New Irish Crime Fiction- Mark O’Sullivan/Crocodile Tears & Matt McGuire/Dark Dawn

I’m always delighted on discovering some cracking new Irish crime fiction and neither of these disappointed. Covering both Northern Ireland and Eire between them, I’m sure any fan of this genre will enjoy either or both. So read on…

 MARK O’SULLIVAN- CROCODILE TEARS

In the freezing winter of 2010, with the Irish recession in full flow, property tycoon Dermot Brennan is found dead at his Dublin home. Leading the murder investigation is fifty-six-year-old Detective Inspector Leo Woods, an embittered former UN peacekeeper with a drug habit, a penchant for collecting masks and a face disfigured by Bell’s Palsy. DI Woods meets his match in Detective Sergeant Helen Troy, a bright and ambitious but impetuous young policewoman with a troubled family. A host of suspects quickly emerge – Brennan’s estranged son; two of the dead man’s former business associates with grudges against him; a young man whose life was ruined after his house, built by Brennan, was flooded; an arrogant sculptor who may or may not have been having an affair with Anna Brennan (and with their neighbour); and an ex-pat American gardener. Together, Woods and Troy weave their way through this tangled web to get to the shocking truth.

I was incredibly impressed with this inaugural crime offering from Mark O’ Sullivan (perhaps better known as a children’s fiction writer and author of Enright- a fiction novel) and aside from a couple of breaks for coffee, this was pretty much one of those read in one sitting books. Veering more towards literary crime fiction, O’Sullivan’s creation , DI Leo Woods is an absolute gem of a character. Afflicted by a condition known as Bell’s Palsy, Woods is both self-deprecating and a shrewd judge of human nature, accrued through his study of people’s reactions to this perplexing condition. I know crime authors always strive to imbue their detectives with an original quirk to their character, and yes, I did raise an eyebrow at this one, but it works magnificently well in the make-up of Woods’ moral and physical character. Woods is also imbued with a positively Ken Bruen-esque wit, that had me chortling out loud throughout the book, helping to relieve the perfectly wrought tension of the central murder investigation- a murder investigation that is well played out and convincing within the narrative. Woods is a truly multi-layered character, not only shaped by his physical condition but also by previous events from his service in the Balkans and what he witnessed there and a real strength of the book is watching the interplay with him and his colleagues, along with those he investigates. An exceptionally good crime novel all round and I am very much looking forward to encountering DI Woods again.

Mark O’ Sullivan is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including two Reading Association of Ireland Awards, the Eilís Dillon Award and three Bisto Merit Awards. He has also received the Prix des Loisirs as well as two White Raven Book Awards. In addition he has written radio drama for RTE and contributed to Lyric FM’s Quiet Corner.

MATT MCGUIRE- DARK DAWN (DS O’NEILL 1)

Belfast. January 2005. Acting Detective Sergeant John O’Neill stands over the body of a dead teenager. The corpse was discovered on the building site of a luxury development overlooking the River Lagan. Kneecapped then killed, the body bears the hallmarks of a punishment beating. But this is the new Northern Ireland – the Celtic Tiger purrs, the Troubles are over, the paramilitaries are gone. So who is the boy? Why was he killed?  O’Neill quickly realises that no one cares who the kid is – his colleagues, the politicians, the press – making this case one of the toughest yet. And he needs to crack this one, his first job as Principle Investigator, or he risks ending up back in uniform. Disliked by the Chief Inspector and with his current rank yet to be ratified, O’Neill is in a precarious position.

Matt McGuire’s debut crime thriller is definitely worth seeking out, particularly if you like authors such as Stuart Neville or the style of Brian McGilloway. The focus of this tale is Belfast, as McGuire skilfully depicts a city playing catch-up in its regeneration (in comparison to say Liverpool or Newcastle), but just below the surface there lurks the shadow of the Troubles and the less salubrious world of drug dealers, financial corruption and vigilantism. From the opening image of a young man’s body lying on a desolate piece of wasteland, you know from the outset that this will be a grim tale of the sordid underbelly of a city dying to reinvent itself and McGuire captures this perfectly throughout. His central detective Acting DS John O’Neill is both credible and intriguing, as he is in the unenviable position of being saddled with a difficult murder investigation in order to prove his worth to his superiors, who have a derogatory view of him personally. As the investigation branches out, O’Neill finds himself in deeper trouble, threatening both him and the possibility of progressing in his career. I found little to fault in terms of location, characterisation and, most importantly, plotting and Dark Dawn held my attention throughout revealing itself as a solid police procedural that truly reflected the problems of Belfast society and the danger of disaffected youths looking to make a less than honest living, whilst always retaining a look backwards as to how these problems have developed. A great debut and an author to watch…

Matt McGuire was born in Belfast and taught at the University of Glasgow before becoming an English lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. He has published widely on various aspects of contemporary literature and is currently writing a book on Scottish crime fiction.

(With thanks to Transworld Ireland and Constable Robinson for the ARCs)

Dan Brown- Inferno

‘Seek and ye shall find.’ With these words echoing in his head, eminent Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings. A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city of Florence. Only Langdon’s knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic facade can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers. With only a few lines from Dante’s dark and epic masterpiece, The Inferno, to guide them, they must decipher a sequence of codes buried deep within some of the most celebrated artefacts of the Renaissance – sculptures, paintings, buildings – to find the answers to a puzzle which may, or may not, help them save the world from a terrifying threat.

So it’s now three days post-publication of Dan Brown’s new blockbuster, and having seen the plethora of publicity, reviews and comments across the media and the web, with varying degrees of vitriol, Mr Brown is stirring up as much controversy as ever. As a fledgling bookseller, I found myself in possession of a proof of a book called The Da Vinci Code which I read, found it poorly written and declared that it wouldn’t come to anything. With millions of copies sold across the globe and a successful movie franchise later, these words have surely come back to bite me on the derriere, and so this is my first foray back into the world of Dan Brown since then…

In one of my favourite quotes from an Amazon reviewer ever, they said that their reading experience of a book was very much like being tied to a chair with things being thrown at their head, and Inferno did produce in me a very similar feeling. Throughout the course of the book you are constantly assailed with factual information, covering everything from Florentine architecture, Venetian history, the science behind population control and of course every nuance of Dante’s great work itself. Thus, in certain passages, particularly those set in Italy, the control of the tension of the narrative is lost when trying to process all this information. For example, during what should be tense and nail-biting ‘chase’ scenes, the story rather assumes the pace of the protagonists taking a recalcitrant dog for a walk, insisting at stopping at every lamp post and bush, to gather the information contained there. Likewise, much of the description of location and history could be garnered from a good travel guide or history book and merely serves to slow down the plot or as I would tentatively suggest, border on the realms of showing off how much research Brown has done. As the ‘action’ moved from one location to another I trembled with dread at another slide show or lecture about Langdon’s surrounds, bringing back memories of tedious schoolroom days. I feel as a reader, that if half of this information had been edited out, there would have been the makings of maybe quite a compelling thriller and narrative arc that would hold the reader’s interest much more effectively.

We all know that Dan Brown isn’t a particularly good writer, that rather undoes the inclusion on his CV of being a lecturer of English and Creative Writing, so characterisation and believable plotting is rather thin on the ground here. Sometimes this doesn’t matter too much in thriller writing, but labouring under the weight of the factual information as previously mentioned, I feel that these two aspects of the story needed to be much more compelling to underpin the factional quality of the book. Langdon and his obligatory female cohort haul themselves around every location under the threat of perilous danger, but neither character is particularly well-realised and the apparent quirks in each persona feel awfully forced and more to the point unbelievable, and I found my empathy with both was in short supply. Every ‘baddie’ in the plot is straight out of central casting and with the stunningly obvious reveals at the end it all feels a bit contrived. To give Brown some credit the central premise of the book directed by the worrying plight of the ever increasing population growth across the globe, is a great starting point for a conspiracy thriller, but unfortunately it unveils itself with a preachy tone and the final denouement is frankly ludicrous into how a virus would react on a general population.

So what I have learned from my return to the fiction of Dan Brown? Well, first of all that in the realms of conspiracy thriller writing there are far better authors out there writing fast-paced, credible and well-characterised books. However, I do know now in some intricate detail every landmark, statue and artwork within the boundaries of Florence and Venice. I am now fully cognisant of the most important passages of Dante’s masterpiece, and how we are all doomed, Mr Mainwaring, doomed if our population growth isn’t reined in somehow. But most importantly I have learned that, however much I didn’t like this book, there will be hundreds, nay millions of readers that will positively lap it up and pour oodles of money not only into Mr Brown’s expansive pockets but, more importantly, into the publishing business thus ensuring the funds of supporting other better writers, so it’s not all bad is it?

Download an extract.

Visit the Dan Brown website to find out where you can buy Inferno all over the world.

   

Fancy meeting Dan Brown?

Dan Brown at the 2013 Dublin Writers Festival, Ireland Don’t miss Dan’s first event in Europe to promote Inferno on Monday, 20th May at 8.00 pm. Book your ticket now.

Dan Brown at the Masonic Hall, London – in association with Waterstones Waterstones is proud to present an exclusive evening with Dan Brown on Tuesday, 21st May at 7.00 pm. Book your ticket now.

WIN a signed copy of The Lost Symbol! Know someone who isn’t signed up to the Dan Brown newsletter? Tell them to register before June 30th 2013 for the chance to win one of 20 SIGNED hardback editions of The Lost Symbol. Sign up now on the Dan Brown website.

THE ROBERT LANGDON SERIES:

(With thanks to Transworld for the reading copy)

Anya Lipska- Where The Devil Can’t Go

A naked girl has washed up on the banks of the River Thames. The only clue to her identity is a heart-shaped tattoo encircling two foreign names. Who is she – and why did she die? Life’s already complicated enough for Janusz Kiszka, unofficial ‘fixer’ for East London’s Polish community: his priest has asked him to track down a young waitress who has gone missing; a builder on the Olympics site owes him a pile of money; and he’s falling for married Kasia, Soho’s most strait-laced stripper. But when Janusz finds himself accused of murder by an ambitious young detective, Natalie Kershaw, and pursued by drug dealing gang members, he is forced to take an unscheduled trip back to Poland to find the real killer. In the mist-wreathed streets of his hometown of Gdansk, Janusz must confront painful memories from the Soviet past if he is to uncover the conspiracy – and with it, a decades-old betrayal.

Fantasyczny! That would be my resounding verdict on this gripping debut by Anya Lipska, set both in the Polish community of East London with a interesting sojourn back to Poland itself. This is one read that definitely rises above the simple classification of police procedural in Lipska’s capable hands, and proves itself to be a multi-layered and culturally interesting reading experience as well.

I think what I liked most about the book was the unveiling of a culture and way of life that I had very little knowledge of. Unafraid to confront the less savoury aspects of Polish society, but illustrating the parallel affection and respect for Polish culture, Lipska lays bare the traditions and mindset of an immigrant community where its inherent traditions are strongly adhered to, but not at the expense of adapting to life in its adopted city. The book is peppered with references to the intrinsic qualities of Polish culture, politics and history and what I loved is that although its evident how much Lipska knows about Polish life  she didn’t fall into the writer’s trap of crowbarring in too much factual detail, or give an air of ‘showing off’ how much she knows, and personally I felt the balance between fact and fiction was perfectly weighted. From the smattering of original Polish words, to food, to religion and so on,  and a greater exploration of Poland’s tempestuous political history, I found this insight into Polish life significantly enhanced my enjoyment of the book, when juxtaposed with the central murder mystery itself.

Janusz Kiska is a powerfully constructed character, reflecting perfectly the duality of the immigrant experience being tied to the needs and demands of his community, but also acutely aware of the concessions that need to be made residing in a foreign city. When tasked with investigating the disappearance of a young Polish waitress, Janusz proves himself to be a man of great honour with a terrier-like determination to track her down. In the course of his unofficial investigation, Janusz finds that painful memories of his pre-London life are reawakened, and an ill-fated trip back to Poland immerses him in a political conspiracy amongst the highest echelons of power. Janusz is an extremely empathetic character despite his gruffness,  and a man that you would absolutely want on your side in times of trouble.  I liked the way that Lipska used the character of the jocular and verbose Oskar as a foil to the natural solemnity of Janusz’s demeanour. Oskar is hilarious, foul-mouthed and a total liability, lifting the whole mood of the book whenever he and Janusz cross paths and I enjoyed their robust verbal sparring which proved an indicator of the depth of the friendship. Likewise, Janusz also comes to the attention of an eager young detective, Natalie Kershaw, investigating the death of a young girl. Kershaw again is a well-realised character, with a perfect balance of intuition and naivety, desperate to prove her credentials as a police officer, but at times subject to impulsive and dangerous actions that annoy her superiors. At first she has an inherent distrust of the charming Janusz, with the development of their relationship over the course of the book being nicely handled, and more importantly has an air of credibility, reflecting the differing constraints of their roles as civilian/police. I liked the way that Kershaw is subject to the demands of proving herself as a female detective in an extremely male-dominated workplace, and the occasional exposure of chinks in her armour exposing her tendency to doubt herself in matters of the personal.

So absolutely no qualms from me about recommending this as a good read with a perfectly weighted balance between fact and fiction, raising the stakes of this debut police procedural. You will not be disappointed…

Anya Lipska is married to a Pole who lived under Communism before coming to Britain in the early Eighties. Originally trained as a journalist, Anya now writes and produces documentaries and drama documentaries. She has worked on an eclectic range of programmes from Panorama to Scrapheap Challenge, with a rich mix of subject matter, from Leonardo da Vinci to plane crashes, paleo-anthropology to Italian gardens with Monty Don. Lipska is a pen name since, as Anya says “My real surname is impossible to pronounce…”  Visit www.wherethedevilcantgo.com  and Anya writes an occasional blog on The Literary Platform:  www.theliteraryplatform.com/tag/anya-lipska You can also follow Anya Lipska on Twitter @AnyaLipska

(With thanks to Anya and HarperCollins for the ARC)

 

New Crime Fiction From The North- Helen Cadbury, Alfie Crow, Michael Donovan, Rebecca Muddiman

A new publishing venture from the north of England launches this summer with the publication of four new crime novels. All four titles by Moth Publishing are currently available in e-book format and will be published in paperback 30/5/13.

The four novels are the result of the inaugural Northern Crime Competition, which ran in 2011 and sought to find the most promising new crime writing talent in the North. Helen Cadbury (from York), Alfie Crow (from Thirsk), Michael Donovan (from Lytham St Anne’s) and Rebecca Muddiman (from Teesside) were the winners of the competition. The prize was £1,000 and publication by Moth Publishing.

Download a special Moth Reader, with samples from all four books
Download as a MOBI file for Kindle
Download as an EPUB file for other e-readers

 Moth Publishing is a partnership between New Writing North and Sunderland-based Business Educational Publishers, who came together to publish quality new work and support talented crime writers who live and work in the north of England. Find out more at www.mothpublishing.com and at www.newwritingnorth.com

Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2013

 

Now in its ninth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels are published in paperback from 1 May 2012 – 30 April 2013.

The 2013 long-list in full:-

• The Guilty One – Lisa Ballantyne (Piatkus)
• Finders Keepers – Belinda Bauer (Transworld)
• Rush Of Blood – Mark Billingham (Little Brown)
• Dead Scared – S J Bolton (Corgi, Transworld)
• The Affair – Lee Child (Transworld)
• A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming (Harpercollins)
• Safe House -  Chris Ewan (Faber and Faber)
• Not Dead Yet - Peter James (Macmillan)
• Siege – Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)
• Prague Fatale – Philip Kerr (Quercus)
• The Rage – Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)
• Birthdays for the Dead – Stuart MacBride (Harper)
• The Dark Winter – David Mark (Quercus)
• The Lewis Man – Peter May (Quercus)
• Gods And Beasts – Denise Mina (Orion)
• Stolen Souls – Stuart Neville (Vintage)
• Sacrilege – S. J. Parris (Harper)
• A Dark Redemption – Stav Sherez (Faber and Faber)

From this stellar list,  a shortlist of six will be announced on 1 July, from which the overall winner will be decided by the results of a public vote online at  www.theakstons.co.uk (voting opens Thursday 4 July) and the deliberation of an expert judging panel.

 

Denise Mina receives the 2012 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for The End of the Wasp Season

The 2012 win by highly-esteemed Scottish writer Denise Mina author further increased the prize’s standing with authors, publishers and critics as a sought after literary award.

The 2013 award ceremony hosted by radio broadcaster and Festival regular Mark Lawson will take place on 18 July at the opening night of Europe’s biggest crime writing event, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

The winner of the 2013 prize will be announced by title sponsor Simon Theakston at the Award Ceremony, and will receive a £3,000 cash prize as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston.

2013 Shortlist Announcement and Readers’ Online Vote

The names of the six shortlisted titles will be announced on Thursday 4 July 2013 and YOU – the readers – will be able to help decide which of the six short-listed authors will take home the most coveted title in crime fiction, by casting your vote online at www.theakstons.co.uk

The result of the online vote will be counted alongside the votes of the expert judging panel in order to determine the 2013 winner. Forming the 2013 judging panel are 2013 Festival Programming Chair Val McDermid, WHSmith’s Head of Fiction David Swillman and executive director of title sponsor T&R Theakston Simon Theakston. 4^th judge TBC soon.

Quentin Bates- Chilled To The Bone (Gunnhildur Mystery 3)

When a shipowner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik’s smartest hotels, sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir of the city police force sees no evidence of foul play but still suspects things are not as cut and dried as they seem. And as she investigates the shipowner’s untimely – and embarrassing – demise, she stumbles across a discreet bondage society whose members are being systematically exploited and blackmailed. But how does all this connect to a local gangster recently returned to Iceland after many years abroad, and the unfortunate loss of a government laptop containing sensitive data about various members of the ruling party? What begins as a straightforward case for Gunnhildur soon explodes into a dangerous investigation, uncovering secrets that ruthless men are ready to go to violent extremes to keep.

Chilled To The Bone is the third instalment of this gem of a series by Quentin Bates. Although not a native Scandinavian, Bates’ experiences of living in Iceland, and his absorption of the history and culture illuminate his carefully constructed and utterly compelling Icelandic thrillers. As a reader I have thoroughly enjoyed the books to date, and Bates is also something of a godsend for booksellers as an equally comparable recommendation for fans of Yrsa Sigurdardottir or Arnaldur Indridason, so I’m quite the fan!

I was hooked quite early on this series with Frozen Out which introduced us to the marvellous character of Police Sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir- a no-nonsense, witty and intelligent woman always juggling the demands of her professional and personal life. I have always been impressed by Bates’ characterisation of her as he seems to have an intrinsic feel for the quirks of the female gender, and find her character consistently convincing.  She is defined by her professionalism and absolute determination to get to the heart of the investigation, but carries an aura of calmness and self-deprecation which instils confidence in her colleagues and victims alike. Throughout this case, Gunnhildur once again draws on her inherent ability to detect a crime below the surface of the ordinary, and to adopt a terrier-like tenacity in the face of some powerful and influential individuals. As for Gunnhildur’s private life, I particularly liked the more personal slant of this book as she is greeted with the prospect of ‘double’ grandmotherhood through the sexual shennanigans of her son, Gisli, who has conveniently buggered off back to sea, leaving his mother to deal with his expectant women! As with Bates’ previous books, there is a wonderful unforced humour throughout, giving the book a lighter feel than some of its Scandinavian counterparts, but achieving an effective balance with the gripping murder investigation.

Opening with a really quite amusing death by bondage and a thieving dominatrix, Bates then allows the story to ripple out to expose some serious weaknesses and ineptitude within government departments as a laptop containing politically sensitive material disappears. Gunnhildur is tasked with the investigation of both, but as the case unfolds some very nasty secrets come to light, and she discovers she is not alone in her quest,  as a shady and threatening individual is equally keen to get his hands on the errant laptop. What unfolds is a well-paced and consistently engaging story that travels nicely along with no irritating inconceivable plot twists or coincidences giving rise to a entirely satisfying police procedural. A good recommendation if you like a slice of Scandi crime with a good plot, a twist of wry humour and an engaging and plausible detective.

Visit the author’s website here: http://graskeggur.com/

(With thanks to Constable & Robinson for the advance reading copy)

April Round-Up and Raven’s Book of the Month

April has been a busy month with a host of great new  releases for us ardent crime fiction fans- so much so that I couldn’t squeeze them all in, so expect some more April books to be reviewed in May. Along with the quantity of books, this has been a month of many 5* reads and it has been tremendously difficult to settle on one favourite!

Books reviewed on Raven Crime Reads:

Luke Delaney- Cold Killing

Russ Litten- Swear Down

David Mark- Original Skin

Paula Daly- Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

Sabine Durrant- Under Your Skin

Sarah Pinborough- Mayhem

Hakan Nesser- The Weeping Girl

Simon Toyne-The Tower

Lauren Beukes- The Shining Girls

And so to the grand envelope-opening moment to decree that Raven’s Book of the Month for April is hereby awarded to:

RUSS LITTEN-Swear Down

For pure writing style and the beautiful balance of two narratives, defined by their utter plausibility and evocation of ‘voice’ in the reader’s experience, this just had to be my book of the month. Litten’s grasp of character, and his control of pace and plotting is breathtaking, and this is one of those books that budding authors should read as a master class in how to write. A superb read- I can say no more…

And to close April I also read:

Jolene Babyak- Breaking The Rock: The Great Escape From Alcatraz:

At 15, Jolene Babyak (Eyewitness on Alcatraz) was living on Alcatraz with her warden father when four prisoners famously attempted escape in 1962, digging through walls and disappearing forever on a homemade raft all except Allen West, who was caught, and to whom Babyak attributes the initial plan.  Babyak recounts factors that made the attempt possible including crumbling facilities (due in part to salt-water toilets, whose leaking pipes eroded the concrete walls), new four-man dining tables (providing the escapees with privacy), a closed-down armed-guard tower and endless, painstaking planning by the prisoners. Numerous interviews with inmates and guards who knew the escapees, extensive investigation and Babyak’s personal interest in and access to the events distinguish this account.

A thoroughly readable and well-researched account of one of the most famous and to this day mystifying jailbreak in history. There are some nice  moments where Babyak succeeds in portraying to the reader the characters of the escapees gained from her experience living on Alcatraz, and which serves to heighten the seeming impossibility and danger of their escape plot. A good account of an endlessly studied truly great escape, infused with an insider’s attention to detail and sense of location.

Keith Nixon- The Fix

It’s pre-crash 2007 and financial investment banker Josh Dedman’s life is unravelling fast. He’s fired after £20 million goes missing from the bank. His long-time girlfriend cheats on him, then dumps him. His only friends are a Russian tramp who claims to be ex-KGB and a really irritating bloke he’s just met on the train. His waking hours are a nightmare and his dreams are haunted by a mystery blonde. And to cap it all, he lives in Margate. Just when Josh thinks things can’t get any worse his sociopathic boss — Hershey Valentine — winds up murdered and he finds himself the number one suspect. As the net closes in Josh discovers that no one is quite what they seem, including him, and that sometimes help comes from the most unlikely sources…

A strange read this one as I’m still unsure whether I actually enjoyed it or not! There are undoubtedly some good laugh out loud moments, and this is definitely an original and quirky crime caper, but I found that I had to keep giving the author the benefit of the doubt in his portrayal of the male characters with their rather unconstructed views on women. I like to think that they were so deliberately dislikeable that Nixon was merely drawing on artistic licence, but because of their inherent nastiness I found it difficult to care or empathise with any of them. Equally, the main female protagonist was just as risible and slow-witted as her male counterparts, so at least in this way there was a continuity in the characterisation. I did, however, love the ex-KGB Russian tramp who has turned mugging into one of the easiest career choices ever,  and he pretty much drove me on to see how his role developed within the story. Personally for me a bit of an unbalanced read, but with enough sparks of enjoyment to hold my interest.

An altogether interesting and varied month of reading across the globe and through very different historical time periods- a good month indeed!