The Dark Art of Paranoia

The publication of the paperback edition of Alan Glynn’s WINTERLAND is as good an excuse as any to reprint the interview with him I had published in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times’ Culture section a couple of months ago. To wit:

It started on the late, late shows. While most boys in the early ’70s were trawling the late-night TV channels in the hope of glimpsing some illicit flesh, the teenage Alan Glynn was getting off on a more potent charge: paranoia.
  “I think that the stuff you ingest as a teenager is the stuff that sticks with you for life,” says Glynn. “When I was a teenager in the 1970s, the biggest influence was movies, and especially the conspiracy thrillers. What they call the ‘paranoid style’ in America – Klute, The Parallax View, All the President’s Men, Three Days of the Condor, and of course, the great Chinatown. There was a societal thing going on, they were examining the whole paranoia thing in American politics at the time, which seemed exotic to me when I was catching late-night movies on BBC2. It was exotic back then, but now we’ve got it. We’re all paranoid now.”
  ‘Follow the money,’ urged Deep Throat in All the President’s Men. Sage advice for those trying to understand why and how Ireland’s boom went bust; or it might be, were there any money left to follow.
  Written while the economy was still thriving, Glynn’s new novel, Winterland, nevertheless gets under the bricks and mortar of post-boom Ireland. Noel Rafferty is a consultant working on a building development on Dublin’s quays. His nephew, also Noel Rafferty, is a gangland hard man. When both men die on the same night, Gina Rafferty, sister and aunt to the men, suspects there is more to the deaths than mere coincidence. As Gina asks questions of those in authority, however, the novel broadens its remit to investigate the connections between blue-collar criminality and those who inhabit the white-collar worlds of politics and business, the latter with fortunes to lose if their building development fails.
  Is there a danger that there will be little new in Winterland, at least in terms of newspaper headlines, for contemporary readers?
  “There has been a tendency for people to say that this is a very prescient book,” he says. “But none of it was consciously written to be prescient. It’s not an economic polemic, or a political polemic, so the specifics of the story detail and how they run parallel to where we are now aren’t all that important.”
  Established as a paradigm by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, the theme of linking street-level crime to those in positions of authority abusing their power is virtually axiomatic in crime fiction. Glynn, however, is interested in taking that paradigm onto another level (“I haven’t read a lot of it, really,” he says. “I’m not an expert on crime writing.”) In common with such recent Irish novels as Gerard Donovan’s Julius Winsome, Kevin Power’s Bad Day in Blackrock, or Gene Kerrigan’s Dark Times in the City, Winterland expands beyond crime and punishment to explore those junctures where the personal becomes the political. Fuelled by bad blood and paranoia, the novels investigate the nature of justice itself.
  “Gene Kerrigan is much more knowledgeable about the specifics of this, because of his career in journalism,” says Glynn. “And I think ‘crusade’ would too strong a word, but juxtaposing street crime with the kind of crime that happens in politics or business, I think that highlights on a moral level the question, ‘Where’s the difference?’ Not to be heavy-handed about it, but in Winterland, certain people get away with things in a way that people from a lower economic class wouldn’t get away with.”
  In person amiable and self-deprecating to a fault, Glynn is a far cry from the hard-bitten anti-heroes of ‘the paranoid style’, although he is every bit as single-minded when it comes to following his instincts. Born in Dublin in 1960, and educated locally, he decided very early in life that he had a vocation to write.
  “There was never anything else, ever, on the radar. I have a photograph of myself when I was about seven, sitting at a desk with a pen and a notebook. I only came across it recently, and I was amazed, but it’s completely consistent with what I remember as a kid.”
  He went to Trinity College to read English, where he met his wife Eithne, with whom he has two sons. He then spent five years in Verona teaching English, and then went to New York, returning to Ireland in 1992, when he took the decision to write full-time. His first novel, The Dark Fields, set in New York, was published in 2002.
  “It’s insane,” he says of the writing process, “it’s painfully, painstakingly slow. If I have to write a note to the milkman it’ll take me half-an-hour and three drafts. Not that it’ll be any better in the end, but that’s just the process I have to go through. And that’s a disadvantage in some respects.”
  The main disadvantage is that, as a father of two, and despite working as a full-time writer, Glynn has produced only two published novels in eight years. A third novel, The Paloma Stripe, was rejected in 2005.
  “The reason I was given basically boiled down to ‘likeability’, they had a ‘likeability’ issue with the main character. And that’s a very subjective thing.” It’s also an issue more relevant to commercial fiction, whereas Glynn’s ambitions are more literary. “Look at Humbert Humbert, you wouldn’t call him a likeable character. Or Macbeth.”
  With the publication of Winterland and a Neil Burger-helmed Hollywood adaptation of The Dark Fields due later this year, Glynn’s personal circumstances have hugely improved. His themes, however, remain the same.
  “It’s called Bloodland,” he says of his current work, “and it’s not a sequel to The Dark Fields, but it develops a minor character from that novel and turns on similar themes of power and corruption and the abuse of money and position. The character is an investment banker, and he’s involved in a series of companies which are involved in illegal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I’m fascinated by this idea that the scramble for Africa, and the plunder of its natural resources, is as big or bigger today as it was when Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness. Then it was ivory and rubber, and the exploitation was on a massive scale. Today it’s coltan, and other precious metals that are used in consumer products, like mobile phones and games consoles and that kind of stuff.”
  Again, the personal meets the political.
  “Well, absolutely. It’s about responsibility – taking responsibility or not taking responsibility, and the broad consequences individual actions can have throughout society.”
  Winterland’s abiding symbol is a tower being built in Dublin’s docklands, proposed to be Europe’s highest building if only those individuals with their hands on the levers of power can apply enough pressure in the right places. Such projects, whether flawed by engineering or overweening ambition, are now considered monuments or mausoleums to the boom years.
  “I was writing this when everything was fine, economically speaking,” says Glynn, “although in saying that, if you looked ahead you knew there had to be something coming down the tracks. People saying, ‘This time it’s different,’ and ‘The Irish model is different.’ We knew then that that was insane. But I was conscious even then that this flaw in the building could symbolise in some sense the hubris that existed, that there was an in-built, invisible fatal flaw in this whole economic boom. Originally the flaw was just a technical issue, an engineering problem, but it quickly became apparent that it was symbolic. I didn’t want to push that too heavily, or be heavy-handed about it, but it was there.
  “Now, in the context of the economic collapse, it makes more sense. It’s clearer to me now than it would have been then. The organic development of those kind of ideas … Sometimes it’s hard, because you’re not quite sure of where it’s bringing you. I think that’s a very important part of writing, to learn to go with that instinctual feel for an idea. You have to trust that.”
  ‘That all is not what it seems’ was once described by the great creative writing teacher John Gardner as the quintessential narrative hook, and it’s an instinctive philosophy that Glynn cleaves to as he gives voice to a distrust of authority that is by no means confined to Ireland.
  “It’s the only sane position to hold,” he says. “This whole idea that we’re being presented with what’s going on, but that behind that again there’s something else happening. Not to be a loopy conspiracy theorist, but just to voice the sense that there’s a disconnect. And we’ve had plenty of evidence of that over the last two decades that things simply were not as we were told they were.”

  This article first appeared in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times’ Culture section.

The Gospel According To Genre

There was a good piece in Publishers Weekly titled ‘Breaking the Wall’, in which a variety of crime writers discuss what Michael Connelly describes as the ‘membrane’ (as opposed to ‘wall’) between genre and literary fiction. For my money, Tana French (right) nails it to the wall:

“When you’re working to make a sentence as perfect as it can be,” says French, “or to make a character real and vivid and three-dimensional, how and whether you do that isn’t dependent on where the book will be shelved.”

  Well said, that woman. Mind you, Tana is one of those writers for whom style appears to be every bit as important as plot or character. Could it be a coincidence that IN THE WOODS and THE LIKENESS are award-winning best-sellers? Erm, probably not …
  It’s also true that Ireland has its fair share of ‘literary crime fiction’: John Banville’s THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE and THE UNTOUCHABLE, Flann O’Brien’s THE THIRD POLICEMAN, Pat McCabe’s THE BUTCHER BOY, Eoin McNamee’s RESURRECTION MAN (and others), Brian Moore’s THE COLOUR OF BLOOD (and others), Liam O’Flaherty’s THE INFORMER and THE ASSASSIN, David Park’s THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER, Kevin Power’s BAD DAY IN BLACKROCK, Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME, Edna O’Brien’s IN THE FOREST (and others) … It’s a long and noble tradition.
  Okay, your turn. Your favourite ‘literary crime fiction’ is ...

I Can See Clarely Now

The Ennis Book Club Festival in the County Clare has announced its line-up for 2009, and there’s a smattering of interest for Irish crime fiction fiends. Gerard Donovan (right), author of JULIUS WINSOME will be in attendance, as will Aifric Campbell, whose debut THE SEMANTICS OF MURDER appeared earlier this year. Journalist Kevin Myers will also be participating, and no doubt chatting about covering the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, as detailed in his WATCHING THE DOOR; and Gerry Stembridge, who wrote and directed the recent Irish movie Alarm, which was a Hitchcockian tale of paranoia, stalking and double-crosses.
  Meanwhile, says the press release, students from Trinity College Dublin will stage an exclusive performance of “The Trial of Oscar Wilde” at Ennis Courthouse. Nice thinking, folks. Round up all the Trinity thesps in the courthouse under some suitably ‘orty’ pretext, and then send ’em all down for 30 years.
  Sadly, the whole tone of the weekend will be let down by the appearance of one Allan Guthrie, who’ll be there to blather on in his deceptively quiet and droll way about gore, torture and murder. There’s always one, isn’t there?
  The balloon goes up in County Clare, March 6th-8th. For all the details, clickety-click here …

Erm, Have We Had A ‘Dear Genre’ Post Yet This Week?

Kevin Power reviewed the latest Paul Howard novel, MR S AND THE SECRETS OF ANDORRA’S BOX, in the Irish Times yesterday, Paul Howard being the creator of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, a Falstaffian comic foil that has allowed Howard skewer the pretensions of Celtic Tiger Ireland over the course of nine novels. The gist of Power’s review runneth thusly:

Irish fiction hasn’t kept up with Irish reality. So we get “literary” novels about paedophile priests, novels about the Famine, novels in which farmers walk the fields - but who pops into Starbucks and orders a grande chai latte with soy? During the last decade few novelists have bothered to notice what modern Ireland is actually like. This is terrain that Paul Howard … has made his own, seeing - or, more accurately, hearing - what the Irish really are, in south Dublin anyway … You will search the pages of our more distinguished literary novelists in vain for this kind of thing. When was the last time you read a novelist whose ear for the way some Irish people speak was so acute that he was capable of writing a sentence like “Just going back to what you were saying there about the whole non-national thing”?

  About two weeks ago, actually, when I read Kevin Power’s BAD DAY IN BLACKROCK. Power’s novel deals with the same strata of Irish society as Howard’s, albeit in a more serious vein. While I believe that the culture both men target is so hollow as to defy satire – Howard’s novels are much closer in tone to farce – Power certainly recreated the mini-cosmos with a deft touch, in the process showcasing a sharp ear for dialogue.
  Having said that, you have to wonder why Power ignores novels other than “literary” ones when making his point about fiction not dealing with the ‘real Ireland’. There are many examples of women’s fiction, aka chick lit, nailing the zeitgeist, the best and most popular being Marian Keyes. And, naturally, there are any amount of crime fiction novels that do so too. In 2008 alone we’ve had Declan Hughes’s THE DYING BREED, Tana French’s THE LIKENESS, Brian McGilloway’s GALLOWS LANE, Andrew Nugent’s SOUL MURDER, and Ingrid Black’s CIRCLE OF THE DEAD.
  You can argue in your own time about the literary merits, or otherwise, of those novels, although I’d argue that when it comes to storytelling, language is a tool akin to the sculptor’s chisel or the filmmaker’s camera – in other words, it needs to be first and foremost functional before it can start claiming any other virtues. The point being, there are plenty of novels relevant to the ‘real Ireland’ – there are novels due from Gene Kerrigan, Christy Kenneally, Declan Hughes and Tana French next year – that are being written with an ear for who we are now and where we are going.
  This is not to damn “literary” novels for not engaging with modern Ireland; a little birdie, for example, tells me that Gerard Donovan, for one, is currently at work on ‘a novel of crimes’, while David Park’s THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER, published earlier this year, is a powerful work about the post-Troubles political landscape in Northern Ireland. But why is it that only “literary” novels are accorded sufficient weight and credibility when it comes to recording the authentic experience of what is ‘real’ about the way we live?

Three Chords And The Truth

If the prospect of ‘low’ entertainment being transmuted into art makes you queasy, look away now. For lo, Peter Murphy has a fine treatise on the influence of punk music on Irish literature over at his Blog of Revelations, in the midst of which he has this to say:

“The compost theory of culture holds that what was once held as ‘low’ entertainment – gothic, southern gothic, pulp fiction, westerns, post-war noir, horror, magic realism, new journalism, the new wave of ’60s sci-fi, EC and Marvel comics, tales from the crypt, performance poetry, graffiti art, graphic novels – gets turned to precious metal by the pressure of successive decades heaped on top of each other, until, at this end of the process, what was once derided as common has become retroactively transmuted into art.
  “Anybody feeling queasy here should note that Cormac McCarthy, maybe the most respected living American writer, has worked exclusively in genre for decades, be it the post-apocalyptic (THE ROAD), modern noir, (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), western (THE BORDER TRILOGY) horror masquerading as western (BLOOD MERIDIAN) or southern gothic (CHILD OF GOD, OUTER DARK).”

  Peter I love like a mother from another brother, etc., but there’s an issue at the heart of his argument I can’t get my head around, which is that he views Irish literary works through the prism of the punk music of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, et al.
  Surely, if the ‘low entertainment vs art’ argument holds true, then punk – and pop, rock, C&W, metal, et al – are simply genres of music, with classical the only music worth taking seriously for true connoisseurs.
  Here’s something that occurred to me while watching the Coen Brothers’ take on NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN – the movie would not be judged on its merits as a genre flick, but simply on whether it was a good or bad movie. And when the awards season rolled around, the film wasn’t awarded ‘Best Crime Flick’, it was given ‘Best Flick’.
  You can argue, as I’ve been known to do after a dry sherry or four, that movie-making being a relatively new form, it’s more in tune with generalised democracy and universal suffrage – as with TV, it instinctively understands that its audience is for the very great part composed of a classless society, or at least believes that it belongs to a classless society.
  The world of books, on the other hand, has its roots in a much different world order, one which depended for its very existence on the idea of a pecking order. And no matter how you arranged that pecking order – by title, rank or money – the essential element underpinning it was snobbery.
  Peter, back at the Blog of Revelations, celebrates the social and cultural leveller that was / is the punk ethic by urging us to:

“ … imagine a climate where Irish writers and, crucially, non-Irish writers resident here, co-opted punk’s refusal to observe protocol, where there’s no confining delineation between so-called serious and popular literature, where language, theme, storytelling craft and imagination all co-exist.”

  He goes on to cite, as examples of same, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, Joe Hill, AM Homes, David Foster Wallace, Steven Hall, Jeffrey Eugenides, Dave Eggars, George Saunders, Katherine Dunne and Tom Spanbauer.
  I don’t get the “and, crucially, non-Irish writers resident here” bit, but what I can suggest is that there many Irish writers who have “co-opted punk’s refusal to observe protocol”. They include John Connolly, Ken Bruen, Alan Glynn, Tana French, Adrian McKinty, Gerard Donovan, Colin Bateman … you get my drift.
  If punk was about anything, it was about telling it like it is. Some, like the Pistols, were wilfully raw. Others, such as The Buzzcocks, were deceptively articulate and sophisticated.
  Crime writing – whether wilfully raw or sophisticated and articulate – tells it like it is.
  All together now: “Even fallen in love with someone / Ever fallen in love / In love with someone / You shouldna fallen in love with …”

“All Changed, Changed Utterly / A TERRIBLE BEAUTY Is Conceived.”

It’s been a busy time at CAP Towers recently (typical afternoon pictured, right), what with christenings and Electric Picnics and Irish crime writers weekends and YE BIGGE O heading for publication Stateside, although one reason for being so busy-busy-busy was self-inflicted. Basically, the notion is this – given the recent explosion in Irish crime fiction, I wondered if there might be any interest in putting together a book offering perspectives on the whys and wherefores of contemporary Irish crime writing. It would consist of a series of essays written by the Irish crime writers themselves, with each author taking a chapter according to his or her speciality. Aimed at a general reading audience, it would decidedly not be an academic tome, but an entertaining and informative read.
  Thus armed with my latest harebrained scheme, I farmed out the idea to some writers I’m in touch with. As of yesterday, those who have confirmed they will be taking part are: John Connolly, Colin Bateman, Declan Hughes, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Gene Kerrigan, Gerard Donovan, Brian McGilloway, Neville Thompson, Adrian McKinty, Gerard Brennan and yours truly, with the latter trio taking on the gig of compiling / editing. If you’re looking at that list and wondering where some glaring omissions are, rest assured that I’m still waiting for more writers to confirm interest or declare otherwise.
  The project currently labours under the working title of A TERRIBLE BEAUTY: A NARRATIVE OF IRISH CRIME WRITING, and yesterday was D-Day for applications for Arts Council funding. That deadline met, we now wait to see if the funding for commissioning the writers comes in. Should it do so, there is already an Irish publisher interested in taking the project on, although it would be unfair at this early point to name any names.
  The plan is to have the book on the shelves by September 2009. Should the project come to fruition here in Ireland, we’ll then be looking abroad to international markets. That’s all a long way off at this point, however, and there’s no sense in trying to run before we can roll over onto our collective tummies. What I’m wondering for now is this: If the project gets the green light, what kind of topics would you like to see explored between the covers? Over to you, people …

No Country For Grand Men

Crumbs! No sooner had the dust settled on the entirely unnecessary ‘Great Post-Troubles Norn Iron Novel’ baloohaha than Joseph O’Connor, in the context of reviewing Gerard Donovan’s collection of short stories COUNTRY OF THE GRAND, starts banging on about the ‘Great Post-Celtic Tiger Novel’ over at The Guardian, to wit:

“Some of Ireland’s wisest literary commentators have been troubled in recent times by a reticence they perceive among the country’s writers of fiction on the matter of the new prosperity. The novelists have told us nothing – thus runs the argument. An Irish Amis has proved reluctant to appear.
  “Like most debating stances, it obscures as much as it reveals, but its assumptions are more enlightening than its conclusions. Mass-market fiction, the historical novel, the thriller, the crime novel and other incarnations of genre-based storytelling have not been judged worthy of critical notice, no matter their level of engagement with the now deceased Celtic Tiger. Where is our Bret Easton Ellis? Our BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES?”

  In the prevailing spirit of self-biggery-uppery, as modelled by Master Bateman when he voted for I PREDICT A RIOT during the halcyon days of the GTPNIN debate, I’m going to say that blowing up a hospital is a metaphor for deconstructing the Celtic Tiger, and in particular the way Ireland shot its economic boom in the foot (or paw, if you will), because that’s the kind of malarkey the literary types who decide these things seem to like, although I may not be entirely serious in doing so on the basis that novels lauded as ‘the Great [Insert Your Own Pet Obsession Here] Novel’ generally tend to be anything but because they’re too busy trying to disguise the self-aggrandizing promotion of half-baked theories therein. Or is it just me?

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “Tough, ironically self-aware, loyal, Ed [Loy] is the perfect Chandleresque hero. But the book’s various twists, including rumours of Catholic abuse at a now-closed home for boys, wrap themselves around a dense core of Irish authenticity, all the voices pitch-perfect, all the developments dark,” says P.G. Koch at the Houston Chronicle of THE DYING BREED (aka THE PRICE OF BLOOD). Here at CAP, some chancing wastrel called Declan Burke agrees: “THE DYING BREED is a complex, labyrinthine, gritty, coarse (and, yes, bloody) novel that exudes a brash confidence and an ambition that lies beyond its grasp – a description, it should be said, that could easily be applied to the nation that spawned the novel.” As does Diana Pinckley at the Times-Picayune: “THE PRICE OF BLOOD is violent yet compelling. If it’s Irish action you want, pick up this book and you’ll be off to the races.” Then there’s Answer Girl’s hup-ya: “What [Loy] finds is a horrifying tangle of lies, abuse and perversion that owes a bit to Webster’s THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. Very well done, as disturbing as anything I’ve read in a while, and appropriate to St. Patrick’s Day only in making me feel I needed a drink after.” As for Entertainment Weekly: “PI Ed Loy fancies himself a Dashiell Hammett throwback (picture Bogart with a brogue) … Since Declan Hughes suggests in THE PRICE OF BLOOD that those who remember Irish history are often doomed to repeat it, it’s no wonder his Dubliners are always after a drink: In Ireland, forgetfulness begets prosperity. B+,” says Jake Tracer. Onwards to Brian McGilloway’s latest: “If you like the books of Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson or other police procedurals, you’ll want to pick up the book BORDERLANDS by Brian McGilloway … I’ve just finished the advance reading copy of the second book in the series (coming in April) called GALLOW’S LANE. It’s just as good, if better not than the first book,” says
Rosalyn at The Dewey Divas and the Dudes. A couple of early reviews for Derek Landy’s follow-up to SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, PLAYING WITH FIRE: “It’s a wild supernatural romp with vampires, skeletons, monsters, giant spiders, and other seriously creepy creatures. There’s plenty of action (it’s almost movie script-like in its pace) to keep even the most reluctant reader interested, but my favourite part was the snappy dialogue. Skulduggery is sarcastic, clever, and funny, which I suppose is an appropriate tone for a skeleton detective,” says Jenny at Insert Clever Title Here. Staying with Landy, The Siblings Scarington couldn’t really be more positive: “Landy’s strengths from the first book are back, and perfected. The pacing is spot on. There are no wasted scenes, and the book never loses steam … you’ll find yourself barrelling through the book because the action just never stops … Superior in every way to the first, SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: PLAYING WITH FIRE is a thrill ride of excitement that never lets up and will capture a child’s imagination with its tale of danger and suspense!” Boo-ya! Meanwhile, back at Ronan O’Brien’s ranch-shaped interweb yokeybus: “CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ANGEL is a fresh, highly original debut by a writer not afraid to take on the bigger issues of life. Fate and love in their many guises stalk these pages, as well as a man who, like the hero in a Greek tragedy, rails against the destiny mapped out to him, trying only to safeguard what he holds dear. It will grip you from the first paragraph,” says Maggie O’Farrell … A quick couple of big-ups for Catherine O’Flynn’s debut: “If there is criticism to be made of WHAT WAS LOST, it’s that the storylines are too swiftly and neatly wrapped up in the conclusion … But for a debut novel, WHAT WAS LOST is amazingly accomplished,” says Pete Carvill of 3AM Magazine. The outrageously suave Suave Harv agrees: “I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine O’Flynn’s WHAT WAS LOST. One of the best new novels I’ve read for quite a while. Splendid stuff.” They’re still coming in for Benny Blanco: “Black (pseudonym of Booker Prize–winner John Banville) is a fine writer, reminiscent of P.D. James in his care for language and his emphasis on psychologically complex characters … Black weaves his characters through a neat and original plot that descends into the dark depths of Quirke's family history and rises to the highest ranks of the Catholic church,” says Paul at The Journal of a Good Life about CHRISTINE FALLS. Of Books and Bicycles likes THE SILVER SWAN: “I enjoyed the book for its plot, but even more so for the relationships the novel describes; as happens in some of the other crime novels I’ve read, the crime seems almost like an excuse to throw some characters together in difficult circumstances to see how they behave themselves.” Back to Rosalyn at The Dewey Divas and the Dudes for her verdict on Cora Harrison’s debut: “If you like historical mysteries, you’ll love MY LADY JUDGE, the first book in a new series by Cora Harrison set in the 16th century in the remote region of Ireland called The Burren. Fans of Peter Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma series will enjoy …” Apis Mellifica likes Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME: “Is this a descent into madness or a reasoned response to calculated conspiracy involving his former lover? In its neatness, the ending disappoints, but the journey there is a wild ride poetically blanketed in the onset of winter’s weather.” Over at Hour, MJ Stone is impressed with Liam Durcan’s debut: “Once I cracked open GARCIA’S HEART, I couldn’t put it down … Durcan’s debut novel was both captivating and eloquent.” Chris at The Book Swede likes DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD: “Written well, funny in places, and a captivating read … This is a good book, and the characterisation was one of the best bits. Sadly, though, there seemed to be a sudden change in many characters attitudes towards the end of the book, but on the whole, I was surprised by just how good this was.” Critical Mick has come out swinging on behalf of IN THE WOODS: “Tana French has put her name to a book worth stealing, and worth fighting over.” Thank you, Mr Mick … A couple of strong reviews for Sam Millar’s latest: “This is a tale of revenge, greed and hate, and Kane is surrounded by people he cannot trust. The writing is bleak and raw, best accompanied by a stiff drink or two. BLOODSTORM does what is says on the cover, and bludgeons you with the grime and fury of an existence you can be relieved is either in fiction, or belongs to somebody else,” says Adrian Magson at Crime Reports in Shots Magazine. Shelley Marsden at The Irish World (no link) agrees: “Brutal language and bleak, darkly comic undercurrents … powerful and unsettling writing, that seeps into your bones like Belfast rain … Recommended reading by the NI Tourist Board this is not, but as a straight-talking crime thriller, it’s at the top ...” They’re still coming in for Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY: “I really enjoy [the Artemis Fowl series] because it’s the anti-Potter. It’s a series that’s just as intriguing and well-written as Harry Potter, but without all the baggage that’s been attached to it,” reckons The Pew Reviews. The inevitable Ken Bruen big-up runneth thusly: “The prolific Bruen has three series going: Galway, London and America are the settings. And his Irish gift for words is in full flower, portraying loneliness with a description of Taylor charging his cell phone every day, even though no one ever calls him on it: “Carried it like a sad prayer in my jacket,”” says Diana Pinckley at the Times-Picayune. Over at The Telegraph, Dinah Hall laments Siobhan Dowd’s untimely death: “Siobhan Dowd died shortly after writing her third novel, BOG CHILD, which makes reading it a painful pleasure because you can’t help wondering what other great books might have been … Dowd’s lightness of touch allows humour and poignancy to shine through.” Finally, a couple of hup-yas for Lord John of Connolly: “This glorious novel is built about the Irish author’s love of storytelling and the supernatural … A wonderful book to read aloud to the family or hug to yourself which embraces not just the Celtic tradition but the Brothers Grimm,” says Lorri Amsden at Poisoned Pen Fiction Review of THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS. And over at Entertainment Weekly (via Powell’s Books), they’re impressed with THE UNQUIET: “Gimmicks aside, complex hero Parker is the chief draw in THE UNQUIET – he’s got a revenge-inspired evil streak to him, but metes out justice freely to those who truly deserve it. (Grade: B)”. Erm, Lord John? We know a few elves who merit some justice, if you wouldn’t mind calling around with your velvet cat o’nine tails …

On Celtic Tigers And Wingéd Elephants

It was bad enough seeing all those pink elephants on Paddy’s Day, but then we started seeing Wingéd Elephants – or one, at least, bearing the welcome news that Gerard Donovan has been beavering away over a hot stove-shaped sheet of paper. Quoth the Wingéd one’s blurb elves:

Gerard Donovan, author of JULIUS WINSOME and SUNLESS, examines the changing face of Ireland in YOUNG IRELANDERS, a stunning and elegiac collection of interrelated stories. In this marvellous volume coming in July 2008, Donovan returns to his home country of Ireland with a passion. The stories in YOUNG IRELANDERS shine a fresh light on the New Ireland and how the Irish are coping with its rewards and pressures: immigration, mid-life crisis, adultery and divorce, a lost sense of place and history, and of course, what to do with all that prosperity.

Erm, not at all well, as it happens, and it’ll be interesting to see how many of Donovan’s stories deal with the explosion in crime that has accompanied the Celtic Tiger. Given that the original Young Irelanders were prone to kicking out the jams once in a while, there’s a strong possibility that Donovan will be preaching some kind of radical social consciousness revolution. There’s also a strong possibility that he won’t. Only time, that notoriously prevaricating doity rat, will tell …

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “[Liam] Durcan’s outstanding debut novel walks a taut line between skilful thriller and philosophical novel of ideas … he already writes with an ease reminiscent of Graham Greene … As the plot unfolds, the novel takes on a breathtaking immediacy that will awe readers and tune them into probing ethical dilemmas,” says Library Journal’s Christopher Bussman of GARCIA’S HEART (via Barnes & Noble). At the same link, Mr & Mrs Kirkus agree: “Canadian neurologist and award-winning writer Durcan plumbs his stock in trade to inform this audacious literary debut, its purpose no less than finding a window to the soul … [Durcan’s] shrewd, intricate debut reveals a multi-talented artist.” Hmmm, nice. They’re still coming in for Benny Blanco’s debut: “CHRISTINE FALLS is carefully crafted, layered, story … Black has written an excellent character-driven story with a compelling story to move it forward,” says Mack Lundy at Revish. Over at Shadow of the Raven, David Lampe-Wilson concurs: “A great read whether you like mysteries or not,” says he pithily. What say you, Nancy O? “Very noir-ish in tone, CHRISTINE FALLS may not be something that mainstream mystery readers will pounce on, and more’s the pity, since they’ll be missing a splendid piece of writing …Recommended.” Thank you kindly, ma’am … A trio of big-ups for Siobhan Dowd this week, starting with BOG CHILD: “The characters are beautifully drawn and totally convincing … Overall, the story flows well and works wonderfully as a novel. Certainly one of the best Young Adult novels I’ve read for a long time,” says Colin Mulhern at Chicklish. Maylin at The Dewey Divas and the Dudes (!) likes A SWIFT PURE CRY: “The relationship between the siblings is wonderfully written and this novel has one of the most exuberant endings I’ve read in a long time. Beautifully written and award winning.” Staying with the Dewey Divas, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY gets a mention too: “Ted is an original, charming creation and half the fun of this novel is getting inside his head as he uses his knowledge about weather systems to logically make sense of the world. Great fun.” Lovely stuff … Over at Asylum, John Self likes Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME: “In Julius’s remote landscape, “distances collapse, time is thrown out,” and the book achieves a similar trickery by being both spare and immersive, short but engrossing right up to the breathless closing chapters.” Thank you, John … Ronan O’Brien’s CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ANGEL is still impressing ’em, to wit: “It’s a clever plot. The story holds together well as a narrative, hurtling towards its end as classical tragedy, and the main character is engaging in how he deals with adversity … On balance, the heart leaps up at this new Irish novel,” says John S. Doyle at the Sunday Independent. Beth at Beth’s Reading List likes Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY: “I enjoyed this – the description of fairy technology is always intriguing and amazing. Colfer draws the new characters with as much personality as the ones we already know.” Meanwhile, over at Stone Library’s Book Blog, Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT gets an Eoin Colfer comparison: “Fans of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series, or anyone who likes a dash of violence and danger served up with magical humour will enjoy this book.” Finally, it’s a couple of big-ups for The Artist Formerly Known as Colin Bateman. “I found I PREDICT A RIOT to be a hugely funny and very entertaining read … it is also a murder / mystery, a crime thriller and a hilarious piece of social commentary on Belfast, and the current situation in Northern Ireland life,” says Austin Lynch at the Fermanagh Herald, while Gerard Brennan has been reading his little cotton socks off: “This last few weeks I’ve been reading a lot of crime fiction. So far Declan Hughes’ THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD is impressing me, I highly recommend Ken Bruen’s PRIEST, and Colin Bateman’s latest novel I PREDICT A RIOT was a pure Belfast blast.” Yes indeed, yon Bateman is pure literary Semtex, we find …

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “Bruen covers and makes manifest many tenets of human pathology. He keeps the reader wanting to cover one eye and peek through thin spaces to see what happens next, since there will inevitably be someone getting a shot to the face, a sloppy, bloody mix-up, or the classic narrow escape that turns into being much more devastating than anyone could have anticipated,” says Francesca Camilla at Pop Matters of AMERICAN SKIN. Over at Revish, Mack Lundy has been reading PRIEST: “Ken Bruen writes clean, spare prose without anything that could be considered filler. He is the master of the one word paragraph … PRIEST is a dark look at contemporary Ireland, the Church, and society. It is a compelling read.” Alan in Belfast likes David Park’s latest, THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER: “It’s a great book. A book of this time and of this place,” says he, pithily. Equally pithy but no less direct is Lois Peterson’s verdict on WHAT WAS LOST at LP Words: “What can I say but ‘Brilliant’ in craft, theme, story.” S.J. Hollis at I Must Write That Down likes Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: “It reads like a damn good crack!fic and the one-liners are worth the cover-price alone. Skulduggery is simply a fantastic character.” Over at The Times, Nicolette Jones is very impressed by Siobhan Dowd’s BOG CHILD: “This book is sometimes funny, despite the seriousness of its subject. It is also psychologically and historically convincing, showing the impact of politics on domestic life. The work of an outstanding writer, it is preoccupied with the preciousness of life and the finality of death.” Over at the Irish Times, Margrit Cruickshank agrees: “In Dowd’s handling of complicated plot strands, her lyrical prose, her humanity and her humour, we recognise a talent which was been very sadly cut short.” They’re still coming in for Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME: “Donovan’s disturbing novel brilliantly describes the pleasures of being alone and the simultaneous perils of loneliness … the shocking contrast between nature’s calm and humankind’s capacity for violence is superbly realised,” says Ian Critchley at the Sunday Times. Back to Mack Lundy at Revish for his thoughts on Declan Hughes’ THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD: “If you like classic-style private investigator stories, on the edge of being hard-boiled, with good, witty writing, I highly recommend THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD … There is blood, violence, and swearing using at least one word we don’t use often in the US.” Hmmm, must be ‘feck’ … Nicola at Back To Books likes DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD: “This is a dark fantasy, set in a violent world and fortunately, the first in a series. I hope I don’t have to wait too long to read the next one! Highly recommended!” Finally, a couple of big-ups for Tana French’s IN THE WOODS, to wit: “IN THE WOODS by Tana French is set in my favourite virtually-visited country, the land of magic, great literature and outstanding beverages, Ireland … This book will be in my top ten of the year. Beautiful writing and good character development,” says Mary Saums at Femmes Fatales. But we’ll leave the last word to Bernd Kochanowski at International Crime: “It is a daring book. A lesser writer would have abbreviated the lush text, reined in the narrative flow and dealt with the end in a more conventional manner. However, this is multilayered, moves stylistically from one subgenre to another, and pleases again and again with opulent and felicitous phrases.” Just like Bernd himself, as it just so serendipitously happens …

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “She twists reality without the 10 cent words and creates mystery without overly complicating a plot. The effect is smooth … This is what I’m talking about when I say I like literary fiction that straddles the commercial line,” says Elizabeth Jote of Catherine O’Flynn’s WHAT WAS LOST at Glorious Paper Cuts. “The accolades are all well deserved … Despite the humour, the loss of sweet, sad Kate Meaney imbues every page with sorrow and regret … O’Flynn’s compassion towards her characters means that this novel is far more uplifting than it should be,” concurs Emily Maguire at the Sydney Morning Herald. Arlene Hunt’s MISSING PRESUMED DEAD gets the thumbs up from Sarah Lapsley at Verbal Magazine: “It’s an interesting premise, pulled off with panache by Hunt … What results is a roller-coaster ride of a novel – as gripping as it is gritty, with the character of Quigley often providing a welcome and likeable turn as comic relief … Hunt delivers a cracking read with this, her fourth novel.” Which is nice … Staying with Verbal, Catherine McGrotty likes Sean Mahon’s THE BLOODY NORTH – INFAMOUS ULSTER MURDER CASES: “This is gripping stuff, as compulsive and fascinating as anything from the pages of a thriller, with the added frisson that these are no mere inventions – these crimes actually happened.” Onward to the inevitable Ken Bruen big-up: “SLIDE isn’t so much a black comedy as it is a dark raucous riot running rampant through the streets destroying storefronts and giggling like cracked-out banshees,” says Brian Lindemuth at Fantasy Book Spot. They’re still coming in for Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: “While Stephanie is not a realistic portrayal of a 12-year-old, this book is a lot of fun and just dark and mature enough to keep it interesting,” reckons Degolar at Through the Prism. Over at blog-title-of-the week Nincompooperies, Emily agrees: “It’s an action-packed fantasy that’s not Harry Potter ... In fact, I tend to think that SP would kick HP’s tuches in a darkened alley.” Jochem at Sons of Spade likes John Connolly’s THE UNQUIET: “The lyrical crime writing of Connolly compares to James Lee Burke. As always with Connolly’s Parker novels, a fantastic PI novel that shows what you can do within the genre when you respect what came before but don’t feel restricted by it. Highly recommended.” Meanwhile, Ronan O’Brien’s CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ANGEL gets the Irish Times treatment: “In many ways, his hero is reminiscent of Patrick McCabe’s masterful creation Francie Brady, and O’Brien even nods his acknowledgement to this precursor by having Charlie read THE BUTCHER BOY ... Is CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ANGEL a commentary on Celtic Tiger Ireland? Unintentionally perhaps. Is it a diverting read? Most definitely,” says Derek Hand … Spare a thought for JULIUS WINSOME: “I loved it. I’m a language freak; I’ll geek out completely when I read a well constructed sentence, and there are a plethora in this novel,” says Nick at Biblio Fool. They’re still pouring in for Tana French’s IN THE WOODS: “An engrossing book that I only took about two days to read. I cried, but then, I always cry at books. It reminded me, somehow, of THE BLACK DAHLIA … Semi-mystery, semi-cop-story, semi-drama, semi-totally-depressing-story- about-humanity-being-lame. Recommended,” says Lauren at Laurenisms. Justine at Fresh Library agrees: “Tana French does an amazing job in creating the characters and the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the woods … I highly recommend this book!” Ken Bruen has blurbed John McFetridge’s second novel, to wit: “EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE is just one hell of a read, takes off like a bullet and never lets up, like a wondrous mix of Elmore Leonard and McBain but with a dazzling Canadian slant that is as fresh as it is darkly hilarious.” Over at Richard’s World, Richard is in two minds about Benny Blanco’s THE SILVER SWAN: “I enjoyed the story, but found the writing style not to my taste. Disjointed and blunt. The general tempo is very good, but never seems fixed in time or writing style, making this book a hard read.” Andrea Sisco at Armchair Interviews likes Declan Hughes’ second Ed Loy novel: “THE COLOUR OF BLOOD is compelling. It’s dark and gritty, the characters are complex and well-developed, the plot is smooth and the setting of Ireland is rich and lush. Waiting for the next Loy novel is glorious anticipation. Hughes is quickly claiming his place in the field of exciting writing.” Finally, the late and very much lamented Siobhan Dowd’s BOG CHILD is garnering a plethora of raves. “Exquisite writing with a very matter-of-fact Irish lilt to the vernacular … and a definitive fictional account of recent history that still may not have made much of an appearance in children’s literature,” says Dove Grey Reader, while Jenny Valentine in The Times concurs: “Teenagers now have to study the Troubles in history, and Dowd will give them an invaluable insight into religious divides both old and new, through a hero who is utterly believable and wholly captivating. Most of all, it evokes rural Ireland with the clear-sighted love of an author who will be much missed, and who came into her true voice with this book.” But we’ll leave the final word to the Book Witch: “BOG CHILD is a masterpiece. I can’t think of another way to describe it.” Yes, hmmm … We were hoping for something along the lines of ‘wing of bat and eye of newt’, but we suppose ‘masterpiece’ will have to do us for now …

Books Of The Year # 4: JULIUS WINSOME by Gerard Donovan

Being the continuing stooooooory of our ‘2007 Round-Up Of Books Wot My Friends Wrote’ compilation, designed to save us the hassle of buying them actual pressies. To wit:

JULIUS WINSOME by Gerard Donovan
Julius Winsome lives alone in the northern Maine woods, with only his dog Hobbes to keep him company. When Hobbes is shot to death by an unknown hunter, the mild-mannered Julius takes down the rifle his grandfather brought home from the trenches of WWI and sets out to wreak revenge. The simple plot outline, however, is a stark framework upon which Gerard Donovan stretches a compelling tale. Its telling is drum-skin tight and yet layered with a fierce hatred, poignant grief, an almost unbearable loneliness and a powerful desire to restore the cosmic balance that has been tilted imperceptibly out of kilter by the unwarranted killing of Hobbes – a voracious reader, Julius is a connoisseur of arcane Shakespearian phrases, and particularly those that hark back to a more primitive form of mediaeval, and perhaps even primordial, justice. Despite the elegiac tone, this is a real page-turner. Julius Winsome is as fascinating a character as has emerged from mainstream fiction for some time, an entirely realistic borderline psychopath who garners the reader’s sympathy even as he questions his own motives and the extent to which he is prepared to pursue his deranged logic. Donovan’s prose is masterfully controlled, restrained and elegantly simple but devastating in its execution, the overall effect putting this reader in mind of Tom Ripley reimagined by Cormac McCarthy.- Declan Burke

This review is republished with the kind permission of It’s A Crime!

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “It’s possible that Banville is the best writer at work in the genre at the moment, in terms of artfulness at least. His prose is simply brilliant, gorgeous and evocative and poetic. The sentences he writes stun, the descriptions of the people and the city seem lovingly penned,” says Fiona Walker of Benny Blanco's THE SILVER SWAN over at Euro Crime. “Grubby, creepy, sexy and dark, THE SILVER SWAN marks John Banville’s arrival as an unlikely new voice on the crime scene, rather than a snooty one-off visitor slumming it,” reckons Claire Sutherland at Perth Now. Over at the Daily Telegraph, Susanna Yager agrees: “Benjamin Black, John Banville’s crime alter ego, has followed up the acclaimed CHRISTINE FALLS with THE SILVER SWAN, another beautifully written but bleak tale featuring the melancholy pathologist, Quirke.” As does Joanna Hines at Time Out: “Black / Banville is unable to suppress his delight in observation and description, the need to stay and explore the endless present moment, and that is both the glory and the downfall of this valiant effort to fit in with a particular genre … This novel will probably appeal more to Banville’s existing fans than to anyone expecting the undemanding promise held out by crime fiction.” Hmm, snooty. No such quibbles from Jake Kerridge, also at the Daily Telegraph: “If CHRISTINE FALLS was an angrier book, [THE SILVER SWAN] is sadder. Black ensures that the familiar satisfactions of unravelling a mystery plot lead us to a very unsatisfying fact: that despicable crimes stem as easily from the most humdrum emotions of ordinary people as from the machinations of the power-hungry.” Meanwhile, here’s a late one for CHRISTINE FALLS: “A stylish, atmospheric thriller that is both beautifully written and solidly plotted … this elegantly crafted book with its haunting story is deeply satisfying,” raves Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, via Mystery Books Reviews. Onward to Claire Kilroy’s most recent offering: “TENDERWIRE is a carefully-balanced book, constructed with as much skill and precision as the instrument at the centre of it, and as haunting as the strains of its music,” says Hags, Harlots and Heroines, via Faye L. Booth … They’re still tumbling in for IN THE WOODS, to wit: “Just finished IN THE WOODS by Tana French and loved it. A great atmospheric mystery ...” says Janey at Book Crossing. “Brilliant! I enjoyed this book more than any I have read for quite a while. It is very well written and the story builds up beautifully. An astonishing first novel. It is very atmospheric and weaves a web of intrigue. The characters are believable and the whole book is excellent,” reckons one of the Bailiff Bridge Library Crime Readers’ Group. Oline H. Cogdill at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel includes IN THE WOODS in her ‘Best of 2007 debuts’ round-up: “An intelligent, atmospheric thriller blends the gothic novel with the modern mystery.” Spookily, the Baltimore Sun agrees virtually word-for-word: “Beautifully written, this intelligent thriller is laden with an atmosphere that blends shades of the gothic novel with the modern mystery.” On to Ronan Bennett’s latest: “ZUGZWANG is a novel worth a few days of your time, and if you love the game of chess, you won’t be able to get enough of this text that profiles the somewhat bizarre traits of a few well known chess players,” says iGoChess. There’s a double whammy for Andrew Nugent from Jill at Murder By The Book: “THE FOUR COURTS MURDER is written in the wry, elegant style of Cyril Hare and Edmund Crispin; SECOND BURIAL FOR A BLACK PRINCE is a more serious and affecting work, exploring the murder of a member of London’s Nigerian community with sensitivity, power, and astonishing insights into a little-known culture.” Mmm, lovely … LitMs at the Stinging Fly discussion board likes Mia Gallagher’s HELLFIRE quite a lot, to wit: “An amazing book – from its sprawling dark mythology to its spot-on Dublin skanger speak. A vivid, audacious, messy masterpiece … a brave and rare achievement.” Finally, Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME is still generating raves, and from all points on the globe. First to the Caribbean: “The writing is sparse yet superb. The characters are heavy yet approachable. The story is quick yet involved. The result is an enthralling expose on the fall of an ostensibly normal man who is doomed by his inability to allow emotions or morality to impact fundamental decisions,” says a reader’s review at ttgapers, while Brienne Burnett, at The Program in Oz, is also impressed: “As a novel JULIUS WINSOME is constructed and written extremely well, with each chapter journeying you through Julius’s mental states which alternate from grief to anger to detached madness … The story ends like it begins, mysterious and quaint. It really is a lovely piece of writing.” It most certainly is that, ma’am …

The Monday Review. But Lawks! ’Tis A Tuesday!

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “[Ken] Bruen’s brilliant, machine-gun quick dialogue and furious pacing makes him one of my all-time favourites and a perennial pick for the Notable list,” reckons Seth Marko of AMMUNITION at The Book Catapult’s End-of-Year Notable list. Over at Spinetingler Magazine, Sandra Ruttan agrees: “Far too many authors mistake volume for detail, and waste a lot of words never saying what Bruen can nail in a single sentence. He’s taken the lesson of writing short stories – that every single word must count – applied it to writing novels, and the result is stories that pull you into them and refuse to let you go until you’ve finished the last page. Somehow, Bruen also manages to pull off the difficult task of having an ensemble cast that never feels too large, weaves several storylines together in a way that seems effortless, and makes his lead a character who is completely unlikeable, and yet somehow endearing.” Brant endearing? Criminy … Onward to The Saturday Review, and Dan’s take on Andrew Pepper’s THE LAST DAYS OF NEWGATE: “Pyke is the very definition of anti-hero. Normally I am not attracted to amoral protagonists, preferring my heroes to be a little cleaner cut, but for some reason I really took to Pyke, and will certainly attempt to follow him on any subsequent adventures.” Which is nice … “The original characters (mainly Skulduggery and Stephanie but also the secondary characters) and the witty dialogue between them strengthen the basic good-triumphs-over-evil plot,” says Laura Baas at the Library and Literary Miscellany of Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT … They’re starting to trickle in for Julie Parson’s latest, I SAW YOU: “Madness, revenge and atonement all intermingle, as the pace of the novel increases towards a violent and bloody climax. Julie Parsons has written a page-turner that will keep the reader fascinated right to the very end,” says Vincent Banville at the Irish Times. Staying with Fab Vinnie, this time on Ruth Dudley Edwards’ latest: “MURDERING AMERICANS, as well as being a mystery thriller, casts a bleary satiric eye on the institutionalised correctness of American academia. Lovely stuff.” And now for something completely ZUGZWANG: “Bennett deftly evokes the atmosphere of a society in which an international chess tournament can seize the attention of the local populace while terrorist bombs are exploding around the city … ZUGZWANG moves quickly – there is not a moment when history gets in the way of the plot [take that, Marx!] – and yet the underlying message comes through quite clearly: The real madness in St. Petersburg is not in Dr. Spethmann’s office,” says Michael Wade at Execupundit. Over at Wynne’s World of Books, Wynne – for lo! It is he! – agrees: “The plot is convoluted with lots of twists and turns involving revolutionary and counter-revolutionary plots – all great fun but infused with political and ethical dilemmas … A really great read – highly recommended.” The Sunday Tribune carried a yearly round-up of best books which included Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME: “A dark, vivid, and gently powerful novel about revenge and loneliness … delivered in precise prose as cold, sharp, and evocative as the shot described ringing out in the cold Maine October afternoon at the beginning of the book. O’Donovan’s narrator … is much more complicated than the normal run of the mill vengeful protagonist … and this is a book about the nature of revenge which is satisfyingly complex.” The Trib also liked Tana French’s IN THE WOODS, to wit: “The prose manages to be smart and satisfying without falling into the easy trap of being overly literary, making this the perfect antidote to the more pedestrian efforts which clog up the market. A very satisfying debut with a rich feel for character.” Sean Moncrieff’s THE HISTORY OF THINGS also went down a treat with the Trib: “A novel which is fully rounded and imbued with a sense of imminent doom … The various miseries inflicted upon Dalton are described with the kind of subtle detail that makes your skin crawl, and Moncrieff has a pitch-perfect feel for describing the aftermath of a broken marriage, and the slow steady disintegration of a mind under stress.” As for Declan Hughes’ THE COLOUR OF BLOOD, don’t get them Trib-types started. Ooops, too late: “This is a book that could so easily have become an unconvincing pastiche, maybe two parts Chinatown to one part Jim Rockford; but Hughes’s writing has the intelligence and integrity to allow him to create something which stands assuredly on its own two feet. If you like your detective fiction written with smarts, and a meaty, mature, and satisfying edge to it, then this book is for you.” Finally, Benny Blanco’s THE SILVER SWAN is still hauling in the big-ups, starting with Tom Adair in The Scotsman: “You sense that Banville / Black found it easy and wrote it quickly, wrote it with relish – one of the reasons you enjoy it, despite a nagging feeling of hunger for something meatier on the inside. Its descriptive power is delicious … all in all it’s a romp of a read, a compelling fix.” Over at The Telegraph, Tom Fleming is largely in agreement: “The writing and characterisation are enough to sustain the attention when the plot occasionally stalls. This is a literary thriller that merits the name.” And that, we’re almost entirely certain, is a very good thing …

Et Tu, Brute

A hat-tip to Euro Crime for pointing us in the direction of a smashing interview with Gerard Donovan over at The Book Depository, during which the author of JULIUS WINSOME discourses at length on practically every subject under the sun bar his preferred grassy knoll theory. Our favourite snippet, regarding the brutal reality into which the human ‘moral compass’ is set, runneth thusly:

MT: Your character Julius lives in cabin in the Maine woods with only his dog for company: is that an existence that part of you envies?
GD: “I do lead an existence similar to the lead character’s, on a farm in the woods with a dog and books, though not nearly as many. What interests me thematically in the novel is what kind of moral compass we have as humans, or more directly, what kind of moral compass I have. What would people really do if a beloved dog or indeed companion of any kind were shot and they could exact revenge without legal consequences? This is a question that haunts me. The answer is that I don’t have a moral compass aside from the basic agreements regarding normal behaviour I hold with other humans, but, as I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t quite trust fiction that showcases characters who in the end demonstrate what good people they are. Where is the border between grief and revenge? And who stops at that border, and who continues beyond? Julius Winsome continues, using increasingly archaic English as the violence continues. I envy him that, I envy his ability to pursue, I envy his complete preparation to bring violence ruthlessly to those who have practiced it themselves.”

We’re thinking Vin Diesel for the movie. Any other suggestions?

The Monday Review

The Bruen / Starr combo has been beeping Mostly Fiction’s not inconsiderable jeep recently, to wit: “While writers Ken Bruen’s and Jason Starr’s collaboration in BUST is a farcical comic success, with plenty of dark humour and quite an ensemble of screwy characters, the result is a fascinating, enjoyable read,” reckons Hagen Baye, before continuing with “SLIDE is another masterful writing effort by these two skilled (and uninhibited) writers, who know how to create and bring to life bizarre characters and unusual plots … this is another outrageous, out-of-control, comic success of Bruen’s and Starr’s.” Lovely. Upward and onward to MURDERING AMERICANS, and Mary Elizabeth Devine is impressed over at Reviewing the Evidence: “First let me say that my role models are the Red Queen from Alice’s adventures in THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and Baroness Jack Troutbeck from Ruth Dudley Edwards’ series. The Baroness is so deliciously politically incorrect that she makes Maggie Thatcher look like Mary Poppins.” Crikey! Yet more big-ups for John Connolly, to wit: “THE UNQUIET introduces its plot and characters, and then steps back and lets everything unfold neatly. It is a bit more of a linear tale than THE BLACK ANGEL was, and everything seems to jibe more evenly. Almost like the story wrote itself, actually,” gushes Bookins via Amazon reviews, where you’ll also find this - “The story is still dark, gruesome, at times scary and has a large body count. But it is also atmospheric, lyrical and completely enthralling.” – and a host of others. Meanwhile, over at Tonight, Roland Solomon is somewhat more restrained: “Well-crafted and well-paced, with a contemporary theme of child abuse and paedophilia. Connolly’s writing has more depth and beauty than the average quick-read of the genre.” The Builder’s Book Site quite likes Gerard Donovan’s JULIUS WINSOME: “It’s a brilliant meditation on revenge that completely draws the reader into Julius’ orbit and has one alternately rooting for and against his tragic quest. Ignore the terrible cover art, this is a book worth savouring.” As for Paul Charles’ THE DUST OF DEATH, Alan Geary at the Nottingham Evening Post is predicting, erm, tourist trips: “This is a page-turner: you do actually want to know whodunit and why … The scenery in Donegal is breath-taking so perhaps in a decade there’ll be tourist trips to Starrett Country.” Finally, recent Shamus winner Declan Hughes gets the huppiest of hup-yas from Hell Notes for THE COLOUR OF BLOOD, to wit: “Irish Noir is a genre all to itself, with a dark, horrific side that keeps readers coming back for more. If you’d like a taste, Declan Hughes is the place to start.” Don’t let anyone tell you size doesn’t matter, people – Dec is the man who put the ‘huge’ into Hughes …