Category Archives: England

Review: The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney

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In 1980′s England private investigator Ray Lovell is hired by Leon Wood to find his daughter Rose, a young gypsy woman who he hasn’t seen for six years. Not since she married Ivo Janko, had a child and then, seemingly, disappeared. Leon Wood believes her dead at the hands of the Janko family and wants Ray, who he hires because he recognises that Ray Lovell also has gypsy heritage, to confirm this or locate Rose if she is still alive. At the same time as the story of Ray’s investigation unfolds there are alternating chapters told from the point of view of JJ, Jimmy Janko, the 14 year-old cousin of Ivo Janko and chronicler of the family’s trials and tribulations.

Although Ray Lovell is ostensibly the protagonist here I thought his primary purpose was to provide the angles into the story that a teenage boy could not. Because the story is, at its heart, JJ’s. For the second time in a week I have been captivated by a story told from the perspective of a young boy and in this instance I am also quite besotted. JJ’s perspective on the experiences of his family, still living a somewhat traditional life of trailers, constant moving and deliberate isolation from gorjios (non gypsies), is absorbing. In addition to Ivo and his disabled son Christo we are slowly introduced to JJ’s mum, grandparents, crippled great uncle who live in a group of trailers on the fringes of suburbia. At the beginning of JJ’s story most of the family is on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in the hope of achieving a miracle cure for 6 year-old Christo who suffers from the Janko family disease. This affliction affects the male members of the family and kills most of them, sparing only Ivo who apparently had his own miracle during a visit to Lourdes as a teenager. JJ’s observations about his family, their uneasy relationship with gorjios and his own tentative explorations of a life outside the narrow confines of his upbringing are compelling and I found him an easy character to like as well. Ray Lovell on the other hand is a little bland with a hint of creepiness provided by his stalker-like behaviour towards any woman that takes his fancy.

The story itself is an odd mixture of threads amongst which the mystery component, i.e. finding out what happened to Rose Janko, seems less and less important as the book goes on (which is probably just as well as the resolution is somewhat unbelievable). Really it’s the story of this fascinating family of fringe-dwellers, both physically and literally, who are struggling to maintain their traditions and culture. Penney shows us what they are trying to cling on to and makes us wonder what lengths each of them would go to for a chance at keeping hold of some aspect of their traditional life. The structure of the book is a little complicated though I enjoyed the way it almost started in the middle and then had Ray and JJ’s overlapping narrations draw slowly together.

I must also make a special mention of the narration by Daniel Stevens which I suspect added an extra, entirely wonderful, dimension to my experience of this book. His alteration between the two storytellers seemed to encompass more than a mere voice change (it would have been easy to believe there were two actors responsible for the narration) and I’m sure he helped make JJ in particular a thoroughly three-dimensional character for me.

Normally when I am out of step with other readers it is because they have loved something that I don’t like. This time I seem to be in the reverse situation of thoroughly enjoying a novel that no one else cares much for. Happily I waited until after I had finished the book myself to read any reviews of this newly released book because most of the ones I could find make not very flattering comparisons to her first novel. Personally I’m not so sure they’re that different. Although I liked The Tenderness of Wolves very much I found its mystery element a little underdone and its resolution a little incredible, much like I did here. What I think Penney does superbly, though differently in each book, is transport readers to a world that she creates out of nothing and make it easy to get lost in that world. The fact that 1980′s England doesn’t have much in common with 1860′s Canada is a bonus for me as I’m heartily sick of authors writing the same book over and over again.

So for me this was a great read which I would recommend if you can cope with a slow pace and a novel that is driven more by compelling characters and atmosphere than a thrilling plot. If you are an audiobook fan I would highly recommend Daniel Stevens’ narration which is one of the very best I’ve heard since I started listening seriously (20+ books a year) several years ago.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

I haven’t found any reviews at my usual blogging haunts but this snarky Telegraph (UK) review is pretty representative of those I saw in the mainstream media.

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My rating 4/5 (half a star extra for Daniel Stevens’ narration)
Narrator Daniel Stevens
Publisher Quercus Publishing [2011]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 11 hours 23 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

This post is published at http://reactionstoreading.com if you are seeing it at another site then it has been stolen and/or used entirely without permission.

Review: Blue Monday by Nicci French

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The first book in a planned series from husband and wife writing team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French features therapist Frieda Klein as its nuanced protagonist. She is a very private person but spends her working life delving into other people’s secrets in an effort to help them cope. One of her new patients tells her something that she links to the case of a kidnapped child that has been in the media for many days and, with misgivings, she goes to the police with her idea. The detective in charge of the case is Malcolm Karlsson who, desperate not to be known as “the copper who didn’t rescue Matthew Faraday” and having no real evidence to go on, acts on Frieda’s vague speculations.

Although I read this book easily and quickly there was something about it that left me thinking I would be unlikely to seek out future books in the series. The best way I can describe my reaction is that I thought it had the feel of having been a book written by committee, and I’m not referring to the fact it has two authors. There just seemed to me to be a few too many details and features that had been carefully inserted to take advantage of current trends and marketing opportunities, and I felt like they took precedence over any story demanding to be told. Each (of the many, many) characters has the feel of having been very carefully chosen to offer as broad a cross-section as possible of each kind of demographic one might meet in a big city (and thereby appeal to the broadest possible cross section of readers). There’s one with a Scandinavian-sounding name (which had me hearing the wheels of a bandwagon rolling along), one immigrant builder, one self-harming teenager and so on but none of these are really dealt with in much depth. Even the book’s title is meant to offer some kind of branding that will link future titles together using days of the week but this is also a surface-only element as nothing at all is made of the title in this book.

The main plot of the book, the desperate search for young Matthew Faraday, is well-handled, if predictable in parts and has a satisfyingly complicated resolution. The use of snippets of story seen from the kidnapped boy’s point of view is restrained and therefore does add drama and intensity to this aspect of the story and the use of Frieda as the tenacious amateur sleuth adds originality to a crowded space. There is some exposure to some interesting scientific ideas that I would actually like to have seen further explored, perhaps at the expense of some of the more random elements of the story.

I wonder if I’ve been harsher on this than I usually am with first books in a series but this writing team does have a dozen standalone novels to their name (of which I’ve only read a couple) so they shouldn’t be making the same mistakes as a debut author might be forgiven for. In the end I enjoyed Blue Monday enough to read another one in the series if it crosses my path (as this one did for my face to face book club) but I’m not really interested enough to actively seek one out.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Blue Monday has been reviewed at Euro Crime

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My rating 2.5/5
Author website http://www.niccifrench.co.uk/
Publisher Michael Joseph [2011]
ISBN 9780141970257
Length 401 pages
Format eBook (Kindle Edition)
Book Series #1 in Frieda Klein series
Source I bought it

A Review (and musings on storytelling) – The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill

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I’m going to provide even less of a plot synopsis for this book than my usual skimpy effort because a big part of my enjoyment of this book was that I knew so little about it to start with (I listened to it on a whim following a comment by Barbara at the 4 Mystery Addicts online reading group). I quite literally had no idea what it was about when I started and still had no clue what direction the story would take when I was well into its Machiavellian depths and think you should have the same opportunity. So all I’ll say is that it’s one of Hill’s standalone books and tells the story of Wilfred ‘Wolf’ Hadda, a Cumbrian native of working class birth who makes a name for himself in the world of business before his world falls apart in a rather alarming way. If that’s not enough for you to ponder reading it, there are plenty of great easily google-able reviews that will tell you more.

The thing I have discovered more lately than I ought to have done is that Reginald Hill is a truly superb storyteller in the purest sense of the term and this, in my opinion, is one of his best. Having studied the storytelling art a little over the years I’d boil the essence of a good story (regardless of whether it is told, written or shown) down to these attributes

  • they must draw their audience in and make them feel connected to the events being described
  • they must have a basic structure of beginning, middle and end
  • they need at least one central character who encounters some form of conflict that prevents them from going along the path they had been taking
  • they must invite, even prompt, the audience to picture or imagine the places, people and events that are being described
  • they cannot offer an easy resolution to the issues or conflicts they are describing

For me The Woodcutter ticks all of these boxes with gusto. The audience is drawn in by Hill’s wonderful depictions of Wolf’s out-of-the ordinary young life in the forests of Cumbria and then a very early depiction of his fall from grace. Knowing that an author wouldn’t willingly use up all their most dramatic material in the first few chapters of a novel the reader is left wondering what sort of theme this story will explore..redemption? wronged man? revenge? something else?

Using several characters in addition to Wolf, Hill manages to present several versions of the truth, exploring the notion that what’s true depends on the perspective and facts or knowledge a person has at any time. As a reader you are prepared to go along with each subtle variation of reality, never quite knowing where the whole thing is headed, but somehow always feeling confident that the resolution will be a satisfying and authentic one. Along the way there are splendidly depicted images of both the Cumbrian landscapes and the characters (including a terrific fictional dog) who are central to the story.

Part of the way Hill draws the reader in and keeps them glued is the interesting array of ideas and themes he explores along the way and unlike so many writers he does this, always, as part of the story. The book is a masterclass in the concept of showing not telling. He examines things like the way the British class structure plays out in contemporary society, the role and nature of the justice system and even takes a look modern psychiatry in a way that makes you think.

Literary critic (and professional controversy-starter) Christopher Booker once claimed that there are only seven basic plots for stories and, if this is true, it must get harder to be original as they keep being re-told. In broad ways The Woodcutter is an age-old tale that you’ve heard a thousand times before (in fact it bears a strong resemblance to a 19th Century French adventure classic) but with it’s sparkling dialogue, intricate plot, wonderfully realised characters and the thought-provoking ideas it ponders it is utterly unique. I cannot think of any reader who would not enjoy this wonderful book, crime fiction fan or not, especially via the narration of English actor Jonathan Keeble whose mastery of accents and gender roles was, as always, outstanding.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating 5/5
Narrator Jonathan Keeble
Publisher Whole Story Audio Books [this edition 2011, original edition 2010]
ISBN n/a downloaded from audible.com
Length 16 hours 34 minutes
Format mp3
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

Review: Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin

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Relics of the Dead (also published as Grave Goods in the US) is the second selection for my face to face book club this month (we meet on Sunday) and I’m also counting it as my third book towards the Historical Fiction Challenge. I’ve actually read more than 3 historical books this year but I’ve used those for other challenges.

The book opens in 1154 as an earthquake engulfs Glastonbury Abbey and a dying monk sees people lowering a coffin into a fissure created in the earth. Did the coffin contain the body of the legendary King Arthur, long-thought to be merely sleeping in the nearby hills until his people need him again? Twenty-two years later the monk’s nephew, who was present as his uncle died, shares the information with King Henry II who has just quashed one Welsh rebellion and is desperate to rid himself of the legend of Arthur lying in wait to rise again. There has been a fire at Glastonbury Abbey and Henry orders the coffin to be dug up. He then commands the one person in his kingdom who has the skills to authenticate the bones as Arthur’s. Adelia Aguilar, the doctor who can ‘read bones’, reluctantly agrees to attempt to determine the age of the bones. With her daughter and faithful attendants she travels to Glastonbury, travelling part of the way with Lady Emma Wolvercote and her party who are on their way to lay claim to Lady Emma’s estate. Later, Adelia discovers she did not make it to her destination. Or did she?

As with the previous two books in this series, Relics of the Dead is first and foremost a good old-fashioned adventure full of brave Knights performing feats of derring-do while less noble souls engage in more prosaic acts. The legend of Arthur and Guinevere is woven artfully into the story unfolding around Adelia in the present day and there’s barely a moment for the reader to catch her breath with several action-packed threads playing out at once.

All of this is accompanied by engrossing information about the historical period, so you feel like you’re learning something while being thoroughly entertained. Under her real name (Diana Norman) Franklin has researched and written extensively about Henry II and her affection for the man is evident in this book. His faults are talked about, but Franklin generally tends to highlight his foresight and modern thinking by introducing such things as trial-by-jury and other innovations. Having read three of these books now, I’m beginning to develop my own crush on Henry Plantagenet.

Although some people argue that Adelia is an unbelievable character for her time, Franklin makes a a good case that women in her situation would have had more scope to fend for themselves than the true upper class women that Adelia sometimes mixes with. And even if she is not entirely credible for her time, she’s wonderful: strong, loving, loyal and smart. Her loyal attendants from the previous books, Mansur and Gyltha, are again excellent in their supporting roles and of course the Bishop of St Albans, the father of Adelia’s child, makes another trouble-filled appearance. There are some unforgettable new characters in this tale too, not least of which is the old woman who runs the Pilgrim’s Inn at which Adelia and her party stay while in Glastonbury. Franklin is a dab hand at developing very strong, memorable characters quite quickly.

Sadly Diana Norman passed away earlier this year and I have not heard of any unpublished manuscripts lying about so I only have one last book in this series to read, which I think I shall save for some time. I thoroughly recommend this installment of the series to anyone who loves getting absorbed in well-written adventures full of memorable characters.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Relics of the Dead has been reviewed at Euro Crime and Mysteries in Paradise

I have reviewed the first two books in this series Mistress of the Art of Death and The Serpent’s Tale

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
My rating 4.5/5
Author website http://www.arianafranklin.com/
Publisher Bantam Press [2009]
ISBN 9781409084334
Length 251 pages
Format eBook (ePub)
Book Series #3 in the Adelia Aguilar/Mistress of the Art of Death series
Source I bought it

Review: What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn

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This is my favourite book of the year so far. It’s a bit early to tell but I suspect it will be hard to beat for the rest of the year. It might even be my favourite book of the decade. Or the century. Or …you know…of forever.

It is I suppose one of life’s cruel ironies that the books I love most are the ones I find it most difficult to write about. I have even wondered if there is something sinister at work in my subconscious. Do I perhaps not want to explain it properly so that I won’t tempt you to read it too and then I can keep all its luscious wonderfulness to myself? Honestly I don’t know the answer to that (and I daren’t go near a psychiatrist to find out) but I’ll try to tempt you to read it in spite of my evil other self.

The first part of the tale introduces us to 10 year-old Kate Meaney. It is 1984 and Kate lives in Birmingham in England, has recently opened her own detective agency and even received her first commission (to investigate sweet pilfering at the local newsagent’s). Her trainee partner is Mickey, a stitched monkey wearing a pin-striped gangster suit and spats who travels in a canvas army surplus bag. We are given details of Kate’s day-to-day life (school, home, her surveillance work, how she would advertise her agency on the bus etc) which might sound dull but I was utterly gripped from the beginning. Although there is sadness in Kate’s life it never overwhelms her because she is so dedicated to making a go of being a detective, an element of the novel which is portrayed so deftly that as a reader I accepted this rather ludicrous premise without a second thought. I was so absorbed in finding out how the agency, and Kate, would flourish I completely forgot the book was ostensibly crime fiction. Until Kate vanished into thin air.

The next part of the book takes place twenty years later when we meet two new characters. Kurt and Lisa don’t know each other though both work at Green Oaks, a large shopping centre. Kurt is a night-shift security guard and Lisa is a duty manager at a music mega store. Neither of them planned to spend their lives at such work and we slowly learn what has led both of them to be there and we get some insight into their less than fulfilling jobs. Green Oaks is the place where Kate Meaney used to undertake much of her surveillance work and one night Kurt spots a small girl with a stuffed monkey on his CCTV monitor which, eventually, makes him the subject of ridicule by the centre’s staff as they all, including Lisa, hear about his encounter with a phantom. Or was it?

The way the story is told is clever but not too clever if that makes sense. There is tension and suspense but it never goes over the line into melodrama, and the way that the various threads and tangents are drawn together is intelligent, compelling and unpredictable. It was one of those books I took every opportunity to read more of, and ended up being 45 minutes late for work so I could finish it. At the same time as the terrific story unfolds we’re treated to a series of beautiful, funny and astute observations about the people of this part of Birmingham and the horror that is Green Oaks. The encounters that the protagonists all have with the shopping centre’s customers are superbly accurate (it’s clear O’Flynn has worked in retail) and her broader wistfulness at the loss of community that such centres have induced is also evident, though never in a preachy way.

I’m running out of superlatives but the characters are tremendously engaging too. They’re not soppy or sentimental even though all of them have sadness in their lives. This is somehow balanced though by the humour and warmth and what my Aunt Nell would have called pluck so that the reader is not burdened by sadness for them. I have really vivid images of them all in my head, helped I think by Colleen Prendergast’s narration which is outstanding.

Another thing I loved about the book is its length. At 6 hours and 33 minutes the only shorter books of the 112 I’ve listened to since I started keeping track of such things are four Agatha Christie novels and Ken Bruen’s The Dramatist. The reason I mention length is that sometimes I feel like authors are being paid by the kilo for their output with the result that half the words in some books are superfluous, detracting from rather than adding to the reading experience. In this book each word adds something to the whole and not a single one is wasted or unnecessary.

I don’t really feel as if I’ve managed to properly convey what made the book such a rewarding reading experience for me (perhaps evil Bernadette prevails) but I really do hope I’ve tempted you to read one of my new favourite books of all time. And that you enjoy it just as much as I did.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

What Was Lost has been reviewed at Euro Crime,

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My rating 5/5
Narrator Colleen Prendergast
Publisher ISIS Audio books [this edition 2008, original edition 2007]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 6 hours 33 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

Review: The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards

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The fifth instalment of Martin Edwards Lake District series sees historian Daniel Kind direct a case towards Hannah Scarlett’s cold case review team. In preparation for his next book Daniel is undertaking some research at a residential library…

…we’ll break here for a short interlude so that all you book lovers can daydream/swoon about the idea of a residential library for a few moments…

…One of the people working at the aforementioned library is a woman called Orla Payne who is obsessed with the unexplained disappearance of her brother Callum 20 years earlier, when he was a teenager. Their Uncle Phillip was interviewed regarding Callum’s disappearance but before any formal charges could be laid Phillip’s body was found in the Hanging Wood. Everyone in the community assumed it was a suicide and took this as evidence of Phillip’s guilt in Callum’s disappearance and probable death, although the boy’s body was never found. All these years later Orla tells Daniel she believes Callum to still be alive though her reasons for thinking this way are unclear, clouded by her alcohol induced fog. Unsuccessful in her attempts to make Hannah Scarlett reopen the case Orla then dies in grim circumstances herself, an event which does prompt a somewhat reluctant review of the case of Callum’s disappearance.

One of Edwards’ strengths as a writer is his ability to quickly draw the reader in to the worlds he creates, making you feel as if you are part of the things and observing the shenanigans from a close vantage point. He achieves this through thoughtful character depictions and just the right amount of detail about the local environment, events and people. Each time I return to Martin Edwards’ Lake District (this is my fourth visit) I feel like I’m coming back to a place I know (helped along in this instance by the inclusion of a small map which I very much appreciated and would like to see more of).

Another of the enjoyable features of this series is that there’s a nice balance between old and new characters. Of course there are the two long-running series protagonists in DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind but there are always lots of new characters to meet in depth for each new story. Most of the players in this particular drama belong to one of two prominent families in the area and the reader is soon gripped by their various connections and shared histories. Because Hannah and Daniel don’t have to carry the entire narrative Edwards has been able to tease out their personalities and foibles over time. Even here, five books into the series, we learn new things about each one which is a boon for fans of the series (for those wondering about the hint of romance between the two glimpsed in previous novels you’ll have to read for yourselves to find out if there is any progress).

The story here is first rate too, both intriguing and credible. It relies on a careful unravelling of the layers of small (and not-so-small) deceits that the characters have told about themselves (or to themselves) over time. Of course all the characters have engaged in this behaviour, not just the criminally inclined, because it’s natural for humans to re-invent themselves via the stories and events from their pasts that they choose to share in their present. Sometimes it’s nothing more than cutting out the boring bits of one’s life story and sometimes it’s a little more sinister but we all do it and Edwards has depicted it very intelligently and believably here. There were several points at which I had that smug ‘oh I’ve worked this bit out’ feeling only to realise it was a minor tangent to the main story or, worse, to have an unpredicted twist foil my puzzle solving attempts.

Some crime fiction always feels like fiction but with The Hanging Wood I wouldn’t have taken much convincing this was a true story unfolding. There’s not a single thing that couldn’t easily happen in the real world, from Orla’s grim death (my parents used to scare us with stories of just such a death when we visited our farming relatives each summer) to the events which were ultimately uncovered in connection with Callum’s disappearance. The Hanging Wood maintains the high standard of its predecessors in offering a classy, thoughtful and engaging story that is clearly a cut above the average in the crowded space of British police procedurals.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The Hanging Wood was released in the US on April 6 2011 and is due for release in the UK in early July 2011.

The Hanging Wood has been reviewed at DJ’s Krimiblog

I have reviewed two earlier books in this series The Coffin Trail (#1) and The Arsenic Labyrinth (#3)

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
My rating 4/5
Author website http://www.martinedwardsbooks.com/
Publisher Poisoned Pen Press [2011]
ISBN 9781590588529 (hardcover)
Length 266 pages
Format electronic galley
Book Series #5 in the Lake District series
Source From the publisher via Net Galley for review

Review: The Water Room by Christopher Fowler

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Hat tip to Karen Meek of Euro Crime for introducing me to this series of audio books, I will definitely be looking for more of them.

London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit is a fictitious (I assume, though it would be lovely to imagine it’s real) offshoot of the less peculiar police force which focuses on investigating those crimes which are difficult, time consuming or otherwise unprofitable for the mainstream force to concern itself with. The main investigators are two men past retirement age, John May and Arthur Bryant, and they have a small team at their disposal. In this outing the ‘crimes’ under the microscope were the death of an elderly woman (although she was sitting in a chair and fully clothed when she died she was found to have river water in her throat) and the strange undertakings by a disgraced academic who looks to be gearing up for a future life of crime. Ultimately the entire plot converges on the residents and houses of a single street

The story was a complicated one and I’ll admit to getting a bit lost with it a few times. It relied very heavily on an ability to visualise the setting (if it had been a print book I’d have been looking for a map) and also tended to wander down rabbit holes of varying depths and degrees of relevancy. Despite all that, or perhaps because of all that, I was engrossed. It ended up being an epic story which almost totally failed to go in a single direction that I predicted; a definite highlight for someone who has read more than her fair share of whodunnits. Along with the crime there is history, art, Egyptology and a half-dozen other subjects explored, several of which appeared to have nothing whatsoever to do with anything at all but which I found thoroughly entertaining.

But the real highlights of The Water Room are Bryant and May, as brought to life by Tim Goodman (I suspect this will be another series like the Grabenstein/Woodman collaborations which I only ever read in audio format). The characters are deliciously full of quirks and might just be the prototype for what all crime fighting duos will turn into if they work together long enough: resigned to the annoyances caused by the other’s shortcomings but usually quick enough to circumvent the worst impacts of those quirks. Bryant is socially awkward, has an eclectic collection of friends and ‘experts’ to call on for crime solving and a pathological inability to use technology without it breaking. Or worse. May is multiply divorced, loves gadgets (before Bryant breaks them) and is a master at getting people to tell him things they’d rather not. Their relationship with each other makes great listening, as do their interactions with their team, especially their long-suffering sergeant who once daydreamed of being a screen goddess and still wears the clothes.

This might not be the book for everyone, certainly not those who look for order and straightforward logic in their crime fiction. But if you don’t mind meandering your way to an entertaining denouement and you enjoy complex, well-drawn characters who demonstrate you can still be smart even after you have reached ‘a certain age’ then I would highly recommend this one. I have already got my eyes (ears) on the next in the series (and would love to listen to the first in the series but only books 2-6 of the 9 book series are available to me in Australia in audio format, the others are geo-restricted) (but I’ll save that rant for another day).

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The Water Room has been reviewed at Euro Crime

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
My rating 3.5/5
Author website http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/
Narrator Tim Goodman
Publisher Recorded Books [this edition 2008]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 14 hours 17 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Book Series #2 in the Bryant and May/Peculiar Crimes unit series
Source I bought it

Review: Darkside by Belinda Bauer

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In the Exmoor village of Shipcott darkness is afoot. Elderly resident Margaret Priddy, unable to move since a riding accident three years earlier, dies in her bed one night. When the doctor suggests she was smothered rather than dying of natural causes an investigative team is called in from Taunton and village policeman Jonas Holly is cast aside as next to useless. But having the ‘real cops’, led by DCI Marvel, on hand doesn’t stop more murders of the infirm or elderly from occurring. Although set in the same village as the events of Bauer’s brilliant debut, Blacklands, and though one of that novel’s two main characters does make a brief appearance here, this is not a sequel. It’s just a very dark book standing all alone.

I love the way Bauer writes. My copy of the book is scattered with little post-it thingies identifying passages I thought were sweet, funny, sad, biting or just plain brilliant. She seems to manage to convey a whole lot with few words which, in these days of 500+ page chunkster books being ‘the norm’, is a skill I admire more and more. How about

The detectives from Taunton must watch a lot of American television too, thought Jonas, as he observed them striding through Margaret Priddy’s tiny home, bumping into antiques, clustering in the hallway and thumping up and down the narrow stairs like US Marines invading a potting shed.

That short passage tells you so much about the surroundings and the people. And it’s funny too. Or how about this for a description of a character, DCI Marvel, that tells you everything you need to know about the man in as few words as possible:

At home he had Sky on a 48-inch screen, complete with a set ofAcoustic Energy Aelite 3 home-cinema speakers. There were six in the set and they easily filled the spaces left by Debbie’s furniture.

There’s much more of the same which combines to tell a compelling tale of secrets and what happens when you keep too many of them.

The other thing I love about Bauer’s books are the characters. Each one of them, whether shining star or bit-player, is lovingly crafted. Jonas Holly with his need to protect ‘his’ village, frustration at being unable to help his wife (who has multiple sclerosis), shame at his sidelining by the Taunton cops is both highly credible and sympathetic (I can’t be the only reader who wanted to wrap the man in a week-long bear hug). Marvel is complex too, as there is more to him than the bully we first meet, though he’s never particularly likable. Though it is probably Lucy Holly, Jonas’ formerly physically super-fit wife and now only able to travel upstairs on her bum (it takes her so long she leaves a book half-way up the stairs for reading while resting), who is the standout character for me. Bauer seems to have captured the competing emotions such a person might go through quite perfectly.

The thing I am not so keen on with respect to this book is the ending which was exactly the wrong combination of implausible and ‘thriller-ish’ to put it out of kilter with the rest of the thoughtful and thought-provoking book. I can’t say more without giving away huge plot spoilers but it was disappointing. I wouldn’t let it put you off reading it though as the rest (all bar the last dozen or so pages) is outstanding. I’ll happily order the next book just as soon as I can.

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Darkside has been reviewed at Euro Crime (though this review gives away a little more of the plot than I would do) and The Game’s Afoot

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My rating 4/5
Author website http://www.belindabauer.co.uk/
Publisher Bantam [2011]
ISBN 9780593062968
Length 359 pages
Format hardcover
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

Review: The Torment of Others by Val McDermid

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The fourth book in Val McDermid’s successful series featuring psychologist and profiler Tony Jordan and DCI Carol Jordan opens with Jordan on extended leave following the events that took place in the previous book. She is approached to head up a new squad based at her old station in Bradfield which will focus on high profile cases and, when there aren’t any of those, will look at cold cases. Just as they receive a break in a recent cold case involving two missing boys a new murder requires the team’s immediate attention. A prostitute has been brutally tortured and murdered in exactly the same way as several women murdered two years previously. The only problem is that irrefutable forensic evidence convicted a man for those murders and he’s still locked up, having not spoken a word in two years.

I don’t know if the violence in some crime fiction has gotten worse or I have simply had my fill but I just don’t want to read another graphic description of the brutal rape, torture and murder of women (and it is almost always women). Is it not enough for the plot that a woman is raped and murdered? Is a story really made better by having a razor-blade impregnated object used for the purpose? Does each murder really need to be more bloody, more awful, more unimaginably painful and degrading than the last? For this book anyway the answer to that question seemed to be yes.

The worst thing is that not only did the violent depictions and language add nothing of value to the book but they weren’t in place of decent plotting and characters as would be the case with lesser writers The plot is cleverly constructed with all the threads being kept active at the right pace. There was a good balance of story advancement and personal interactions between the team members and the relationship between Carol and Tony Hill is now so fraught with emotional problems on both sides that it could generate a book of its very own. The razor-blade rapes and crude language detracted from these elements in the same way that people who swear constantly lose any capacity to underline a particularly strong emotion or point with a single well-placed curse word.

What about the audio book?

Vari Sylvester is a terrific narrator and because she is female I didn’t keep forming an image of Robson Green as the character of Tony Hill which I did when I listened to an earlier book in this series narrated by a man.

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My rating 2.5/5
Author website http://www.valmcdermid.com/
Narrator Vari Sylvester
Publisher ISIS Audio Books [2004]
ISBN N/A
Length 13 hours 54 minutes
Format audio CD
Book Series #4 in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series
Source Borrowed from the library

Review: The Serpent’s Tale by Ariana Franklin

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My first book to count towards this year’s historical fiction challenge was published in the US as The Serpent’s Tale and in the UK as The Death Maze.

Adelia Aguilar’s second outing takes place more than a year after we first met her in Mistress of the Art of Death. Prevented from returning to her native Salerno in Italy by King Henry II in case he might need her again she has virtually retired to the English countryside with her trusted friends Mansur and Gyltha and her baby daughter Allie. However when Henry’s mistress Rosamund is murdered she is dragged back into the service of the King by Rowley Picot, now one of Henry’s Bishops but formerly Adelia’s lover. Henry’s wife Eleanor of Aquitaine is accused of murdering Rosamund but Rowley does not believe her to be the murderer and wants Adelia to uncover the truth before the country erupts into the bloody war that would surely result if Henry’s wife was found to have murdered his favourite mistress. On their way to Rosamund’s home Adela’s party discover the body of a young man near the nunnery of Godstow, a case which Adelia is also called on to investigate during the later part of the novel.

Adelia is still my favourite thing about the series and here her behaviour is probably more believable than it was in the first book as her willingness to put herself in danger is tempered, a little, by wanting to keep her daughter safe. However she is still fiercely principled and determined to find out the truth of each situation, even if the person at the centre of the event is considered an insignificant nobody. And again Adelia’s place in the world is precariously balanced as she has to continue pretending that it is Mansur who has the medical knowledge because if it was widely known to be her, a mere woman, she would be accused of witchcraft. In fact the role of women in this society continues to be a theme that Franklin explores, here primarily via a storyline in which a young women of high birth is promised to a man she does not love but when she attempts to forge her own life she is thwarted and reminded that she is little more than someone else’s property.

Franklin is a master at using a mixture of fact and fiction, people and place to create a world that she draws readers into. Whether it be lost in the maze that protects Rosamund’s towering home or bailing out the water from the boat being dragged down the nearly frozen Thames or inside the nunnery at Godstow, where for one reason or another all the characters descend for a good portion of the story, I felt like I was there thanks to Franklin’s imagery and period details. I particularly enjoy her portrait of King Henry as a leader so far ahead of everyone else in both thought and practice that he can never achieve everything he wants. It’s an interesting perspective and well-drawn too.

Undoubtedly one of the downsides of producing such an assured debut is living up to that standard and, for me at least, The Serpent’s Tale didn’t quite manage it. With two seemingly unconnected murders and a lot of other extraneous events it just didn’t feel quite as tightly written and suspense-filled to me, though the main thread was quite fascinating and certainly got dramatic towards the end. However, being slightly less than utterly brilliant still makes for a very entertaining novel that I highly recommend to fans of historical fiction.

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The Serpent’s Tale has been reviewed at Euro Crime three times (1, 2, 3) and at Jen’s Book Thoughts

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My rating 4/5
Author website http://www.arianafranklin.com/
Publisher Berkley Books [2008]
ISBN 9780425225745
Length 386 pages
Format trade paperback
Book Series #2 in the Adelia Aguilar/Mistress of the art of death series
Source I bought it