“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Ian Sansom

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?
Georges Simenon, THE MAN WHO WATCHED TRAINS GO BY.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Bartleby the Scrivener.

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
The Bible.

Most satisfying writing moment?
There are no satisfying writing moments.

The best Irish crime novel is …?
Flann O’Brien, AT-SWIM-TWO-BIRDS.

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
See above.

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
It’s all good.

The pitch for your next book is …?
Currently under inspection.

Who are you reading right now?
Stefan Zweig.

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
I refuse to do business with terrorists.

The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Oi va voi.

Ian Sansom’s THE BAD BOOK AFFAIR is published by Fourth Estate.

Now That’s What I Call A Review: Ian Sansom on Stuart Neville’s THE TWELVE

Ian Sansom reviewed THE TWELVE for the Irish Times last weekend, and gave it a right good big-up, with the gist running thusly:

With its chorus of ghosts, its gore, and its endless complications, THE TWELVE is basically a revenge tragedy in the Elizabethan mode, scripted by Quentin Tarantino and produced by the makers of The Bourne Identity. The hero in a revenge tragedy, of course, is also a monster, and Neville’s hero is possessed of virtues that are almost entirely negative, his motives and decisions thoroughly dubious …
  The novel is by no means perfect – there is perhaps a funeral too many, and too much hopping in and out of cars, too many mobile phone tip-offs, a sequel-indicating ending. But it possesses a profound and wider significance. There has, in recent years, been an upsurge of powerful crime and thriller writing set in – or by authors based in – Northern Ireland. One thinks most readily of Brian McGilloway and Eoin McNamee. These are novelists and novels possessed not only of a singularity of voice but also of a subject, and a velocity.
  It may simply be that there is a feeling that in Northern Ireland those who have triumphed, those who now have power, are nothing but despoilers who deserve to be humiliated and tormented. Or it may be that there is a generation of writers uniquely, tragically equipped to be able to think through complex issues of justice and mercy. Whichever: we are witnessing a clearing out of foul, Stygian stables. In Hamlet – the revenge tragedian’s revenge tragedy – the Ghost is “Doomed for a certain time to walk the night/ And for the day confined to fast in fires,/ Till the foul crimes done in days of nature/ Are burnt and purged away”. THE TWELVE is an important part of the purging. – Ian Sansom

  For the rest, clickety-click here …

The Sunday Roast

It’s Sunday and it’s the proverbial rack of lamb, albeit of the cold and sweet variety. Yep, it’s our favourite ice cream bloggers, Sean and Kieran Murphy of Dingle, who are celebrating the publication of their tome THE BOOK OF SWEET THINGS through the Mercier Press. Apparently their recipe for brown bread ice cream is only da bomb … Back to more conventional crime fiction-related matters, and John McFetridge submits his DIRTY SWEET to Marshall Zeringue’s Page 69 test, to wit: “Page 69 is the end of a scene. Boris, the driver of the getaway car, is picking up his Uncle Khozha (the shooter he brought in) at a hotel to take him to the airport to get him on a plane back to New York. But Khozha has been spending time with the strippers from the club Boris owns and doesn’t want to go so fast. Now Khozha decides he’s going to have lunch with his old friend, Boris’s mother …” Hmmm, colour us intrigued … A quick jaunt now across the Atlantic to Gerard Brennan’s Crime Scene Norn Iron, where, amid a veritable cornucopia of crime fiction matters, Gerard features interviews with Ian Sansom and some chancing wastrel called Declan Burke … Staying with Norn Iron crime, and GALLOWS LANE scribe Brian McGilloway has one of those fancy-pants podcast malarkey yokes going over at the Pan Macmillan interweb thingy. And while we’re on the McGilloway-shaped subject, Detectives Beyond Borders has been perusing GALLOWS LANE … The Irish World hosts an interview with Paul Charles, he of THE DUST OF DEATH and the Camden Town-based Christy Kennedy series: ‘It was around this time that Detective Christy Kennedy was born, an Irishman who takes his name from two men – Christy Moore and JFK. “It created a very strong, honest-sounding name, I thought.”’ … A couple of snippets on Adrian McKinty – the London Review of Books is hosting a competition to see who can spot the most literary references in his new offering, THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD, while Serpent’s Tail give a heads up about the launch of said tome at No Alibis of Belfast on June 11 … Following on from last week’s win in the Bisto-sponsored Children’s Books Ireland Bisto-flavoured bunfight for THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, Siobhan Dowd’s BOG CHILD has been longlisted for The Guardian’s 2008 children’s fiction prize … Finally, a quick reminder that Ken Bruen’s SANCTUARY, the latest Jack Taylor tayl – sorry, tale – is due on a shelf near you next week. For the skinniest of skinnies, jump on over here …

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 2,005: Ian Sansom

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?
THE MOONSTONE by Wilkie Collins.
What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Augie March; Moses Herzog; Von Humboldt Fleisher. Basically, anyone in a novel by Saul Bellow.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Poets and philosophers.
Most satisfying writing moment?
If I was ever satisfied I would stop writing.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Not necessarily written by an Irishman or Irishwoman.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Any of the novels of Freeman Wills Crofts.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: you’re your own boss. Worst: you’re not your own boss.
The pitch for your next book is …?
Embarrassing. Books should not be pitched. Only balls can be pitched.
Who are you reading right now?
Kurt Vonnegut.
God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Honestly, that would be sooo God. He’s always coming up with that either/or stuff. It shows a total lack of imagination. Reading is writing. Writing is reading. One leads naturally to the other.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Ian Sansom’s THE DELEGATES’ CHOICE is published by HarperPerennial

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “Enough good crime novels have been set in Ireland that the novelty value has well and truly worn off and any new thriller set here needs to be particularly compelling in order to be successful. Happily, Brian McGilloway’s GALLOWS LANE shows just how mature the Irish crime thriller has become … With its own voice and something interesting to say about society in the North, Gallows Lane is an enjoyable and absorbing read,” says Alex Meehan at the Sunday Business Post. Marcel Berlins at The Times agrees: “Brian McGilloway’s BORDERLANDS was one of last year’s most impressive debuts. Does GALLOWS LANE pass the feared “second novel” test? Easily.” Not to be outdone, the Tyrone Herald weighs in thusly: “A ripping yarn that scorches its way through an early heatwave ... McGilloway is carving out a thrilling crime fiction franchise in the Lifford-Strabane area and this second offering does not disappoint.” And then there’s Susanna Yager at The Sunday Telegraph: “Brian McGilloway once again captures the atmosphere of the Irish borderlands in GALLOWS LANE … McGilloway skilfully handles the tangled threads of a conspiracy surrounding an old crime, to make a satisfying mystery with an attractive central character.” Nice … They’re still coming in for David Park’s THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER: “Park’s multi-strand narrative proves to be an adept device for the deliverance of incommunicable truth,” reckons Jean Hannah Edelstein at The Guardian, while Emer O’Kelly at the Sunday Independent is very impressed: “DAVID Park’s seventh novel is not only powerful and written with a deceptive, elegant clarity; it is also an important commentary on the aftermath of civil war … THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER reads with frightening, chilling truth, another proof that art is the most relentless of all mirrors in society.” A quick one from Charlotte Evans at the New Zealand Herald for Ian Sansom’s THE DELEGATE’S CHOICE: “Sansom writes with a delightful sense of the absurd and pokes gentle fun at the pretentiousness of literary types.” A rather longer one from Brendan Kelly at the Sunday Business Post for Aifric Campbell’s debut: “THE SEMANTICS OF MURDER is an involving, exciting read, filled with well-drawn, credible characters and a plot that surges along with little hesitation and a great deal of style. The novel’s greatest strength, however, lies in Campbell’s acute understanding of the worlds of psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis … This novel belongs to the extraordinary, expanding tradition of story-telling based in the psychotherapeutic milieu.” And now for something completely different: “A dark fantasy novel about a young man who wants to become a powerful gangster, it’s very different in style and tone to my children’s books, but is written in the same straightforward, pacy style,” says IndieLondon about DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD. “This isn’t your ordinary cops-and-robbers mystery, but there is a page-turning yarn here with a startling, satisfying ending,” agrees Bill Sass at the Edmonton Journal Review. “The plot is excellent, with many twists and turns, and the technicolour cast of characters are as entertaining as they are repellent. With PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, [DB Shan] has produced a macabre, yet stylish, dark urban fantasy that’s more than worth the cover price for fantasy fans who like their strangeness to have an urban noir feel,” reckons the ever-reliable Alex Meehan at the Sunday Business Post, while Lisa Tuttle at The Times likes it too: “The narrative voice is engagingly cocky, the action races along, and there are some surprises lurking behind the familiar scenario … Many scenes seem recycled from violent crime movies – the massacre in a warehouse, the severed head in a refrigerator – while others are pure Enid Blyton.” Hurrah! Onward to John McFetridge’s EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE: “[McFetridge] has a gift for dialogue and setting . . . [and] is an author to watch. He has a great eye for detail, and Toronto has never looked seedier,” say the good folk at the Toronto Globe & Mail, via Amazon US. Over at Commonsense Media, Matt Berman likes Siobhan Dowd’s THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY: “Aimed at younger readers … this one scores on two counts. The first is the mystery: it’s tightly constructed and solid … The second is Ted, whose quirks are mostly endearing, and whose eventual success is so satisfying … For kids who like their mysteries realistic, this will be a welcome addition to a genre that, right now at least, is not exactly burgeoning.” Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Geraldine Brennan likes Siobhan’s BOG CHILD: “A captivating first love affair, a hilarious red herring and profound truths about politics and family add up to a novel set to win awards in the coming year.” A swift brace of big-ups for KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP: “KT McCaffrey’s sixth Emma Boylan novel is a mystery that reads as quick as a scalded cat, and is as prone to bare its teeth for a sharp hiss. With her sexy style and occasional bulimia, this investigative reporter is welcome at any crime scene,” says the inimitable Critical Mick, while Myles McWeeney at the Irish Independent (no link) is equally impressed: “In the latest of the excellent series featuring Dublin journalist Emma Boylan … KT McCaffrey maintains the suspense throughout, and casts a cold eye on the gloss of modern Ireland.” On we go to Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: “It’s written in a very cinematic way, with exciting chase scenes and fight scenes and inventive visual detail. I am so loath to compare books with Harry Potter, but – yeah, in that respect it does remind me of the HP books. But the other part that made this book fun for me was the dialogue between Stephanie and Skulduggery, which is wall-to-wall deadpan sarcasm,” says one of a Swarm of Beasts. Erica at Book Diva, meanwhile, loves the audio version: “I am listening to what is officially the Best Audiobook Of All Time. Really. The Most Completely Fabulous And Entertaining Thing I Have Ever Heard In My Entire Life Ever, No Exaggeration Or Joking: SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT by Derek Landy. Oh. My. Goodness. The story lends itself marvellously to an audio format, and the guy’s voice performing it (who is, curiously, named Rupert Degas) is absolute gold. Better even, his voice is platinum encrusted with diamonds and garnished with beluga caviar and French truffles unearthed by pigs in the french countryside.” Lovely … Just time for a quick pair for Benny Blanco’s THE SILVER SWAN: “A fast-paced, interesting plot, well-defined characters and evocative prose are the architectural underpinnings of THE SILVER SWAN,” reckons Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum at Book Reporter, via Streets of Dublin, while MADReads is also impressed: “Black’s nuanced grasp of human relationships more than made up for these failings. The suspense crescendos to the last page and Black, like the best of crime writers, kept me guessing to the end.” Finally, via the Macmillan US page for AMMUNITION, a quartet of big-ups for Sir Kenneth of Bruen: “It’s always a delight to discover a writer with an utterly distinctive voice…the words that best describe him, besides original, are outrageous and hilarious.” (Washington Post) “Bruen’s furious hard-boiled prose, chopped down to its trademark essence, never fails to astonish.” (Publishers Weekly) “Bruen’s style is clipped, caustic, heartbreaking and often hilarious.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “Irish writer Ken Bruen does the noir thing well. His men are tough, his prose is lean, and there’s not a single drop or morsel of sentimentality to be found therein.” (Entertainment Weekly). ‘Therein’ – now there’s a word you are unlikely to read in a Ken Bruen novel any time soon …

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “Bateman is one of those writers with a deliciously oblique view of life; he can sucker-punch us with hilarious comic jabs without letting the narrative sink into triviality … It puts him in the same enviable category as Christopher Brookmyre and Carl Hiaasen,” says Martin Lewin at The Guardian of ORPHEUS RISING. Over at Crime Scene Northern Ireland, Gerard Brennan agrees: “I was very surprised by the supernatural content in ORPHEUS RISING … Just trust me when I say he does it with the aptitude of the likes of Stephen King or John Connolly … He sets up a powerful world and sticks rigidly to his own rules, and the transition into suspension of disbelief is an easy one for the reader as a result.” A tardy one for Declan Hughes’ THE COLOUR OF BLOOD from Bruce Grossman at Bookgasm: “Even though the climax is disturbing, I was still drawn into the dense, complex story, which plays like a post-modern version of Archer, but never settling for the quick out.” Geraldine Brennan at The Guardian loves Siobhan Dowd’s BOG CHILD: “A captivating first love affair, a hilarious red herring and profound truths about politics and family add up to a novel set to win awards in the coming year.” Tony Bailie’s THE LOST CHORD is a new one on us, but the folks at The Irish Emigrant liked it: “A remarkable debut novel by Tony Bailie … THE LOST CHORD is a well-written and seemingly authentic take on the rollercoaster life of the rock musician interspersed with a tale of mystery that adds a new dimension to a well-worn theme.” They keep on coming for Benny Blanco’s THE SILVER SWAN: “There is a sedate, lugubrious quality to the writing, but it never becomes tiresome, mostly because of the quality of Black’s prose,” says Barbara Tom at MBTB’s Mystery Book Blog. “Banville mixes the best of literary description and atmosphere with the mystery plotting to create a memorable character,” reckons Bibliomane at A Reader’s Year. Martin Rubin at the San Francisco Chronicle can hardly contain himself: “CHRISTINE FALLS is rawer, more searingly, devastatingly powerful in its crushing impact. But THE SILVER SWAN, while still delivering many a staggering narrative or stylistic punch, is for the most part written in a more minor key, with a deeper, more profound, almost elegiac tone about it. There is a palpable sense of Banville as Black liberating himself, hitting his stride grandly and more comfortably, a realization that Quirke is a perfect vehicle for exploring Dublin as it was a half century ago.” Hell, even the Christian Science Monitor is impressed: “The author knows 1950s Dublin inside and out and the narrative drives onward with pitch-perfect passages, reminding the reader of the capable hands steering him toward resolution … Black never lets ornate stage-setting overshadow a lean plot free of any excess fat,” says Erik Spanberg. Elsewhere, the audio version of Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT is getting hup-yas, first from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts: “This is one of the best audio productions I’ve ever heard. From the jazzy, creepy introduction music to Rupert Degas’ amazing reading, I had a grin on my face from beginning to end … This is one of my favourite books of the year, and I am waiting very anxiously for the second book to be published.” The good folk at Sonderbooks agree: “The magic world Derek Landy creates is much darker and more sinister than Harry Potter’s … this is a fun and captivating adventure yarn.” Ian Sansom’s THE DELEGATE’S CHOICE tickled Sarah Hunter’s funny-bone over at The Skinny: “This novel is incredibly funny … Snorting with laughter is a habitual hazard with this novel … It’s a clever book, and an easy, enjoyable read.” Meanwhile, over at RTE (no, not Reviewing the Evidence – the Irish RTE), Linda McGee likes MISSING PRESUMED DEAD: “Arlene Hunt takes us on a gripping journey … Hunt has a great ability to inject suspense into her writing [but] while MISSING PRESUMED DEAD is action-packed, it manages to successfully combine a gritty crime storyline with a softer human story.” Bruce at Gonzo Geek likes the Ken Bruen / Jason Starr collaboration SLIDE: “It’s a tale of violence, sex, and double-crosses. Everything good noir should be.” Back to the feverishly reading Gerard Brennan of CSNI for his take on Sam Millar’s BLOODSTORM: “I enjoyed Mr Millar’s crisp and unrelenting style … most impressive is the story’s structure and how Millar chooses to reveal the final twists, catching the reader with a few surprises right up to the epilogue. So stay alert right up to the end, champ. There’s always one more body-shot coming.” A couple of big-ups for Tana French’s IN THE WOODS: “This gets 4 stars for being not only quite well written, but completely page turning. It’s like an Irish Law and Order SVU but with some really excellent prose. Tana French is indeed a very good writer,” reckons Sarah at Books Galore. Pat at Mysterious Yarns agrees: “IN THE WOODS is Tana French’s first novel and it really surprised me. I was expecting a competent mystery with good characters but this one got right under the skin of Rob Ryan and it totally hooked me. I read it in a weekend and could barely put it down.” Nice … Finally, David Park’s THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER is making waves: “Park’s soulful story about buried secrets, tangled lies and manipulated memories may be a little abstract for readers who didn’t follow the Troubles, but this powerful fiction both humanizes and universalizes the civil war that gripped Ireland for so long,” reckon the good folk at Publishers Weekly (via Powell’s), while Joseph O’Neill, writing in the New York Times, just about stops short of nominating Park for a Pulitzer: “It’s an ambitious premise that’s almost intolerably weighty; but with guile and wonderful imaginative sympathy, Park stays afloat on the most treacherous of thematic currents: the inhumanity of violence, the vulnerability of the individual before history, truth’s inextricability from power, the elusive nature of redemption … The central attribute of the writing — and it’s one of the things that make this novel of Ireland of more than parochial interest — is its conscientiousness. We’re reminded that with writers like David Park, the novel can itself be a kind of truth commission.” Ah, Norn Iron – if only they could have decommissioned the truth along with all those nasty bombs and bullets, they could all have lived happily and untruthfully after …