April was a funny month

Most of this month has been a bit of a blur. A week trying to meet deadlines, a couple of weeks in Washington, a lot of sleep, a couple of days trying to catch up, and the last four days at two other conferences (one of which I am still at). I'm still behind on most things and have four books sitting on the shelf that I've read but await review. Hopefully May is going to be a quiet month. I got my hands on a copy of The White Gallows on Thursday, so it now feels a bit more real. The official release date is in June sometime.

My reviews this week:
Review of Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas
Unsold houses could bankrupt councils
Volcanic shadow
Negative equity nears 50 percent
Review of Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Requiems for the Departed

Requiems for the Departed

Gerard Brennan has very kindly sent me an ARC pdf of Requiems for the Departed out in June (pre-order here). Rather than simply being a collection of short crime stories, each story is inspired by Irish mythology, and there is a stellar line-up of authors (contents below). I'll post a full review in due course, but wanted to give folk a heads-up at this stage. Based on the first few stories, it'll be well worth checking out.

Queen of the Hill - Stuart Neville
Hound of Culann - Tony Black
Hats off to Mary - Garry Kilworth
Sliabh Ban - Arlene Hunt
Red Hand of Ulster - Sam Millar
She Wails Through the Fair - Ken Bruen
A Price to Pay - Maxim Jakubowski
Red Milk - T. A. Moore
Bog Man - John McAllister
The Sea is Not Full - Una McCormack
The Druid's Dance - Tony Bailie
Children of Gear - Neville Thompson
Diarmid and Grainne - Adrian McKinty
The Fortunate Isles - Dave Hutchinson
First to Score - Garbhan Downey
Fisherman's Blues - Brian McGilloway
The Life Business - John Grant

Also check out Gerard's blog, Crime Scene NI. An entertaining read.

Review of Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur Books, 2010)

Mickey Wade has lost his job as a journalist and unable to afford his upscale apartment in central Philadelphia he reluctantly moves into his Grandfather’s apartment in down at heel, Frankford. The neighbourhood is where Wade grew up, the place he was desperate to escape from, especially after his musician father died. With his grandfather in hospital, he has the place to himself, and flat broke he adopts a slacker diet – apples (fibre), peanuts (protein) and beer (grains) - listens to his father’s albums on an old turntable, and munches on some old Tylenol tablets that have some very strange consequences – they transport him back in time to the same apartment in the early 1970s. An apartment occupied by Dr DeMeo, who specialises in researching out of body experiences for the military; an apartment located directly above that of a single mother and her twelve year old son who will grow up to murder Wade’s father.

I was a little dubious of the sci-fi meets pulp crime fiction cross-over, but Swierczynski carries if off with aplomb. The Wheelman was one of my best reads of 2009 and I was delighted to spot Expiration Date in a bookshop in Reagan Airport in DC. The first two pages were enough to convince me to add weight to my carry-on bag, and moreover make me consider seriously putting the book I was presently reading to one side. The start is a big, juicy worm baited on a razor sharp hook; one of the best openings I’ve read in quite a while. The story is meticulously plotted and surprisingly credible given the time travel element, and the pacing is high tempo without being rushed. The characterisation is strong and the dialogue snappy and realistic. Unusually, the story is accompanied by some illustrations by Laurence Campbell, who does work for Marvel Comics, and they nicely complement the narrative. The telling went a tiny bit flat in places (I suspect because it was originally written as 12 equal length instalments that were to be serialised in the New York Times before the section was unfortunately dropped), but in all honesty there’s very little to dislike – this is top quality stuff. It’s increasingly difficult for an author to find their own voice and to come up with relatively novel premise - Swierczynski scores on both counts and, even though I’ve only read two of his books, he’s quickly become a favourite author.

Volcanic shadow

Yesterday a friend sent me a link to a NBC 2 news item from last week. I was one of the stranded passengers interviewed by their roving reporter, but I'd assumed I hadn't made the cut. Needless to say I got back five days late instead of 9-12, but the sentiment was right! Being a bit dumb sometimes, someone else had to point out to me that the video bit played the segment! I also did an 'expert commentator' piece on TG4 (Irish language) news last night (the segment starts 9.25 secs in for anyone interested). Apparently they had to get special permission to talk to me due to my lack of language skills and had a limit of c. 3 seconds. I didn't really escape the media whilst away in DC, being contacted 5 times. I spent ten minutes talking on the phone to a Newstalk researcher from outside the White House about a news item I'd missed because I was on a plane, which was a little strange. Anyway, a little bit of my extended trip stored for posterity.

Review of Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas (Vintage, 2004)

Joss Le Geurn was the captain of a trawler before an accident led to a run in with the ship’s owner and banishment from Brittany’s fishing fleet. Several years later and he has taken up the family business as a town crier, working a square in Paris, reading out the messages left in his box three times a day. Over the course of a few days he receives a series of semi-cryptic messages, written in an old style, foretelling the coming of the Black Death. Then doors around the city start to be daubed with an ancient symbol that supposedly wards off the plague. In each apartment block a single door is left untouched. Detective Commissionaire Adamsberg is drawn to the case, sensing the work of a crank, but then the people who live behind the un-daubed doors start to perish, apparently showing plague-like symptoms. As the press start to speculate on whether the fatal disease has once again broken out in the city, Adamsberg seeks to track down a serial killer with a well-developed sense of history and purpose.

Have Mercy on Us All is a curious book. At one level it is a highly enjoyable read that rattles along at good pace, with colourful characterisation and an interesting plot. On another, the dialogue is weak (quite possibly a translation issue), some of the police procedural elements and plot are simply not credible, and Adamsberg, whilst an engaging character, is difficult to imagine as a cop in charge of a busy murder squad, whose antics border on Clouseau territory at times. For example, Paris is gripped by the threat of the plague, yet Adamsberg has loads of time to wander the streets pondering life, have an affair, and sit in a bar waiting for things to happen, seemingly without any pressure from his superiors, politicians or the public. One would imagine he would be flat out dealing with leads, directing his squad, and handling the media and other diversions. Overall, an enjoyable read that is particularly strong on characterisation and concept, as long as one doesn’t mind clunky dialogue and is able to suspend one’s belief in how the investigation is conducted (which I appreciate wouldn’t be a big issue for some readers).

This weekend I have been mostly ... sleeping

Arrived home from my forced exile on Friday morning. Since then I've spent 35 of the first 51 hours sleeping, which has got to be some kind of personal record. The past couple of weeks already feels kind of dream-like and hazy, as if it never really happened. Hopefully all my colleagues are now back; they were due in this morning, nice and fresh for work tomorrow. In between coma-like sleeps, I've been catching up on domestic stuff and reading Joe Lansdale's, Leather Maiden. The man's one helluva writer. Brilliant stuff.

My posts this week:
A slow week on the posts due to various distractions. Should be back to normal service this week as I've reviews of Fred Vargas, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Duane Swierczynski and Joe Lansdale to post.

Homeward bound
Missing your own book launch
I'm making a real (h)ash of this volcano malarky

Homeward bound

After a yo-yo morning yesterday on the airlines website and on the phone to an agent I've managed to get on a flight back to Dublin today. Finger's crossed. As I was talking to the agent a seat on the Atlanta-Dublin flight was cancelled. That seat was free for less than a second! That volcano better behave itself for the next 24 hours ... Plenty of time in aiports and planes for some reading. Just finished a Fred Vargas, have a Sjowall and Wahloo (Roseanna) and Joe Lansdale (Leather Maiden) in the carry-on bag. Hopefully the next post will be from the other side of the Atlantic.