Kismet - Jakob Arjouni
Mark Campbell

Jakob Arjouni (trans. Anthea Bell)

No Exit Press, £7.99, 978-1842432358

I'm not convincing that this book is necessarily being aimed at the right audience. Advertised as a "thrilling novel about organised crime," and likened to Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, I can't help thinking it's actually far closer to the semi-humorous style of Robert B Parker. Visually, the cover and flyleaves sell it as a contemporary action thriller - but the written content is funnier, quirkier and far less derivative of the standard 'rain-soaked LA streets' genre of detective fiction that the publishers clearly want it to be. It's a distinctly European narrative, in fact, slickly translated from the German by Anthea Bell, with a central character, Kayankaya, who takes on the reluctant mantle of knight in shining armour as he goes in search of the elusive Army of Reason, a gang of extortionists whose gun-toting heavies have strangely powdered faces and a violent streak that would make the Krays think twice. Set in Frankfurt, Arjouni teases out a subtle narrative about displaced Albanians, homesick Brazilians and the rise and rise of a fascist group whose cover is a soup and sweet factory (Werthers Originals make an unlikely appearance) and whose leader is as charismatic as he is deadly.

Posted at 2:36PM Friday 08 Feb 2008