend (what on earth does BFF stand for?) Judy. Mary's parents are a delight and her father isn't quite the nincompoop that, at times, he seems.
Perhaps Mary's attempts on her client's behalf might strain belief just
that tiny bit. Quite frankly, I can't see any lawyer I have hired putting
her life on the line, as Mary seems to do on behalf of her clients, but
any stretching of the imagination in that area is more than made up for
by the warmth and credibility of the characterisations.
STALIN
The Court of the Red Tsar
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
ISBN 0753817667
720 pages
Phoenix
August 6 2004
$27.95
reviewed by Chris Pickles
September 18 2004
The important thing to remember about this book is that it is a history of Stalin and his court, the inner circle of the Communist party. It is not a book about forced collectivisation, the gulags, the purges or the ëGreat Patriotic Warí. These momentous and terrible events are the background against which the story of Stalin, the Red Tsar unfolds.
Of course, the events mentioned above did not occur in a vacuum, and they certainly didnít happen without Stalin wishing them to occur. But that is not what this book is about.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was one big happy family. The inner circle lived cosily in a small area of the Kremlin. The children played together, the adults knocked at each others doors forÝthe minutiae of daily existence. Stalin was just one of this intimate group - the most powerful certainly, but as yet he didnít have absolute power over the others.
They all agreed that the Ukrainian peasants were enemies of the revolution, and that collectivisation was the answer. Famine and starvation for millions were the outcome, but in the Kremlin life went on as before. Parties were a regular feature of Kremlin life, and it was at a party that the wheels started to come off the cosy lifestyle of the elite.
Stalin was a most charming man. He was a prude, but he was also a flirt - and of course he was, at least in his younger days, a most handsome man. He behaved very boorishly to his wife, Nadezhda. He waved away her protests when he went to a party one night. He staggered home at the end of the evening to find her dead, a pistol in her hand.
His consolation was his friend Kirov. Yet two years later Kirov was dead in strange circumstances. Sebag Montefiore investigates the deaths of both Nadezhda and Kirov and points up the discrepancies in the accounts. Was Stalin to blame? He might have been, but the author doesnít push the evidence too hard, and the question is left open.
The purges which followed and continued for the rest of Stalinís life make grim reading. Sebag Montefiore makes one forget that the main victims all had the blood of thousands on their hands in oneís indignation at their ëinnocenceí of the charges against them. Then he gives a gentle reminder of the fate befalling millions of less famous people whom these ëvictimsí had done nothing to protect.
Nobodyís reputation comes out of this book unscathed. Khruschev in particular had managed to destroy the records of his own complicity in the terror after Stalinís death, but in this book he is revealed as an enthusiastic purger who achieved his allotted quota of executions early and asked Stalin for permission to carry out more.
Sebag Montefiore writes in an understated style, which by not shouting or accusing points up the horror of the times all the more effectively.
The black and white photographs provide a fascinating glimpse of Stalin,
his family and his henchmen at work and play. The book also contains maps
and tables as well as an efficient bibliography and lengthy index.
THE INTERIOR
by Lisa See
Arrow
ISBN 0-09-927948-7
$17.50
December 4 2000
reviewed by Denise Wels
Chinese American writer, Lisa See, produced her first full length novel On Gold Mountain to detail the history of her family living in the United States. She discovered that her own ancestors had lived in 'interesting timesí' so one can only surmise that this taste of excitement generated in her the wish to write about fictional thrills.See's The Flower Net , to which this is a sequel, featured Liu Hulan, an Inspector with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, as well as American lawyer, David Stark. That novel was set in both China and the United States and The Interior is similarly located, though with the major emphasis being on China.
The narrative begins, in the interior of the title, with Ling Suchee, arguably the most attractive character of the novel, finding the body of her daughter Miaoshan, an apparent suicide by hanging. Suchee believes her daughter has been murdered but is turned away by the local police who are not interested in investigating. In desperation, Suchee writes to Hulan, with whom she used to work on the Red Soil Farm during the Cultural Revolution. Hulan was of a well to do family, but in those troubled times children of all households had to experience for themselves how the peasants existed. The hardships and privations of abour on the land, even in these modern days, are shown to be harsh beyond the imagination of western society.
Hulan has fled from her lover, David Stark, but is now pregnant with his child. They are at an impasse, since David is in America and wants Hulan and their baby to live with him there, while Hulan wishes to remain in China. Hulan receives Suchee's message and decides to help her. Miaoshan worked for an American company which produces high tech toys in China, Knight International. She telephones David to ask him to find out what he can about the company which she thinks might be implicated in Miaoshan's death. David is working as a prosecutor and his life has been in danger from ethnic Chinese gangsters, the Rising Phoenix. When he arranges to have dinner with friend Keith Baxter, who does legal work for Tartan, the firm which is in the process of acquiring Knight, David is horrified to have his friend run over (not gunned down, as the blurb writer would have it) by a car whose occupants also fire a gun. Stark is sure he was the intended target and as people are insisting he leave California and he wishes to see Hulan, he agrees to quit the Prosecutor's office to take up Keith Baxter's old position and set up a base in Beijing.
This is not a simple novel. It delves into the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and the injustices that were done in those times. The brainwashing of the young people of those days was horrific in that it could cause friend to betray friend yet have the betrayed recognise that the betrayer perpetrated such treachery in the belief that it would benefit the wider community, and to bear no obvious grudge.The Interior also explores the nature of American industries in China and how the best intentions may be perverted. The values and ideals of the Chinese, both those past and those that are gradually evolving, are compared and contrasted, all of which provides a fascinating background for this fast-paced and enthralling book. There is, perhaps, a bit too much blood-spattered violence for this squeamish reviewer, but I can quite see the necessity for it. The China that is depicted is mesmerising and, given the background of the author, one can assume it is authentic. The resolution of the mysteries is ultimately surprising but convincing. There is a hook presumably preparing the way for another sequel, one which I will be eager to read.
LIME JUICE
by B.Selkie
published by Autopsy
ISBN 1-875989-00-5
The blurb on this mercifully short book announces that ìAutopsy is an Australian publisher dedicated to putting crime fiction back in the gutter, where it belongs.î On the copyright page there is an announcement that the book is not supported by the Australia Council but that it was written ìto provide pleasure for the reader and money for the writer and publisherî. I tend to disagree with the notion that the gutter is the place for all crime fiction but can only laud the latter aim. Whether this opus provides pleasure for the reader, or otherwise, is a moot point. In a warning at the beginning of the book, Selkie informs the reader that there is little local colour, which is why the book is so short. Regardless of that warning, the talent of the writer manages to imbue the work with a little too much local colour.
B. Selkie is the pseudonym of one Peter Robb, an Australian journalist. What little I could discover about the man indicates that he likes to balance his life on the edge. He lived for a time in Brazil so one can only assume that the South American country in which this destructive little tale is set, is loosely based on that land.
The narrative is in the first person, from the point of view of Chico, proprietor of an art gallery/souvenir shop/ bar. A thoroughly nasty bit of work he is, too. An Italian couple come into his bar looking at curios, while waiting to arrange an illegal adoption.The Italians, Fulvio and Flavia, are introduced to Dr Jarbas, who runs a clinic in which these things can be arranged. The reader (and the childless Italians) are soon led to believe that strange things occur in the clinic.
The story is tightly written and full of action. The staccato style certainly promotes the hard boiled texture of the book. The novel appears to be an attempt at black humour. Black it certainly is, humorous I doubt. To me it seemed that the author sat down one afternoon when at a loose end and tried to think of as many ways in which to offend as many readers as possible. Perhaps the shortness of the book is due to the writerís running out of ideas, though I doubt it. I could think of a few unpleasantnesses over and above those appearing in the plot.
My problem with this work is not so much its content, but the fact that this man can really write. Were it simply an obvious attempt for lower than belly laughs in blackest titillation written in a florid, inappropriate style, full of grammatical and spelling errors, I would be happy. To have good writing produce this is an insult to the reader.
I hope, in the near future, to read more of Mr Selkieís fiction, but under
his real name of Peter Robb. I would hate to judge his mysteries on this
bit of emesis alone.
THE UNTOUCHABLE
by Gerald Seymour
Bantam Press
ISBN 0593046528
September 7 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
Former television reporter, British author Gerald Seymour wrote his first thriller Harry's Game and saw it published in 1975. It would not be unreasonable to describe him as prolific. Others of his books are Holding the Zero, A Line in the Sand, The Waiting Time, Killing Ground, The Heart of Danger, The Fighting Man, The Journeyman Tailor, Condition Black, Home Run, At Close Quarters, A Song in the Morning, Field of Blood, In Honour Bound, Archangel, The Contract, Red Fox, Kingfisher, The Glory Boys and this latest novel The Untouchable.
All Seymour's stories involve international settings. He has been quoted as saying that they begin with a newspaper article, headline or photograph. He finds it necessary to second guess the direction events will take in order to remain topical and thus hold the interest of his readers. His background in journalism gives him an excellent understanding of the historical events in which he places his fiction.
The Untouchable concerns a czar of London crime, Albert William Packer who insists he be known, as a mark of respect, as 'Mister'. He has a penchant for nicknames, with his accountant being dubbed 'Cruncher' (number cruncher) and his lawyer 'Eagle' (legal eagle). Customs and Excise, the department which pursues him, is known both to him and themselves as 'Church' (presumably because of the initials C and E). One of the minions of Church, Joey Cann, a young man who does not quite fit in with the rest of the task force, Sierra Quebec Golf, which has been set up specifically to destroy Packer and his empire, becomes obsessed with the pursuit of the criminal.
Mister has been on remand awaiting trial for the eight months following his arrest. By various methods Henry Arbuthnot, Packer's Eagle, ensures that Packer 'walks', thus reinforcing the legend of his untouchability. The SQG squad is shut down and a new one, retaining only Joey Cann (whose motto is Cann Do, Will Do), set up.
On his release, Packer proceeds to reinforce his position as the leading figure of London's crime scene through torture, murder and other means of intimidation. He has a plan to expand his empire beyond the limits of England and to cut out the middle man in the importation of heroin, in which most of his profits lie. To further this end Cruncher, the accountant Dubbs, has been sent to Sarajevo to set proposals before Packer's Bosnian counterpart. The path has been prepared for Mister, but then the corpse of homosexual Dubbs is fished out of the local river.
Seymour tracks the history of the war in Bosnia, how friends and neighbours in even rural communities are set against each other. The annals of one particular valley are followed from 1991 when the people begin to be driven out of the valley and the fields mined. Gradually this story is brought up to the present day when the various threads of the plot meld horrifically.
Joey Cann is teamed with security authority, multilingual middle-aged Maggie Bolton, an expert in the construction and use of listening devices. They follow Mister and his merry band to Bosnia and set about the dual task of tracking Packer and attempting to force him into error.
Founded on factually accurate historical events, this is a cruel book. Brutalities and suffering are described in gory detail. For those seeking some leavening, there is a love story of sorts but no scenes of explicit sex nor even much in the way of romance. The ghouls that feast on a country following its decimation are examined. Seymour has asserted that it is necessary for people to stand up and take a position against evil so it is not surprising that this book contains the blackest of black villains as well as someone, albeit flawed, pursuing the greater good. The author posits corruption in high places and does not stint in his evaluation of the rivalries between law enforcement agencies.
This powerful novel is not a tale for the squeamish. It is, however, immensely compelling and extremely well told.
THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
by Gerald Seymour
ISBN 0593052595
400 pages
Bantam Press
March 1 2004
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles
March 9 2004
Gerald Seymour is nothing if not prolific. I counted twenty-one novels listed inside the cover of The Unknown Soldier (which made twenty-two). From his first published novel, Harry's Game, released in 1975, Seymour has steadily been adding to the archive of 'hard' suspense and mystery fiction. One could say he is to suspense fiction what Larry Niven, say, is to science fiction. He is a former reporter for ITN and the skills and information learned then have since stood him in good stead. He does not, however, rest on his laurels but continues to keep up to date with what is happening, politically and militarily, in the world around him.
The Unknown Soldier proceeds at Seymour's customary hectic yet well thought out pace. It encompasses a large array of characters but the most prominent - and enigmatic - of all is Caleb. Caleb is the Unknown. He has spent two years in Guantanimo Bay posing as a taxi driver, Fawzi al-Ateh. Al-Ateh had been killed, as had his family previously , but the attack that saw his demise caused other deaths, including that of the Chechen who had recruited Caleb for service to Al Qaeda. Displaying incredible self control, Caleb spends his time at Guantanimo never once betraying that he is other than an innocent driver caught up unawares in the violence that plagues the world subsequent to the attacks of September 11, 2001. He hides his knowledge of English and other languages spoken at the camp, only responding to what al-Ateh would understand. It is not until a goodly portion of the tale has been told that Caleb's race and origins are revealed to the reader.
Caleb escapes when being escorted from Guantanimo then travels with a strange trio of characters - Hosni, Fahd and Tommy - across the Empty Quarter in the desert in Saudi Arabia. They are led by a guide and his son. At the other end of their route there is a Samsonite suitcase awaiting Caleb, a suitcase which is destined to bring death to westerners.
Other people are caught up in the tale - there is a ne'er-do- well doctor, a man who fled Britain lest he be struck off the medical register, a woman who lives in the Kingdom while doing geological research, an official from Guantanimo, a duo who operate unmanned high tech seek-and-destroy aircraft and various spymasters. The lives these people lead are given in unpleasant detail. All are eventually involved in one role or another with Caleb's trek through the desert.
The story is extremely topical, as are all Seymour's narratives without
exception when they are released. He appears to have an uncanny knowledge
of the secret workings of authority at various levels. His characters are
very realistic and convincing as are the situations about which he writes.
He is a master at concealment and the reader is held in suspense until
the very last page.
THE WALKING DEAD
by Gerald Seymour
ISBN 9780593057551
413 pages
BANTAM PRESS
July 2 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 6 2007
Gerald Seymour couldn't write a bad novel if he tried. Correction: probably, given he is such a talented writer, he could manage to do so if he tried, though it would be a difficult job. Seymour's previous career was with writing and, as a journalist, it is unsurprising that his career as a novelist keeps his eye focused on topical matters. If he were to relinquish writing, he might make a useful penny as a fortune teller since I had just finished reading THE WALKING DEAD when the failed car bomb attack in Glasgow occurred. It says much for Seymour's ability to foresee such things, since it is not the first time such concurrence has happened.
The book deals with principled youth, the idealism of jeunesse and its gradual désillusion and possible abandonment or perversion of principles. The prologue concerns itself with the enlistment of a young man, Cecil Darke, and his wish to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The next young target for disillusionment is in Saudi Arabia: Ibrahim Hussein, a young man whose two older (and only) brothers were recruited by terrorists (or possibly, freedom fighters) for martyrdom. That Ibrahim "walks well" makes him a suitable candidate for sacrifice. The recruiter is the Leader (as Ibrahim knows him) or the Scorpion as the world of counter intelligence has him.
In England, a sleeper cell has been set up. A cottage has been hired for the duration and there the Engineer, friend of the Scorpion has been plying his trade and manufacturing a waistcoat for the luckless Ibrahim to wear to a sale in Luton. So many people, all crowded together in one place, provide an excellent "soft target" for a potential mass murderer such as Ibrahim to achieve his entry into Paradise.
One can only hope that Seymour's notion of such a "soft target" as a sale in a small town does not seize the imagination of Muslim fanatics and their followers. One trusts they continue seeking out harder targets which would carry more prestige.
This novel has everything a reader could wish: topicality, religion (the youngsters) atheism (the senior Islamists), general violence and mayhem, principles and their abandonment (or at least their withering) hardened criminals and even a teeny bit of sex.
Seymour is a whiz at characterisation. Ibrahim, the would-be walking bomb is perfectly credible. He knows his father will be immensely proud of him, as the elder Hussein rejoiced at the death of his older sons, not realising that Hussein Senior might want to preserve the life of his youngest child.
There is even an evil Yank as part of the cast. Joe Hegner may have lost his eyesight but he is determined to take down his enemy, the Scorpion, no matter the cost. A nice twist to the tale is the insertion of a suborned juror into the cast.
While THE WALKING DEAD is, as are all Seymour's novels, thoroughly
professional and a truly satisfying read, I must admit that it is also
rather more than a little depressing.
THOSE GARRISON WOMEN
by Louise Shaffer
ISBN 1863254919
322 pages
Bantam
July 1 2005
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 23 2005
THOSE GARRISON WOMEN (or , as Louise Shaffer's website has it, THE LADIES OF GARRISON GARDENS) is a sequel to her debut novel THE THREE MISS MARGARETS. The author's daytime job involves writing for television, for which she was awarded an Emmy. Thus, readers wishing to while away a few hours in the ostensibly laid back South could expect some polished prose to enhance their leisure. They will not be disappointed.
Chapter One introduces us to ninety year-old Old Missus, or Mrs. Rain, as she prefers to be known. Her companion/helper, young Cherry, brings her the Charles Valley Gazette despite Lawson County, the home of the office of the Gazette, not being the home of Old Missus. Just why the elderly lady should wish to be kept abreast of happenings in Lawson County is not immediately made obvious but the narrative eventually makes the reason plain.
In Charles Valley, Laurel Selene McCready, a self described redneck, is the unwilling beneficiary of recently deceased Miss Peggy's will. Miss Peggy was one of the three Miss Margarets, the other two being Dr. Margaret Long, or Miss Maggie and Margaret Elizabeth Banning or Miss Li'l Bit. Laurel, a writer formerly working for the Gazette, was fired from her position but now, financially, at least, her future is assured - if she can manage that future and her inheritance successfully.
In tandem with the 2004 tale is the story of Iva Claire Rain and her mother, beginning in 1927 when Iva is twelve years old. Iva Claire and her mother Lily have a singularly unsuccessful vaudeville act. A series of circumstances, some bad, some fortunate, see an older girl, Tassie placed under Lily's guardianship and. through Tassie's flair for comedy, improve the act until it is mediocre rather than dreadful. As both tales are told, the influence of the past events upon the modern day Garrison women is made clear.
This account has everything needed to provide pleasant light reading. There are worthy women who are cowed by unpleasant, dastardly men who patronise them unmercifully and keep them in their place where they are unable to meddle in 'men's business' when meddling might decrease profits of an organisation that sadly oppresses its workers. There are characters who make good despite the bad hand Life has dealt them and others who bow to oppression and failure. There are handsome men, some good, some less so, who woo the women in the beautifully evoked Southern setting.
Altogether, the story is pleasantly light but has sufficient tension and dark overtones to provide more than a little interest. The characters, that is the good ones, are attractive while the villainous are repulsive. In between are those who are simply weak although, in some cases, well intentioned.
If you are looking for a lighthearted read which you can consume without
being too wracked by deep emotions, this book is for you.
IN TASMANIA
by Nicholas Shakespeare
ISBN 1740512715
374 pages
Knopf
November 1 2004
$39.95
reviewed by Chris Pickles
October 30 2004
Nicholas Shakespeare is the author of four well received and award winning novels as well as an acclaimed biography of the travel writer Bruce Chatwin. His new book, IN TASMANIA, invites comparison with Chatwinís great travelogue IN PATAGONIA, and proves itself worthy of such company.
Tasmania, the former Van Diemenís Land, is famous today for three things: its brutal early history as a penal colony and the two extinctions - one, that of the Tasmanian Tiger, the other of the Tasmanian aborigines. In his evaluation, Shakespeare casts doubt on one of these crimes and roundly debunks the other.
The story of Tasmania is told through the stories of two men, both relatives of Shakespeare, both of whom sought a new life after finding themselves in debt at home.
Anthony Fenn Kemp came from a mercantile background. He found his way to Port Jackson ( later Sydney) after taking just two years to spend the considerable fortune he inherited at the age of 16.
Kemp was an opportunist. He cornered the notorious rum trade in the colony. Subsequently, he led the opposition to the Governor, Captain Bligh of Bounty fame. Then Kemp took advantage of the presence of the French Explorer Nicolas Baudin to invent an intended French colonisation of Van Diemenís Land and thereby gain a commission for himself and his associates to colonise the island themselves.
Despite the history of Tasmania as a penal colony, Kemp seems to have been the biggest crook there. He used his contacts and called in favours to get his own way and to do his enemies down. He died at the ripe age of 95, ëthe father of Tasmaniaí, a wealthy man... and he never paid back his debts.
Kemp took an ambivalent attitude to the Aborigines. As a radical and a republican he sympathised with their plight, and then supported the proposed Black Line, a cordon of settlers who would cross the island, driving the natives before them like like grouse before the beaters.
Shakespeareís other protagonist is Petre Hordern. A member of the Devon gentry, he frittered away his estate and, to escape the disgrace of bankruptcy, emigrated with his large family to Tasmania. That island, in 1900 was regarded as a heaven on earth.
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