Books Reviews TRAVEL FICTION ANGUS PETER CAMPBELL Archie and the North Wind (Luath Press) ●●●●●
fleshed-out. When an Albanian couple are thrown from a taxi leaving the carriageway on route to Vienna airport, their deaths are flagged up by various Balkan secret services, partly because the man worked for the Council of Europe on the delicate diplomacy of the region. As investigators explore the couple’s strange, sadomasochistic relationship, parallels are drawn between it and the political situation in the Balkans.
This opening segment of The Accident is interesting, but Kadare later gets bogged down in endless lovers’ tiffs, accusations and recriminations, and that initial, exciting momentum is lost. A confused and ultimately disappointing read from a writer capable of much better. (Doug Johnstone)
FAMILY DRAMA TANA FRENCH Faithful Place (Hodder) ●●●●●
CRIME DRAMA KATE ATKINSON Started Early, Took My Dog (Doubleday) ●●●●●
Popular private investigator Jackson Brodie makes a dramatic return in Kate Atkinson’s latest offering; as he delves into the past and discovers a world of corruption, killings and cover-ups. Set in Leeds, Started Early, Took My Dog marks another triumph for its award-laden, best-selling writer as it switches seamlessly between modern-day happenings and the events surrounding the brutal murder of a prostitute in 1975. We flit between the stories of three main protagonists – tough yet secretly tender security chief Tracy Waterhouse, loveable hero Brodie and Tilly our fading TV actress – and as their lives start to bleed into each other, enticing clues and killer lines peppering the trail, a much darker underbelly is soon revealed.
Almost as compelling as Atkinson’s latest twist-ridden plot, is the way the Edinburgh-based author has over the years totally mastered character portrayal. Sharply written sentences are densely packed with information so you feel like you know these people inside out after just the briefest of introductions; and paragraphs are filled with their musings on shared past experiences, crime and society, all aired to make, on occasion, rather uncomfortable reading.
On the face of it, this book is a parade of tragic types all suffering from differing degrees of cynicism and a longing for something they never had. Read between the lines of Started Early, Took My Dog, however, and you are rewarded with an intensely fascinating study into the effects of time and the constant battle between right and wrong with plenty of complex questions to be answered along the way. (Camilla Pia)
characters trapped by the frustrations of real life. Here, he casts his eye on the false personalities people project on the internet
childhood sweetheart Rosie. When her suitcase is found, Mackey returns to Dublin where the plot slowly unfolds amongst weighty layers of fraught familial feuds and sibling rivalry.
Heavily reliant on a long roll-call of fully realised characters, French veers slightly from the point while inconsistencies of voice – especially with the gruff central persona – detract from an otherwise gripping plot. Similarly, just as
Scotland’s crime writing streets often reek of stony clichés, one fears that French’s persistent references to old and new Dublin will jar with anyone well-versed in that city’s history. (Rosalie Doubal) COMIC/HUMOUR PETER BAGGE Real Lives (Vertigo) ●●●●●
Since rising to fame with Hate, his comic book chronicling the slacker generation, Peter Bagge has specialised in capturing realistic
As much a sprawling family drama as a crime novel, Tana French’s character-driven mystery has more of the life stuff – heart, family, class – than the average genre work. In following the trials of undercover Irish cop and estranged son, brother and lover, Frank Mackey, French chronicles a quietly broken-hearted man as he tries to uncover the mystery of his missing
To temper the harsh winters and escape an unhappy marriage and dreary life on a Scottish island, Archie leaves to find and cover the hole where the North Wind blows. Working as a crewman, he heads north, accompanied by a Russian composer nicknamed Brawn blowing smoke from every orifice, a deaf woman he tries to love, a smithy, goblin, his ship’s captain, an Irish kitchen hand, and a Chinese-Texan oilman. When he reaches an Arctic oil drilling rig, his search ends.
Angus Peter Campbell clearly enjoys language and creating imagery, and his folkloric touches are enchanting. However, aside from Brawn describing the gulag in language so poetic it amplifies the horror, none of the characters are sufficiently well- developed to be particularly engaging. Archie’s otherworldliness and naivety seem self- conscious and a little contrived at times and neither his quest nor his character are intriguing enough to make the tale wholly compelling. (Kate Gould)
MYSTERY TALE ISMAIL KADARE The Accident (Canongate) ●●●●●
Albania’s foremost literary writer and winner of the Man Booker International Prize has spent his career examining his homeland’s paradoxical nature. This latest offering from Ismael Kadare does the same but more obliquely, with a central premise that’s intriguing but never fully
108 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010
ALSO PUBLISHED
5 CRIME PAPERBACKS David Levien Where the Dead Lay When Frank Behr’s friend and mentor is murdered during a suspicious break-in, he thirsts for answers and revenge. But before he can pick up the killer’s scent, an exclusive private investigation firm approaches him with a curious case. Corgi.
Sarah Rayne House of the Lost A dark psychological tale about a remote fenland house, a recent murder and a secret sect. Pocket.
David Hewson The Blue Demon The eighth Nic Costa mystery in which a terrorist is loose in Rome as the city prepares for the G8 conference. Pan. Cyrus Moore City of Thieves A tale of the manipulation of the global money market, insider trading and a large- stake scam. Sphere.
Elly Griffiths The Janus Stone Forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway is now pregnant while a children’s home is demolished and the bones of a kid are discovered on site. Quercus.
and how these can become blurred with real life, revolving around a Second Life cipher he brands Second World. And while Second Life might not be the topical talking point it was a few years back, Bagge tackles it with his own brand of insightful wit.
Despite his cartoonish art, Bagge presents fully rounded, often deeply flawed, individuals: lead protagonist Vader is riddled with perpetual yet unjustified guilt, while his girlfriend begins a tentative cyber-relationship with one of his geeky college friends. It’s a nice premise but the ending is perhaps a bit over the top, bringing events to a sharp and awkward dénouement. (Henry Northmore)