Books REVIEWS
CRIME DRAMA TONY BLACK Truth Lies Bleeding (Preface) ●●●●●
Tony Black has a reputation as the Scottish crime writers’ Scottish crime writer, garnering praise from contemporaries to match impressive sales figures. This fifth outing demonstrates plenty of reasons why that’s the case, with fantastic narrative drive and some fine characterisation and dialogue. Black has moved away from his previous central character, private investigator Gus Dury, to deliver a more conventional police procedural featuring DI Rob Brennan, but this being Black, he pushes the format to its limits. When a young teenage girl is found dismembered in a bin on
Edinburgh’s Muirhouse estate, Brennan returns from psychiatric leave after the death of his brother to investigate, in a plot which twists in and out of drug abuse, child abduction and the world of professional hitmen. Brennan is like the Hyde to Rebus’ Jekyll in terms of Edinburgh crime fiction, a nasty, messed-up misanthrope, with a wife and daughter he can’t stand, a lover he’s having problems with, and a whole police station full of enemies. While Brennan is beautifully sculpted out of hard rock, Black really
excels with his depiction of Edinburgh’s low-life scum, delving into the lives of skag addicts, psychos, people traffickers and murderers, with visceral believability, all the more so for the author’s pinpoint accuracy in exposing the fearsome underbelly of Scotland’s capital city. If one or two of the plot strands don’t quite integrate themselves into the whole as they could, that’s a minor gripe in what is otherwise an accomplished and impressive piece of tartan noir. (Doug Johnstone)
GLOBAL POLITICS DOMINIC STREATFEILD A History of the World Since 9/11 (Atlantic) ●●●●● Penning histories of mind control and cocaine can hardly be described as flights of literary fancy, but Dominic Streatfeild has now hit the mother lode of seriousness with his new work. Ever since those two towers came tumbling down, the world has become a far more dangerous place, thanks to the brutal reaction of the US and its allies and the entrenchment of those
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who seek to resist the War on Terror. This book looks at many of the innocent victims caught in the less than friendly fire which has raged since 9/11: the Iraqis denied refuge in Australia
thanks to false accusations of infanticide; the senseless massacre of an Afghan wedding party; the fate of an innocent German who suffered the appalling consequences of extraordinary rendition. If anger is indeed an energy, this book should have you ready to run a marathon by the time you’ve reached the final page. (Brian Donaldson)
MUSIC MEMOIR KRISTIN HERSH Paradoxical Undressing (Atlantic) ●●●●● There’s only one major
of Don Draper, stilted ambition of Pete Campbell and Monroe- esque allure of Joan Holloway would not quite be enough to sustain a show which would then sorely lack a comedic counterpoint which the WW2 navy vet provides by the scotch-sodden bucketload. In Matthew Weiner’s
series, Sterling’s Gold is the proposed title for Roger’s memoir, but here is simply a collection of his finest quips; that might prove a grave disappointment to those expecting something more substantial. But with the silver fox’s voice in your head, who can resist lines such as: ‘I told him to be himself. That was pretty mean, I guess,’ and, ‘she died like she lived: surrounded by the people she answered phones for’? The barbs are occasionally so jagged and cranky that Shit An Ad Man Says could have been its title. (Brian Donaldson)
FANTASY COMIC NICK SPENCER & CHRISTIAN WARD The Infinite Vacation No 1 (Image) ●●●●●
‘Hello My Name Is Mark,’ says the badge worn by the red-haired guy with the shirt, tie and patch of ill-advised chin fluff who looks as though he’s attending a conference. And in a way he is, with this gathering of his alternate selves over countless parallel universes, whose lives he can access for a hefty fee as part of a lifestyle experience called ‘The Infinite Vacation’. It’s a great premise,
although where the tension might come from remains to be seen: should we be
ALSO PUBLISHED
5 UPCOMING THRILLER NOVELS Carl Hiassen Star Island The kidnapping of her ‘undercover stunt double’ has a 22- year-old ex-junkie pop star in meltdown mode. Sphere. Linda Fairstein Silent Mercy A pair of NYPD cops are on the hunt for a crazed serial killer, whose religious fanaticism leads to the brutal slaying of young women. Little, Brown. Robert Goddard Blood Count Surgeon Edward Hammond regrets the day he saved the life of a Serbian gangster, now on trial for war crimes. But the villain’s family have one last trick up their sleeves for the guilt-ravaged doc. Bantam. Ferdinand von Schirach Crime An anonymous lawyer invites the reader to pore over a dossier of crimes for which the perpetrators have yet to receive justice. It may be fiction, but the stories are apparently all very true. Chatto. Robert Ward Total Immunity An LA- imprisoned diamond smuggler is released after a dodgy deal with Homeland Security and starts bumping off those who put him away. Corvus.
particularly bothered as surf bum Mark is gunned down in a robbery when there are endless other versions of him out there? The more relevant question is why ‘our’ Mark ends up ‘bored, alone and miserable’ in every scenario he encounters. While you’re waiting for the answer, please do marvel at the joyous, scratchy style of artist Christian Ward, the sleeve illustrator of The Pictish Trail’s Secret Soundz Vol 1 album. (David Pollock)
flaw with Kristin Hersh’s autobiography: it’s far too short. Based on Hersh’s diary entries from the time, the book kicks off in spring 1985 and finishes a year later. Knowing that she has experienced another 25 years of thoughts and feelings, none of which we’re privy to, leaves you feeling somehow bereft. Such is the power of Hersh’s open, honest, witty and engaging style. Admittedly, she’s
picked a pretty good year to share with us. In that pivotal 12 months, Hersh’s band Throwing Muses goes from lovable local weirdoes to recording its first album, her attempted suicide leads to a bipolar diagnosis, and she gives birth to her first child: all in her late teens. Whether she’s recalling the minutiae of everyday living (buying groceries, visiting the doctor), childhood memories, song lyrics or life on stage, Hersh takes us inside her head, heart and soul, and it’s a fascinating place to be. (Kelly Apter)
TV QUOTES ROGER STERLING Sterling’s Gold (Grove Press) ●●●●●
Take away the dry-as- teetotal bon mots of Roger Sterling from Mad Men and that 60s-set drama would be a different beast altogether. The destructive tendencies