Thriller writers such as Ian Rankin have heaped praise upon the shoulders of Denise Mina, who won the John Creasey Best First Crime Novel prize for her remarkable Garnethill. But high reader expectations can be a heavy cross to bear, and more than one writer has come to grief attempting to recreate earlier triumphs. On the evidence of Exile, however, Mina is a writer up for the long haul: this is every bit as atmospheric and idiosyncratic as the earlier novel, with an increased sharpness in characterisation that makes for a highly compelling read.
Whether or not Scottish crime writers such as Mina and Rankin do their country any service by presenting it as a highly dangerous place matters not a damn - the Glasgow setting of this piece is rendered with a gritty authority that might not please the Scottish Tourist Board, but is perfect for the reader. Mina's protagonist Maureen O'Donnell is working in the Glasgow Women's Shelter when she encounters Anne Harris, suffering from two broken ribs and fighting the effects of a crippling descent into alcoholism. But a fortnight later, Anne's body turns up in the Thames, grotesquely mutilated and embedded in a mattress. Is Anne's husband the murderer, as he so clearly seems to be? But he has four kids to bring up alone, and closer examination makes him look a less likely suspect. Maureen and her friend Leslie try to penetrate the indifference surrounding Anne's death, but Leslie is curiously close-mouthed about what she knows. Attempting to escape from the turmoil of her own life, Maureen travels to London, but she is soon immersed in a dangerous world of violence and drug abuse.
Utilising the classic structure of the thriller (the investigator in danger of encountering the same fate as the victim) Mina brings a level of compassion and understanding to her grim tale that ensures a remarkable experience for the reader. She is unblushing in confronting the darker side of life, and her conflicted heroine is satisfyingly embroiled in the revelations she is forced to confront. The final effect of this idiosyncratic and dark thriller is both life-affirming and exhilarating, and though we may all soon need a holiday from the criminal alleys of Scotland, it isn't time yet.
