With as many as forty or more books submitted for review each month, it’s always been an uphill task to select which to read and my criteria have always been idiosyncratic. And therefore fallible. It’s no secret that the past years tsunami of domestic thrillers has certainly put me off many such offerings and it was only through meeting Liz Nugent briefly at Iceland Noir last November that I was encouraged to give her new book a go. And one that I don’t regret. Now to catch up on her earlier ones! Elsewhere, the customary smorgasbord: Victorian gothic, Glasgow low-life noir, dystopias in Japan and the UK suburbs, Soviet Russia, the Coast of Maine, a setting that evokes the Overlook Hotel, all the world and life are here…
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Liz Nugent/STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND (Sandycove)
Deservedly already racing up the bestseller lists, Liz Nugent’s new novel is both a delight and a jewel in the rough, blending mystery and emotions in equal parts and birthing an unforgettable heroine. Many feel that neurodivergent Sally is retarded but her soul, as witnessed by the delicate first-person narrative, is a moving panorama of kindness and sensitivity. When she comes to the public’s attention when she incinerates the body of her dead father alongside the rubbish, as he had instructed her to do so while they lived in isolation from the world, her life is turned topsy-turvy and she soon has to embark on a journey into reintegrating society while the nightmares of the past still haunt her, a story with horrific aspects which I must hold back to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say he was not her actual father but more a jealous protector, and the revelations that follow are both horrific and shattering as we follow naïve Sally’s journey into a new world, with much peril around the corner. Despite the undeniable shock elements of the story that unfolds, Sally’s voice is wonderful, and her story life-affirming and make this an outstanding achievement which transforms the dark psychological thriller map with both bravura and delicacy. One for the ages.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Peter Swanson/THE KIND WORTH SAVING (Faber & Faber)
For the first time the ever-reliable Swanson revisits past territory in this sequel of sorts to THE KIND WORTH KILLING, which pitted Henry Kimball, then a cop, against attractive psychopath Lily Kintner in a fascinating game of cat and mouse. Both have, albeit emotionally as well as physically bruised, survived the encounter and Kimball has now become a private eye while Lily is attempting to live a normal life. When Kimball is asked to investigate the unfaithful husband of an erstwhile pupil from his past times as a teacher, much is not what it seems and he inevitably finds himself, following some jaw-dropping twists – a Swanson speciality to say the least- calling on Lily’s reluctant help, thus forging new ambiguous bonds with her. Kimball’s attraction to the third woman in the adultery case he is engaged to elucidate has muddied the waters, even more so when a visit to a place of sexual assignment finds two bodies and once again it becomes a case of who is manipulating who. In the footsteps of Patricia Highsmith, Swanson has always had a talent for making defiantly amoral characters seductive and the waltz of treachery between most of his characters is a joy to behold. Another page-turning success which cleverly makes the reader complicit in its celebration of ambiguity.
Louise Swanson/END OF STORY (Hodder & Stoughton)
The ‘other’ Swanson of the month is no relation to Peter Swanson, but in fact a pen name for established author Louise Beech, here moving into new, speculative territory with a well-crafted feminist dystopia very much in the tradition of 1984. Fern Dostoy was once a writer, in a world where fiction has now been made illegal and is now defying the law by scrawling what might become a novel in a secret notebook, despite being harassed on a regular basis by a duo of sinister apparatchiks for the regime. When she joins an underground cell of book readers who are fighting the status quo and read stories to strangers over the phone, she establishes contact with a young boy who appears to have a curious connection to her own past. So begins a race between rebellion and a looming and menacing authority, with Fern involuntarily at its centre, with past friends (and authors) now being tortured, lobotomised, and exiled to rehabilitation camps. An all too credible fascist version of Britain is brilliantly evoked, but there are obvious plot holes unfortunately and the flashbacks to Fern’s glory days in the book world are surprisingly inaccurate and naïve, which leads the reader to question her story. The final resolution in which much of what has come before is explained away is altogether glib and, I felt, something of a slap in the face to the reader, despite the book’s earnest intentions. Something of a miss.
Callum McSorley/SQUEAKY CLEAN (Pushkin Press)
An uproarious, sardonic noir thriller from the Glasgow depths by a new, young Scottish author, SQUEAKY CLEAN introduces DS Alison McCoist, a hapless local cop who is in dire straits following a case that went badly wrong and she had an innocent man jailed and is now the least popular detective on the force: either thought bent or just incompetent. In search of redemption, Ally is called to a local carwash run by a psychopath gangster and meets Davey Burnet, who works there and, eager to attend a court hearing to allow him to visit his estranged daughter, foolishly borrowed another crook’s SUV and gets himself kidnapped in the process, in a case of mistaken identity. The criminals they are set against are both buffoons and very dangerous folk for whom, kneecapping is just an appetizer, and both have to become unwilling allies to survive. Brutal, wonderfully humorous and a great addition to Tartan Noir, this novel unveils a terrific new talent with a highly distinctive ‘voice’ and the ability to dig out the absurd from the dangerous eddies of modern city crime with a vengeance, as well as creating, with just a few deft touches memorable characters on both sides of the good and evil fence. Ally will certainly be welcomed back for her next misadventures!
Owen Matthews/WHITE FOX (Bantam)
Billed as the final volume in the Alexander Vasin trilogy (although without spoiling the reader’s pleasure, he does remain alive at the end, albeit in some form of limbo…), WHITE FOX follows in the footsteps of the equally gripping
BLACK SUN and RED TRAITOR, superlative Cold War spy thrillers with a strong touch of authenticity thanks to Matthews’ journalistic background and lengthy spell in Moscow. Vasin’s conflicted decisions as a KGB member with something of a conscience and a soft spot for the opposite sex find him at the outset of the novel side-lined by a ‘promotion’ to commander of a Gulag in Vorkuta in the Arctic, having to deal with rebellious nationalist inmates. But the 1963 assassination of JFK back in the USA comes to haunt him when a special prisoner is despatched to the camp by his nemesis General Orlov, whom he has cuckolded in the past, and Vasin finds he has no alternative but to befriend the man, which drags him back into the customary web of international conspiracies, a position he has all too sadly often familiar with. Fast-moving, evocative and fascinating in its X-ray visions of what might have credibly happened in the 60s , the novel balances thrills with historical fact (and speculation) in equal measure and races you along to its breath-taking conclusion. I’ll be sorry if this the last we see of Vasin, but how much more could our anti-hero survive of the machinations of Russia and its system in the good old days of spying?
Michael Grothaus/BEAUTIFUL SHINING PEOPLE (Orenda Books)
His debut novel EPIPHANY JONES, which was shortlisted for the Creasey Dagger, was one of the most original and innovative noir variations I had come across in ages and, several years later, Grothaus doesn’t disappoint with his second novel, equally unique and scintillating, albeit far from criminal shores. This is outright science fiction, set in a near future Japan with echoes of BLADE RUNNER, but with a distinctive human heart and a touching web of delicate relationships that question what it means to be human. John, a very young American computer genius with body issues travels to Tokyo to finalise a deal to sell his ground-breaking coding and, assailed by loneliness, falls into a strained form of relationship with Neotnia, a mysterious waitress in a shady bar run by a disgraced sumo wrestler. He soon becomes to realise that the vulnerable young woman has deep secrets of her own, and the quest for the truth will take both of them across the country to sacred forests and Hiroshima where the spectre of the bomb still reigns. A wonderfully affecting love story with a major twist at its centre, a slow-motion quest with chivalric aspects, BEAUTIFUL SHINING PEOPLE is both an intriguing thriller and a meditation and is in places unforgettable and affecting. One to treasure.
Julia Bartz/THE WRITING RETREAT (Magpie)
An impressive first novel by a new American author combines all the heady thrills of the best of domestic thrillers with a closed environment murder setting, peppered with a gently satirical look at writers and writing. Much to like there already! Struggling junior publishing employee and would be writer Alex is delighted to learn she has been selected, with four other tyro authors, to attend a month-long writing retreat at the isolated, and reputedly haunted, Blackbriar Estate, the property of famous, but idiosyncratic author Roza Vallo. She is not quite as happy when she finds out her oldest friend Wren, with whom she broke up a year previously in murky circumstances, is also amongst the chosen and appears determined to spoil her chances of being published., and stalks her on social media. The aim is to scoop the lucrative book contract on offer at the conclusion of the retreat. Roza’s writing regime is both tough (3,000 words per day? I found it tough to sustain 2,000 words on my previous novel…), but also controversial in its use of drugs and ritual insults. But soon, as in most fictional closed environments, the participants are dropping dead like flies and Alex must not only complete the novel she is hoping to write but also turn sleuth to discover who the killer might be and their motivation. An ebullient, fun cocktail of in-jokes, gothic turns and breathless suspense that had me chortling.
Charles Lambert/BIRTHRIGHT (Gallic Books)
Lambert is best-known for a lauded, award-winning literary career in mainstream books astutely blending thriller and gothic elements and his new novel continues in this tradition, understated but powerful, the sort of story that remains in the reader’s mind long after it comes to an end. Teenager Fiona lives an affluent life but when, shortly after the death of her father, and navigating a strained relationship with the woman she believes is her mother, she comes across a newspaper cutting and photograph depicting a mother and a child uncannily resembling herself, she embarks on a dark, psychological journey to establish she was adopted and actually has a twin sister. The latter lives in Italy and Fiona journeys there, assisted by her manipulative boyfriend. Patrick, in a bid to reinvent her story and provide some sense to her life. However, Maddy far from welcomes her appearance on the scene, and her initial instinct is to reject this newcomer who appears intent on appropriating her life. And the affection of her own mother. The push and pull between the two young girls, and their manipulation and wary attraction is undermined by the sharp differences in their social background and upbringing. A slow boil of a thriller.
J M Varese/THE COMPANY (Baskerville)
A wonderfully compelling gothic thriller set in Victorian England in the 1870s, THE COMPANY focuses on the mixed fortunes of the wealthy Braithwhite family, who own London’s foremost supplier of luxury wallpaper. Lucy and John are the brother and sister heirs to the company since the passing of their father and have entrusted its running to reliable Mr. Luckhurst as John, the eldest also suffers from bad health. On Luckhurst’s sudden death, the family and company fall into turmoil, until the seductive but mysterious Julian Rivers arrives on the scene, explaining that he has been groomed by Luckhurst for the past decade to take over the running of the firm, whose designs and fabrics have always had an intoxicating power to attract and dizzy customers. Lucy is cautious when Rivers manifests himself out of the blue and soon finds herself in subtle conflict with him, although he always appears to be a step ahead of her own plans, like the devil in disguise. Based on the historical scandal caused by the discovery of the prolific use of arsenic in wallpaper during that historical period, this is a slow burn, compelling thriller and battle of wills between the two central characters, against a background of addled visions and striking images and patterns with the power to intoxicate.
Harriet Crawley/THE TRANSLATOR (Bitter Lemon Press)
A solid, ‘new’ Cold War thriller from an author switching genres, THE TRANSLATOR feels totally authentic since Crawley lived many years in Moscow and focuses on a dangerous plot by the Kremlin to undermine western democracies, and particularly the UK, by sabotaging undersea cables we are heavily reliant on for all communications and financial trade. A weakness which was actually highlighted by current PM Rishi Sunak in a paper in 2017! The main protagonists are not, for a change, highly trained intelligence operatives but everyday pawns in the great game: a retired middle-aged British diplomat who has moved on to become a translator and his long-lost Russian flame who has since become the personal interpreter to the Russian President Serov, a thinly disguised mirror image of Putin. With a rogue FSB/KGB General as their main antagonist, the couple are thrown together in a race against time to pinpoint the location and time of the attack, against a background of treachery, oligarchs and repression. Well-paced and researched, the novel does suffer though from a somewhat Mills & Boonish depiction of the affair between the two main characters, and the fact that being set in contemporary times, it feels somewhat unnecessary to change the names of the PM, President and other real-life characters to remind us this is just a novel. But, a solid read.
