Brief encounter

The doors on the train slid open.

‘Hey!’ He waved and stepped onto the platform.

Sarah dashed forward and threw her arms around him. ‘At last! What was the problem?’

‘Signal failure. It took an age to fix.’

‘I know! I’ve had three cups of coffee whilst waiting. I’m buzzing like a wind-up toy! Come-on, my parents are dying to meet you.’

They started to head for the exit.

‘My scarf!’ He turned and dashed back onto the train.

‘Conor!’

The doors clunked shut behind him.

He turned, jabbing at the button, then rested his forehead forlornly against the glass.

Review of Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller (Robinson, 2011)

It’s 1964 and Vince Treadwell is law graduate who has taken the path of a copper. On the fast track to the top to the force he’s a Scotland Yard detective working central London. He also seems to be the only cop on the force who isn’t on the take. When he’s called to a murder in Soho he discovers more than he bargained for. Three weeks later he is emerges from a coma convinced that his soon to be retired boss was partially responsible for his hospital stay. To keep him out of the way until his boss leaves he’s packed off to Brighton, his home town, to take a look at case that has the paw-prints of Jack Regent, a legendary underworld boss, all over it. Regent has disappeared, but his rackets and gang haven’t, still with their fingers in every lucrative pie in the town, overseen by his trusted lieutenant, former professional wrestler, Henry Pierce. Working with the resentful Brighton police, Treadwell starts to investigate, only to find himself falling for Regent’s woman, the blond bombshell, Bobby LaVita, and to discover his own past in the form of his brother, Vaughan, catching up with him. It’s going to take all his skills and wits to bring Regent and his cronies to justice.

Kiss Me Quick is very much a story of an isolated, maverick, brilliant cop against his own corrupt bosses and the criminal underworld. Vincent Treadwell is an engaging lead character, with his movie star looks, sense of morality and reckless bravery. The other lead characters - Bobbie, Jack Regent, Henry Pierce, Vaughan - are all well penned, full of life and fleshed out with strong back stories. Although the book is very much rooted in the town, somewhat oddly I didn’t really get a feel for Brighton, its geography or sense of place beyond it being a seaside resort. What I did get was a vivid sense of time. Miller does a good job at recreating the early 1960s and the feel and vibe of the time. These are the two real strengths of the book: the characterization and the historical rootedness. The plot was interesting if a little cumbersome at times, but it was generally engaging, tense and rose to a crescendo. For the most part the storytelling was solid enough, but was a little over-elaborated in places for my taste. Overall an enjoyable read and I’d be interested in catching up with Detective Treadwell’s next case.

Review of The Imitation of Patsy Burke by John Gaynard (Createspace, 2011)

Patsy Burke, a famous Irish sculptor in Paris, wakes in a small apartment hungover, battered and bruised and with a broken arm. He’s somewhat confused and has little recollection of the night before. Over the course of a morning, and with the aid of the cast of voices residing in his head (including The Scandal Man, Caravaggio, Goody Two-Shoes, Forget Me Not, The Chopper, The Observer) and Khadija, one of his lovers, he starts to piece together what happened and to situate it within the narrative of his life, which includes a boarding school in the north of England, the death of his sweetheart, three marriages, five daughters, a series of lovers, a kidnapping, squabbles with gallery owners, fights in bars, and an infamous sculpture that offended the Church and sold for millions of euro. Despite everything that has happened in his eventful life, it seems that the previous night he may have gone too far.

It took me a little while to get into The Imitation of Patsy Burke - both the storyline and the style. The story is an in-depth character study and the story unfolds through the various voices in Patsy’s head as it tries to reconcile the morning after with recollections of the afternoon and night before and the back story to the artist’s life. At first, I found the style somewhat awkward and contrived, but as the story progressed the style made more sense and I got drawn further and further into the narrative and by the end I was truly hooked, staying up way past when I would normally shut a book and turn off the lights, devouring pages until I reached the end. And a very nicely resolved end it is too, both somewhat inevitable and slightly out of left field. Whilst Burke is a character for which one feels little sympathy, the characterization and its unfolding is very well done, with the story well layered. The voices in Patsy’s head each have a distinctive voice and message and their bickering has an authentic tone (if voices in a head can have such a thing). The prose is nicely expressive throughout and is peppered with philosophical insights. If you like in-depth characterization, then The Imitation of Patsy Burke will provide good, if a little unusual, reading fodder.

Shots of noir

I was dipping in and out of short story collections. I've now changed tack and am concentrating on one at a time. I'm presently working my way through Daniel O'Shea's Old School. It has some cracking stories in it. From online sites I've read the following:

Cold Beer by Townsend Walker (Near to the Knuckle)
The gun by his bed by Chris Rhatigan (Near to the Knuckle)
Victoria's even bigger secret by Cheryl Ann Gardner (Near to the Knuckle)
What you don't know by R.J. Spears (Shotgun Honey)
Whatever it takes by Matthew Funk (Shotgun Honey)
The golden shot by Graham Smith (Flash Fiction Offensive)

Lazy Sunday Service

Given the rapid fall off in comments and some of the discussion online complaining about Blogger's captcha setting I've decided to turn off the word verification to post comments for now and see how I get on. You'd think that Blogger could work out a decent spam filter that would negate the need for captcha and if they're going to persist in using it, then you'd think they could come up with a system that is useable. At the minute the words are unreadable and they're sure as hell unlistenable if you have visual impairments. Anyway, I hope it is now easier for people to comment.

My posts this week
Shots of noir
Review of Choke on Your Lies by Anthony Neil Smith
Being jolted out of a story
Review of Manchester 6 by Col Bury
Review of Star Island by Carl Hiassen
Self-defence
A dozen Irish crime novels to celebrate St Patrick's Day

A dozen Irish crime novels to celebrate St Patrick's Day

Since it's St Patrick's Day, here are a dozen recent Irish crime novels set in Ireland for your consideration. There's no duds on this list; all top quality reads - click on the links to see my reviews and find out more. Or how about sampling any of the books on the two piles right (photos lifted from the central station of Irish crime writing, Declan Burke's blog, Crime Always Pays)

The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty
The Point by Gerard Brennan
Winterland by Alan Glynn
Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke
The Dramatist by Ken Bruen
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan
Black Sheep by Arlene Hunt
Peeler by Kevin McCarthy
Taken by Niamh O'Connor
A Stone of the Heart by John Brady
Collusion by Stuart Neville
Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway

Self-defence

‘You bitch!’

The slap whipped her head right, knocking her off balance. He then shoved her hard, sending her sprawling backwards onto the sofa. He was on top of her before she could react, the buttons on her blouse popping off as he tore on the thin cotton.

‘Stop! Michael!’

He was drunk. Angry, vengeful and beyond reason.

‘Michael!’

Somehow she landed a knee to the groin and scrambled out from under him.

She dashed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

Michael staggered after her, bellowing insults.

She was surprised at how easily the blade slid between two ribs.


A drabble is a story of exactly 100 words.