John Murray

One of the things that makes Louise Welsh one of my favourite authors is the way you just never know what to expect when a new novel arrives.

In THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS Jane Logan moves to Berlin to be with her partner Petra, in the lead up to the birth of their first child. From the moment she arrives there's something wrong. Jane is uneasy in their chic, upmarket apartment, where amongst lots of other oddities, there are shadows on the stairs and a neighbour's daughter who Jane is sure is in danger.

A psychological mystery, the book is chilling and discomforting. There's something about the fears that Jane develops that don't quite ring true. Of course the world is seen through Jane's eyes, so small events are major and Jane is extremely isolated. By the move to a foreign country, by her partner's work commitments which seem to keep her distant and in an apartment, and neighbourhood that also somehow seems isolated and claustrophobic. Yet, at the same time, the reader can't help but wonder, is Petra really so distant, are things quite that gothic, and dark, is there really something behind Anna, the next door neighbour's daughter hostility, or is Jane imagining things.

As this doubt started to grow there were points where loyalties were compromised. We're supposed to be seeing things from Jane's point of view, yet somehow, Jane doesn't seem to be getting it, is possibly constructing mountains out of molehills. Is she the classic unreliable narrator?

The concentration on the book is very much on a woman whose mind may be playing tricks on her. The physical setting of Berlin contributes little to the narrative other than a feeling of the other, "somewhere foreign", providing isolation. Her pregnancy, her partner's pre-occupation outside the home, all provide a vehicle for pulling the focus back to Jane, back into Jane's head, back into Jane's overwhelming imagination.

As I'd expect from this author, I'd no idea how THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS would evolve when I started it, and it did take quite a while to twig what was going on. I didn't particularly warm to Jane, found her viewpoint unsympathetic and a bit offputting. The introspection was uncomfortable, the isolation palpable. Despite all that, there was something very compelling about the story that dragged me into it. Right to the sort of ending that I love - subtle, unexpected, unsettling, challenging.

Grant me a moment here, but Ed Loy is well and truly back and I'm more than a little bit happy about that!  ALL THE DEAD VOICES is a really tense, investigative novel with a just a touch of the thriller about it.  The action is swift, the tension carefully ramped up and the plot nicely complicated.  The details are carefully laid out, allowing the reader to keep up, sort it out, decide for themselves, pick up the clues along the way.  Provided you're concentrating.

In 1980 two IRA men are hiding beside a roadway, ready to detonate the bomb destined to kill a hated judge.  Just as well this is a carefully planned operation, as the two killers do not get on - much to the amusement of their colleagues.

Current day and Ed is moving on, by moving house, clearing his head, getting his edge back.  He's doing a little low key watching of an up and coming footballer - Paul Delany.  His half-brother Dessie's a bit suspicious that Paul might be dealing heroin on the side, and living in Greece there's not much he can do about it himself.  A threatening moment at a football match and Paul's reaction reassures Loy something's going on; the couple of young hoods that have a go at him in an alley late at night reinforce that.  But Loy had just left them a bit bruised and battered - their turning up dead is definitely not down to him, even if the police aren't so convinced.

Meanwhile, Loy is approached by Anne Fogarty, who thinks that the police have got the wrong man for the killing of her father, fifteen years ago.  Anne's father had been a revenue inspector, involved in the investigation of some very dodgy people:  Jack Cullen, ex-IRA now gang leader; Bobby Doyle, ex-IRA now property developer, and George Halligan - Loy's least favourite sociopath.  Oh, and because it never rains but it pours, something is brewing in the Cullen camp and Comerford is convinced that somebody is leaking information about drug smuggling to the police, and he wants Ed to find out who.

One of the things that I really like about the Ed Loy books is that the plots are crowded, complicated and not always made up of obviously intersecting threads. ALL THE DEAD VOICES has that lightening pace, as well as the swirling list of links, possible links, gangs, impending violence, past violence and secrets.  It's that wheedling out of secrets that Ed Loy does best of all, well that along with juggling all the goings on, surviving the occasional beating up and reluctant, but efficient, dishing out of the occasional thumping.  Ed's style of investigating is very much the "prod something a bit and wait for the ripples to spread" methodology, but it's effective, partly because he's not too afraid to prod where others may not dare, and he's well aware of the circles in which he is moving.  

After being slightly less enthusiastic about the last Ed Loy outing, ALL THE DEAD VOICES is not only a return to the standard of the first books in the series, it has a touch of the moving on about it.  Loy's not standing still, and neither should readers - regardless of whether you're already a fan, or this will be a new encounter for you.

The earlier books in the series are:

The Wrong Kind of Blood
The Colour of Blood
The Dying Breed

Despite a rather shaky start in the legal profession, Robert Rotenberg's background in criminal law explains the perspective of his first novel OLD CITY HALL, most of the the book is being told from either the defence or the prosecution viewpoints.

OLD CITY HALL starts off in a decidedly disarming manner, with polite, proper and very Indian Mr Singh going about his daily job of distributing newspapers which always involves a chat with Mr Kevin in Suite 12A.  On this particular morning the door is open as usual, but there is no sign of Kevin Brace.  When he eventually appears in the hallway of his apartment, Mr Singh is the only person to hear him confess to killing his wife.  Kevin Brace refuses to speak again.  He doesn't speak to the police who investigate the crime, to his cellmate as he awaits trial, or even to his own defence counsel.

The case of Kevin Brace is the reason a number of characters all come together, although Brace himself is almost a bit player in the entire book.  Partly this is because of the use of the Counsel viewpoints, partly because of Brace's decision not to speak.  I have to admit I found other characters failure to deduce the reasons behind his speechlessness somewhat inexplicable at the end of the book, although this aspect is really difficult to talk about in a review without giving the game away - suffice to say, there were aspects that made clanging noises for quite a while after I finished reading.

Whilst there is a crime at the centre of the book, it does take a slightly lower profile in this book.  An odd thing to conclude as ultimately the story is about the trial of that crime.  Possibly this is because this isn't the sort of book where a crime is committed and a guilty party must be identified, rather this is book concentrates on "post arrest".  Whilst there is definitely still some investigating going on, mostly it's not about the who, but more concentrating on the why of the crime, it's also the story of the trial and the characters involved in that trial.  The crime itself is over and the investigation has a slightly different focus, and therefore intensity, once preparations for, and the trial itself, commences.  Having said that, the trial even takes a slightly lower profile as well.  Perhaps it's partly this difference that made OLD CITY HALL compelling, possibly it's partly because the lawyer characterisations are really very strong.  The book slowly builds the story of the two counsel, aspects of their private lives and their involvement in the trial, at the same time as the facts behind the case are revealed.  The lives of the perpetrator and victim are gradually drawn out, the motivation behind the death of Kevin Brace's wife is explained, and Mr Singh goes back to delivering his papers.