CRIME ROUND-UP continued
The Wire In The Blood
Val McDermid
(HarperCollins £16.99) k * * McDermid's sequel to The Mermaids Singing ties post-Cracker investigative appeal to a British Silence Of The Lambs plot. Only a handful of police officers remain loyal to psychologist and profiler Tony Hill when one of their number is murdered, but this is a novel that favours teamwork over individual genius. McDermid keeps the pace up with fast cuts between scenes and characters but, although her principal plot makes compulsive reading, the arsonist subplot is a dull distraction. (AM)
Final Jeopardy Linda Fairstein (Warner £5.99) *1: Likely To Die
Linda Fairstein (Little, Brown £15.99) *tt
Authenticity can be a useful tool in crime fiction, and Fairstein piles it on in her debut and its sequel. Manhattan’s foremost sex crimes prosecutor, Fairstein shaves a few years off her age for fictional character Alex Cooper, an Assistant District Attorney specialising in rape cases. Unfortunately, however, both novels annoy the reader with extraneous minutiae that's obviously key to Fairstein’s life - but not to a thriller; they are also peopled with colleagues so saintly, you wonder if the writer’s main aim is to flatter their real- life models. Likely To Die works better in getting the pulse racing because Cooper herself is a step removed from the line of fire and Fairstein's setting up of a suspect list isn't quite so obvious. (AM)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: Jim Byers, Damien Love, Alan Morrison, Stephen Naysmith, Jonathan Trew.
books
events
Glasgow Rody Gorman, Meg Bateman and Aonghas MacNeacall Fri 23 J an. 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Waterstone‘s. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Poetry readings from these prominent Gaelic poets. Part 0 Celtic Connections. Storytellin For C ildren: Clalre Mulhollan Sat 24 Jan. 11am. Free. Waterstone's. 153-157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. See Kids listings. Bernard Mac Laverty and Don Paterson Mon 26 Jan. 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Waterstone’s. 153-157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Mac Laverty. who was recently shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Grace Notes. chats about his work. Paterson is a poet and his second collection of poems God's Gift To Women was published last year. Part of Celtic Connections.
obert Crawford, Glenn Patterson and Robin Robertson Tue 27 Jan. 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Waterstone‘s. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Poetry readings with Robertson and Crawford. with Patterson talking about his last novel. The International which is due to be published this year. Part of Celtic Connections. Sinners, Saints And Songs Wed 28 Jan. 7.30pm. £4 (£2.50).Waterstone's. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Poetry and music from Early Medieval Scotland with Cappella Nova. Thomas
98 THE LIST 23 Jan—S Feb 1998
Owen Clancy and Gilbert Markus. Part of Celtic Connections. Donny O’Rourke, George Wylie with Anne Chaurand Thu 29 Jan. 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Waterstone's. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. An evening with poet O'Rourke and artist/poet Wylie. who will be joined by Breton guitarist Chaurand. Part of Celtic Connections. Patrick Gale and Paul Magrs Fri 30 Jan. 7pm. £2. Waterstone’s. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. In association with Glasgay. Gale reads from his latest book Tree Surgery For Beginners (HarperCollins £16.99) and Margs chats about his new book Could It Be Magic (Pimlico £12.50). Edwin Morgan Tue 3 Feb. l-2pm. Collins Gallery. University of Strathclyde. 22 Richmond Street. For further information call 548 3516/548 3518. Morgan chats and reads from his poetry. Part of Writerfest.
ernard Mac Laverty Tue 3 Feb. 7pm. Free. Waterstone's. 153-157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. As part of the annual Macallan/Scotland On Sunday short story competition. Bernard Mac Laverty talks about the art of short sto writing. Irvine Butterfleld Climbingrglide Show Wed 4 Feb. 7pm. £2. Waterstone‘s. 153—157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Butterfield gives an illustrated talk based around his book The High Mountains 0f Britain And Ireland Diaden £18.99). Ian Ran in Thu 5 Feb. 7pm. £2. Waterstone‘s. 153-157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9105. Continuing the Inspector Rebus novels. Rankin reads from his new book The Hanging Garden (On'on £16.99).
Edinburgh
Ian Rankin Sat 24 Jan. 12.30pm. James Thin. 35 Gyle Avenue. South Gyle Broadway. The Gyle Shopping Centre. Edinburgh. 0131 539 7757. The award- winning crime writer will be signing copies of his new book The Hanging Garden.
The Shore Poets Sun 25 Jan. 8pm. £1. Fruitmarket Gallery. 45 Market Street. 225 2383. Poetry readings and live music with George Bruce. Ian McDonough and Pat Fox.
Whose Controlling Whom? Drugs. Deception And The Dollar Mon 26 Jan. 8pm. Traverse Theatre Bar. Cambridge Street. Information from Word Power Bookshop on 662 9112. The start of a monthly series of book launches and talks. This month. author David Black discusses the issues raised in his new book Acid: The Secret Historv 0f LSD (Vision £9.99). Janice Hill. a member of Overload. speaks on her concern that 3000 children are on prozac and ritalin and the secret lies of the pharmaceutical industry.
Ian Rankin Tue 27 Jan. 7pm. James Thin. 53—59 South Bridge. 556 6743. Edinburgh's finest crime writer reads from his new book The Hanging Garden (Orion £16.99).
New Writing From Auld Reekie Wed 28 Jan. 7pm. Waterstone's. 128 Princes Street. 226 2666. An evening with two home-grown talents of the future. Harry Ritchie chats about his hilarious travelogue The Last Pink Bits (Hodder £6.99) and Christopher Wallace reads from his debut novel The Pied Piper '3 Poison (HarperCollins £ 16.99).
Alan Spence Thu 29 Jan. 7pm. Waterstone‘s. 128 Princes Street. 226 2666. As part of the annual Macalian/Scotland On Sunday short story competition. Alan
S nce will be in store to talk about the art 0 short story writing.
Marian Keyes Mon 2 Feb. 6.30pm. James Thin. 57 George Street. 225 4495. The author of the best-selling novel Lucy Sullivan '3 Getting Married. talks about her latest book Rachel '5 Holiday
(Pen uin £5.99).
Patr ck Gale Mon 2 Feb. 7.30pm. Waterstone's. 83 George Street. 225 3436. The author talks about his eighth novel Tree Surgery For Beginners (Flamingo £14.99) and chats about BBC2's first gay sit-com. Adam And Steve. which he is currently writing.
VIDEOS
Safari, so good: man hunts dinosaur before the tables are turned in The Lost World
(PG, 123 mins. *ttt). Rental from Fri 23 Jan
RENTAL
Swingers (15) 92 mins *sbk *
Boys will be boys, especially when they're in Vegas playing the tables, or at home in LA CfUlSil'lg the bars and hanging out with their friends. Doug Liman's low-budget movie was one of 1997's surprise hits and no wonder: almost every scene squeezes humour out of all-too-recognisable situations. Writer and actor Jon Favreau is surely on the way to stardom. (Fox Pathe)
Unhook The Stars
(15) 104 mins at a in:
When middle-aged Mildred (Gena Rowlands) is asked to babysit for her brash, foul-mouthed neighbour (Marisa Tomei), it allows her to indulge in what she does best — motherhood. Rowlands is tremendous as a woman rediscovering the spirit that suburban life had knocked out of her. It’s an infectiously warm performance that lifts this tender character drama away from TV sentimentality. Nick Cassavetes, son of Rowlands and the late John Cassavetes, proves that talent does indeed pass through the genes. (Artificial Eye; also retail £15.99)
Mandela And De Klerk (15) 109 mins * a 11:
Sidney Poitier as Nelson Mandela we can believe, but Michael Caine as South African PreSident EW. de Klerk? Actually, the odd slip of Cockney Afrikaans aside, Caine does his bit as the determined politician. Essentially a dramatised series of meetings from Mandela's emprisonment to the ending of apartheid and free elections, the film manages to convey some sense of historical achievement. Poitier is excellent, playing Mandela as a dignified — but also very tough — leader. (Entertainment)
X-Files: Redux
(15)135 mins ****
Series 4's cliffhanger and the first two episodes of Series 5 are drawn together for what is probably the most defining moment in The X-Fi/es. Mulder's ’death' and the reappearance of his sister, Scully’s cancer, the real role of the Smoking Man — it’s all here, in a
constantly intriguing merry-go-round of disinformation. Questions of faith and gullibility — diehard fans take note — come to the fore in a feature-length tape that changes the course of all future episodes. (Fox £14.99)
Millennium: Vols 1&2 (18/15) 93/86 mins it * a t *
X-Fi/es creator Chris Carter reaches a new level of televisual darkness in this series about investigator Frank Black (Lance Henriksen), who second- guesses the thoughts of killers pushed over the edge by the approach of the year 2000. Suspenseful and beautifully bleak, Millennium boasts strong stories in the same class as Silence Of The Lambs. The image of kidnap victims with mouths sown shut in Pilot is unforgettable, while Kingdom Come on Vol 2 has a patterned structure — ritualistic killings of men of the cloth — that is as compelling as Seven.
(Fox £12.99 each)
One Plus One
(15) 96 mins ii: Hr
When Jean-Luc Godard hit London in 1968, he had clearly shifted into a politicised phase in both content and style. Abandoning narrative completely, he juxtaposes images of the Rolling
Stones in rehearsal with black ' revolutionaries, graffiti slogans and a
pornographic voiceover. The title doesn't indicate elements of the film coming together, but a general sense of construction, particularly the slow process that brings the Stones closer to the completion of 'Sympathy FOr The Devil'. Stiflingly didactic for the most part, it’s the musical element that remains fascinating.
(Connoisseur £15.99)
Head
(U) 87 mins * t *
Keen to shake up their image as a totally manufactured band assembled for a TV series, The Monkees went on an anti-establishment psychadelic trip when they hit the Cinema screen. The reason for this falls mainly at the feet of directOr Bob Rafelson and his (then rather unknown) co-writer Jack Nicholson. Mild satire, surreal humour, cheeSy visual effects and decent songs make for a mixed-up style that becomes wearing. (Warner £10.99)
REVIEWER THIS ISSUE: Alan Morrison