Val McDermid

Discovered this little grab of two short stories whilst wandering around the KOBO site recently (love love love my Android Tablet and the way I can have multiple bookshops at my fingertips), but I saw this and thought I've not read any early Val McDermid stories for a long time, so why not.

The best thing about this is that idea of going back to the starting out of a character and a series. I don't think, by any stretch of the imagination, that you could suggest these are the most indepth, intricate and complicated plots that you've ever read in crime fiction, but they certainly were enjoyable little stocking fillers, ideal for a quick read over a stinking hot post-Christmas period.

It's probably no coincidence that in a genre that, in my mind anyway, is purpose built for looking at the things that don't work in society, I seem to fallen over a few books recently that are exploring the outcomes of Reality stardom. Which is useful as this is about as close as I want to come to any form of reality anything on TV. Val McDermid's latest novel, THE VANISHING POINT, looks at the impacts of reality stardom on a few levels, the perceptions that people have of a certain type of reality star (we're talking the dumb blonde stereotype), but also the sort of impact that the stardom has on a lot of other aspects of life. And, to be fair, McDermid does find the good and the bad in the whole thing.

THE VANISHING POINT uses a sort of detailed flashback scenario - it opens with the snatching of Jimmy Higgins in the present day. His mother, reality star Scarlett has died, and Jimmy's guardian is the ghost writer who worked with her on her biography - Stephanie Harker. The investigation into the disappearance of Jimmy continues in the current day, although most of the heft of the story is back in the past - starting before Jimmy was born. What makes this particular scenario work very well is actually a sort of reverse flashback idea - where the current day is the bit that's dipped in and out of, and the story itself progresses through the past. Which is a cack-handed way of saying that the back story of Scarlett and Stephanie is where the reason for the kidnapping of Jimmy has to have come from.

There's enough fodder in that background to provide lots of possible reasons for Jimmy's kidnapping. Stephanie's relationship with an obsessive, nasty bloke who seriously objects to her friendship with Scarlett for a start. Scarlett's own background from a poor, dysfunctional family, using her Reality TV stint as a springboard out of that, she's actually a lot less of a bimbo than it would initially seem but people have been burned on her fight out. Along the way she's made a lot of money, money that might not be available to Stephanie and Jimmy, but that's not necessarily something your average kidnapper might have thought through. Then there's Jimmy's father's background - a privileged boy who turned his back on his family expectations and sank into a life of drugs and his own form of stardom. Needless to say, there's enough to make you wonder.

Whilst the concentration is very much on the lead up events, there's sufficient action in the current day investigation to keep the reader engaged. The way that the search moves between the FBI and English Detective Nick Nicolaides works well, always providing that look backwards as Nick's past involvement with both Scarlett and Stephanie emerges. As the back story works its way into the present, and Nick and Stephanie pair up to follow the leads, the pace quickens, and a series of revelations strip away the red herrings and draw to a conclusion that frankly, I didn't see coming anywhere.

The aspect that most struck me about THE VANISHING POINT is the two central female characters. Whilst the likelihood of friendship between these two very different women seems highly improbable, when it does emerge it makes enormous sense. Whilst both women face their own particular challenges there's nothing contrived, it's actually a nice reminder that you shouldn't ever judge a book by its cover and that old chestnut about assumptions. I particularly liked the way that was done - not in a preachy or told you so way, but in such a matter of fact, part of the whole story way.

The final interesting coincidence is that there are a few books floating around at the moment that have a kidnapping theme. Not having read them all, it's next to impossible to draw any conclusions or make observations, but for what it's worth McDermid has contributed a fascinating look at the possibilities of fame and fortune, with an edge of ruthlessness. She's also shaken the preconceptions just a little and written an excellent combination of psychological thriller / procedural tie up that actually made my reading time a very rewarding place to be.

THE LONG GLASGOW KISS is the second book from Craig Russell featuring Lennox, Canadian raised, returned soldier, Private Investigator who dances a fine line between the law and the gangsters.  Glasgow in the 1950's is controlled by the Three Kings, dangerous men who have divided up the spoils of organised crime and negotiated a sort of working relationship.  It goes

I think it's only fair that I warn you to stand by for some slightly enthusiastic reviews.  I've had one of those outstanding periods of reading where there have just been some fabulous books and TRICK OF THE DARK is one of them.

In this book of masterful storytelling by Val McDermid, TRICK OF THE DARK is a character study with the tension of a really good thriller.  It also does something that I suspect some readers could find confronting, in that most of the characters in this book, including the lead Charlie Flint, are extremely flawed individuals.  It's also probably fair to say that the character aspects dominate the narrative, and the book is much more of a whydunit as opposed to a whodunit.  Having said that, there's plenty of room for a reader to doubt their belief that they know the whodunit aspects regularly.  But in terms of character, the emphasis is most definitely on temptation, loyalty, love and respect.  

The viewpoint moves around each of the main characters - Charlie, Magda and Jay.  

Charlie, recently professionally disgraced, struggling with the possibility of losing the long-term career as a profiler that she loves, is feeling lost and vulnerable.  She's also in a long-term same-sex marriage with a partner that she loves, but she cannot seem to control the attraction she feels for another woman.   Conflicted, but seemingly unable to stop herself, her struggle seems so pointless and self-destructive.

Magda, recently newly-wed and widowed within the same day, has obviously been profoundly affected by the death of her husband, but equally by the chance meeting with Jay on her wedding day.  She's hesitant, almost ineffectual, and she seems to be struggling to move on.  It doesn't help that her new love is somebody that her mother has some profound doubts about.  

Jay is a successful and wealthy businesswoman in her own right, but there have been tragedies in her past that Magda's mother, Corinna is particularly concerned about.  Writing a book about her life, Jay's internal voice is often self-serving, giving the reader a skewed view of who this person is.  Or maybe not.

Magda's mother Corinna is an Oxford Don, teacher, mentor and sometime employer of Charlie and Jay, who is very concerned about Jay and Magda's relationship.  She also doesn't believe that her son-in-law's business partners murdered him, despite the verdict of the trial so recently completed.

The past connections give the story something of a closed room feeling, as everything revolves around events, and relationships from university days through to the present.  The emotional states of each of the characters builds on that even further as they are often inward looking.  Mind you, the present aspects of TRICK OF THE DARK aren't just introspective, overly dark or slow as a result.  The story moves forward quickly, the character's personalities balanced against each other avoiding an overdose of self-pity or self-justification.  Which really just leaves the reader looking to the future and wondering if this really is the last we'll see of Charlie Flint.

without saying that they don't trust each other, and Lennox often finds himself caught up in the middle.  But Lennox is one of those lone-wolf; act first, think later; never take a step backwards sort of characters - somehow perfect for post-war, gloomy and complicated Glasgow.

Of course there's lots of lone wolf style characters in crime fiction and it's hard to avoid stereotypes, although Lennox does add his own particular flavour to things.  A little unlucky in love, it's more that he doesn't really try that hard - rather than constantly being used and abused.  Okay, so when he's deep in act first, think later mode he's very inclined to get beaten up - and to hand out a few thumpings of his own.  Often he's dancing that fine line between the law enforcers and the law forcers, but with Lennox is less Quick Step and more The Stomp.  And he does have a tendency to bite off a bit more than he can chew - in this case too many simultaneous investigations.  He's been hired to look for a missing brother, heavied into working out what's going on with a prominent boxer and sort of "johnny on the spotted" into searching for the killer of Jimmy MacFarlane - father of his current, well girlfriend's probably too strong a word for the sort of relationship they have.

In order to pull off this workload Lennox uses an interesting combination of help on the side from all sides, a bit of adroit juggling of time and focus, a bit of luck, and a lot of his favourite method of investigation - the "poke something with a very big stick" and see what bites back method.  And that's part of the reason why I really like these Lennox books.  There's an absolute honesty to the way that Lennox works - part who you know / part what you know / part knowing who knows what you don't know / part who you can annoy until they spit the dummy and reveal more than they intended.  He works the streets, the people, his friends and his foes with adroitness, but at the same time there's a basic decency and loyalty about the man that really fits not just his persona but the time and place.  A fundamental loyalty that sits well on the shoulders of a man with a past, who is struggling a lot with what his future will be.

Because of the timeframe of the books you can forget computers and mobile phones.  We're talking shoe leather and phone boxes.  Because of the location we're talking dark, and gloomy.  Glasgow is still very much in the thrall of the Second World War, partially because so many of its denizens are also still struggling with the reality of war, and the deprivations afterwards.  We are also given a glimpse into a future of drugs and international influences which don't bode well for anyone.  Now I'm waiting patiently for the next book because you just can't help wondering what's going to happen to the kingdom of the Three Kings, and where Lennox goes from here. 

Relationships (personal, business, familial, friendship) are complicated things, as the 6th Tony Hill and Carol Jordan book FEVER IN THE BONE explores.

The central investigation centres around the brutal deaths of a number of apparently unconnected teenage victims.  Starting out with a look at the victims themselves, and therefore into their family relationships, McDermid simultaneously weaves in a closer look at the families of her main characters.  Tony's hitherto unknown father, and his non-relationship with his mother; the strange little "family" that is Hill and Carol Jordan's friendship; even the family that is the Carol's specialist investigation squad.   Tellingly, McDermid also explores the relationships that people form in the world of social networking (going so far, it seems, as to create the social networking environment referred to in the book - which has now closed down I believe).  

One of the most important things I noticed in reading FEVER OF THE BONE is that even though I'm all over the place with this series, there was no point when I felt I was missing out on something from an earlier book.  I think a reader could jump into the series just about anywhere and find themselves engaged from the start.  Sure there's some relationship development - particularly between Tony and Carol - that's going on, but it's carefully paced and it's not hard to work out what the backstory is.  Mind you, it probably does help to realise that part of McDermid's great skill as a writer is evident in Tony.  He's undoubtedly one of the most engaging annoying characters you're ever going to encounter in crime fiction.  Possibly not surprising when you consider that his profiling style is to somehow or other think himself into the head of a killer, but it's definitely not a recipe for being an all sunshine and happy smiling times sort of a bloke.

There is some backstory to Tony, from his childhood through to the recent discovery of the identity of the father that he never knew.  There are a lot of reasons for Tony to be complicated and they are explored in FEVER OF THE BONE.  There are undoubtedly reasons for Carol to be complicated also.  And that's another relationship that gets an airing in FEVER OF THE BONE - Carol has a new boss - James Blake.  She has gone from having the support of her superiors, including their understanding that Tony's consultancy role on major investigations is a given, to a new boss who isn't supportive, is borderline dismissive and extremely suspicious of the combination of personal and professional between Tony and Carol.  When he stops Carol from using Tony as a consultant to this investigation, he cuts off a lifeline that she's relied upon.  Not just because of his skill as a profiler, but because Carol feels safe when Tony is around.  Eventually Tony is able to hand Carol a way of ensuring his involvement, but with that comes an offer of major change in both their lives.  As the investigation is resolved, the future becomes the next mystery - for them and for the reader.

With every book I read in this series, I find something new to admire.  The way that McDermid works with her characters, exposing flaws, highlighting strengths, making them human whilst not overtly looking for sympathy.  Obviously this is strongest in the main characters, but there is also evolution in the supporting character set.  The way she humanises the victims - again flaws, strengths and all.  There's good, solid, old-fashioned police investigating going on, supported admirably by clever technology, but the emphasis is the right way around - the hi-tech supports the slog, enhances the hunches, and tightens up the timeframes within the investigation.  And finally, there's a clever, tight and quite chilling plot, with some unexpected but perfectly believable twists and turns that lead to a final resolution that will make the reader think long and hard about assumptions and prejudices.

BENEATH THE BLEEDING is the fifth book in the Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series from Scottish writer Val McDermid.  Which fans of this writer will already know.  Fans will also know that anybody as daft as me, who would leave this book on the review pile for as long as I have, is really missing out on a very good thing.

Now there are plenty of serial or multiple killer books floating around out there, and many readers are well over the whole idea, but you do have to give a moment's thought to revising that attitude when the writer is as talented and assured as McDermid.  BENEATH THE BLEEDING grabs the reader from the opening scenes - when a star footballer is admitted to hospital, dying slowly with nobody able to identify the cause.  And therein lies the whole pattern of this book - nothing is obvious, nothing is initially as it seems, nobody is quite what they are stacked up to be.  Nothing makes sense.  Not the series of poisonings, using very obscure toxins.  Not the bomb exploding in a football stadium being obviously a terrorist attack.  Not the friendship / ongoing dance between Tony and Carol.  Not the relationship between Tony and his mother.

There are some serious complications in Carol's investigation of these poisonings.  Firstly Tony's laid up in hospital - his leg badly broken by a psychiatric patient off his medication and out of control.  Tony's insight in investigations has progressed to the point where you might call it "profiling" but it's much more than that.  It's all about thinking his way into the killer's head - giving Carol and her team insights into why / how or what the killer might be doing / feeling / seeing / trying to achieve.  It's harder to do that when you're laid up in a leg brace in a hospital bed, and you cannot see the reactions of people, can't direct the questioning.  Add to that Tony's frustrated by his infirmity and confused by his mother's presence at his bedside.  The terrorist bombing adds its own complications bringing the specialist squad to town - not only do they take over the bombing investigation, they do their darned best to bully boy, huff, puff and generally stuff it up into the bargain.  And they don't accept input from Carol's team - who are a crack squad in their own right, and they know their own patch very very well. 

I hadn't read a Tony Hill / Carol Jordan book for a while - I think what little of the TV series I watched put me off a little.  The Tony Hill of the books is a complicated, tricky individual - very much a "physician heal thyself" sort of a character.  Jordan's equally complicated, prickly, determined.  It's very easy to see how a friendship has developed between these two characters, and how the ever-present potential romance is almost threatening - rather than something comforting that they should be working towards.  Ultimately, what comes out of BENEATH THE BLEEDING is a good, nicely twisty plot, a lot of tension and some seriously paced action.  There's a good ensemble cast, although the concentration on the two main characters does mean that they disappear a little into the background.  There's a good balancing of the personal and the professional, as well as the frustration and elation of difficult investigations and the pressures that Tony and Carol both feel - from others and from themselves.