BOOK REVIEW Book Review
OFF ON HOLIDAY, IT SEEMS WE’RE ALL IN SEARCH OF ESCAPISM
A
AND A GRIPPING READ. crime fiction often fits the bill and this summer there is plenty to choose from.
The genre is hugely popular in the UK and unsurprisingly it holds the accolade of the most borrowed form of literature in British libraries. Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Daphne du Maurier (all with good Devon connections) are classic crime writers who still pull a good audience – indeed, according to the Guinness Book of Records, Agatha Christie is the best- selling novelist of all time. As we go to press, the leaders of the bestsellers’ list – both in paperback and hardback – qualify as crime fiction. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith - AKA J K Rowling - (Sphere: Hardback £16.99) is a gripping and elegant mystery set in modern day London which follows the mysterious death of a model and its investigation by a new, captivating private investigator – Cormoran Strike. It has already received rave reviews even before we knew the true identity of the author. The other bestseller is Gone Girl (Phoenix: paperback £7.99)
by Gillian Flynn. Its everywhere at the moment and, as well as being the Observer’s Thriller of the Year, it was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 and the author has also racked up a number of Crime Writers Association awards in previous years. It is by all accounts a ripping good yarn: a psychological thriller about marital dysfunction set in America with an abduction and a lot of twists. Perfect material for a forthcoming hollywood film. crime fiction, i’ve discovered, has several genres within a genre. Scandi fiction (Larsson, nesbo, mankell etc) we all know about it and there’s also the affectionately named ‘tartan noir’ – a phrase coined in the late 1990s to sum up Ian Rankin’s success. It seems the bleak, cold Scottish streets and countryside are perfect crime fodder and they translate well to television too – think Rebus, Jackson Brodie etc. This year’s winner of the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime
Novel was Denise Mina’s Gods and Beasts (Orion, paperback £7.99) and is set in Glasgow’s gritty criminal underworld. Mina is an accomplished writer and this is her 3rd book featuring the Scottish Detective Alex Morrow. The story has “a complex 3-ply plot involving a shooting, blackmail and corruption, all described with hard-hitting prose and psychological acuity” (Sunday Telegraph).
One of my friends’ recommendations is
Rubbernecker (Bantam Press £14.99) by Belinda Bauer. It is a nominee for CWA’s Gold Dagger 2013 and is an unsettling and unusual read with twists and turns and a bit of black humour. The central character is a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome studying anatomy at university and with a secondary narrator who is a patient on a coma ward it appears that nothing is exactly as it seems. “Breathtaking. I read this and wish I’d written
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T THIS TIME OF YEAR, WHEN EVERYONE IS DISAPPEARING
by Emma Jones
it” - Val McDermid. it seems crime fiction is set to
continue its success and popularity. Writers in this genre are, if nothing else, prolific. in august, Lee childs’ 18th book featuring Jack Reacher – Never Go Back (Bantam Press £18.99) will emerge and America’s Kathy Reichs will release Bones of the Lost (William Heinemann £18.99) with her popular forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan making her 16th appearance.
And for true escapism how about Bad Monkey (Sphere
£16.99) by Carl Hiaasen. The Daily Mail calls it a “masterclass in black humour” and sees the author apparently back to his previous form with another comic detective novel set in colourful Florida. There are insane characters, missing limbs, a disgraced cop and the unforgettable monkey sacked from the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. Sounds outrageous and probably a perfect poolside read. and if you fancy a bit of crime fiction in
the dark streets of Dartmouth try Never Coming Back (Penguin £7.99) by Tim Weaver. This is the 4th novel starring the investigator David Raker and centres on the mystery surrounding a missing family. It’s a Sunday Times bestseller and quite simply “another cracking crime thriller” (Daily Mail).
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