The kindness of strangers

Last week I posted on the Friendfeed Crime and Mystery Room that I was trying to buy Leif Davidsen's The Serbian Dane. The cheapest copy I could find on the Internet, either new or secondhand, was £18 (a little steep for a book only published in 2007). A couple of days later, I was contacted by a Friendfeed reader who said he'd just seen the book in his local charity bookshop and offered to buy it and post it to me for cost. The power of the internet at work. The book arrived this morning, and my two novels and a cheque will head back the other way tomorrow. I now have at least one Danish book to read on my trip to Denmark in a couple of weeks time. Many thanks, Tim. Much appreciated.

Review of Stratton’s War by Laura Wilson (2008, Orion)

In London 1940 the body of an aging silent film star is found impaled on street railings. It is ruled as suicide, but Detective Inspector Ted Stratton is not convinced, especially when a short while later her room is turned over and her friend beaten up. Ordered to move on to other cases, Stratton keeps digging, looking for clues as to why the woman had fallen to her death. Meanwhile, the young, upper class Diane Calthrop has been recruited by MI5 and directed to infiltrate the Right Club, a group of high powered socialites that advocates appeasing Nazi Germany. Unbeknownst to each other, Stratton and Calthrop are working on intersecting puzzles and slowly they are drawn into each other’s orbits around a plot that threatens national security just as Germany starts the blitz.

Stratton’s War is part of the burgeoning number of crime novels using the Second World War as its backdrop. The intersection here of MI5, police and London underworld makes for an interesting story, and the double, intersecting plot lines of Ted Stratton and Diana Calthrop is for the most part well constructed. Wilson has managed to capture the class divisions and social order of London, and the sensibilities and lives of those working and living in the city. The book recreates the tense, claustrophobic atmosphere of the time and portrays a strong sense of place. However, for all its positive attributes, there were a few things about the novel that undermined my reading experience a little. First, the character and role of Ted Stratton felt somewhat dislocated from his status, especially in the first half of the book where the way he acts and the role he plays seem incongruous. He effectively acts as a sergeant – out and about making enquiries, working for the most part as a lone detective. There is little to indicate he is a Detective Inspector in CID, where he would be running a large team, directing several others to do the kind of basic work he’s doing. This status is also missing in his dealings with his brother in law – he lays out the law to hardened criminals, but is a meek as a mouse to his bullying family member. Second, the workings of the police are extremely simplified in terms of station organisation and dynamics. Several dozen people would be working out of a London city centre police station, but the impression given is just a handful do so. Third, there is a significant subplot that ultimately goes nowhere at all and is left hanging, and the coincidence with respect to a family member was unneeded and unlikely. Finally, the book is too long. Certainly a good fifty or more pages could be cut out, which would serve to increase the pace and dramatic tension. Overall, an entertaining read, but a little undermined by some flaws in the realism of character and context, and unnecessary length.

Lazy Sunday Service

Just back from three days in 'stab city' (Limerick) at the conference of Irish geographers, hence blog silence. Good to catch up with people and hear what research they've been doing. The city seemed quite quiet, no doubt a reflection of the recession. Limerick has been labelled as the crime capital of Ireland given it's violent gang feuds, but somewhat surprisingly I can't think of any crime fiction set there off the top of my head, although there are a few true crime books about the city. A nice opening for someone if that's the case.

My posts this week:
April reviews
Access to data held by state agencies
Review of Agent X by Noah Boyd
NAMA only has loan book on 1o percent of the worst unfinished estates
Books and journal launch

Books and journal launch

Three of my books and the new journal I edit are going to be launched today at 5.30pm - Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life, The Map Reader, Key Thinkers on Space and Place (2nd Ed) and Dialogues in Human Geography. I'm not a great fan of book launches; they can be a bit scyophantic and uncomfortable and I always feel oddly out of place at them. That's why I've decided to bundle these up into one gig. Great for me, but I forgot about the person launching them - Audrey Kobayashi, who's the incoming President of the Association of American Geographers - who has been busy reading them all. Having to read one book for a launch is a big enough ask. Reading four deserves a medal. We'll see how it goes. I better get composing my list of thank-yous.

Review of Agent X by Noah Boyd (William Morrow, 2011)

Someone has tried to kill FBI assistant director, Kate Bannon, trying to make it look like suicide. Her sometimes lover and former agent, Steve Vail, arrives in Washington for a New Year’s Eve party as her escort. Within a few hours of arriving he has solved two child kidnappings. However, rather than being given time to rest on his laurels, he’s immediately asked to investigate the claim of Calculus, an officer from the Russian embassy who has been recalled to Moscow, that there is a major network of Americans selling secrets to the Russians. Calculus seemingly only left one clue to make a start, but it promises to lead to further clues, and Vail and Bannon set off to solve them and unearth the agents. Only someone seems to be one step ahead, killing them before they are revealed.

I like a good spy thriller novel every now and again. In my teens I read pretty much nothing else – Len Deighton, John Le Carre, Ted Allbeury, Graham Greene, amongst others. So I was quite looking forward to Agent X. In my view it was the literary equivalent of a Steven Seagal movie. The prose was workmanlike and flat and the dialogue wooden, lifeless and corny. The characters have no depth and their back stories are practically none existent. There is barely any chemistry between the leads, despite their supposed attraction. The plot is totally unbelievable, both in premise and its unfolding, with Vail solving a whole series of very difficult puzzles in a matter of seconds, undertaking James Bondesque escapes where the baddies really should have finished him off several times, and relying on a couple of unlikely coincidences. That said, the plot and pace is what got me to the end of the book. If you can suspend your sense of reality and just enjoy this as a corny spy blockbuster then this might be for you. Personally, I'm still with Deighton, Le Carre, Allbeury, Greene and co where plot, prose, atmosphere, characters, sense of place and so on are paramount.

April reviews

April was a big month of reading and reviewing with twelve books. And it was a good reading month as well with three five star reads. After a bit of reflection, my book of the month is Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston. A very accomplished debut novel that rattles along like a tilt-a-whirl.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis ***.5
Still Life by Louise Penny ***.5
The Swiss, The Dead and The Gold by Jean Ziegler ***
The Cutting Crew by Steve Mosby ****
Devil Red by Joe Lansdale ****.5
Slow Burn by G.M. Ford ***
30 For a Harry by Richard Hoyt ***.5
The Rainy City by Earl Emerson ***.5
Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston *****
Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell *****
Beyond Hitler's Grasp by Michael Bar-Zohar ***
Secret Dead Men by Diane Swierczynski *****

Lazy Sunday Service

Another nice day today. Making steady progress through Laura Wilson's Stratton's War. There are a couple of elements that don't quite sit right, but overall an enjoyable read so far.

My posts this week
Review of Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston
Review of Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell
Danish crime fiction
What will be the fate of architectural heritage in Nama's portfolio?
Review of Beyond Hitler's Grasp by Michael Bar-Zohar
Review of Secret Dead Men by Diane Swierczynski
The Map Reader published