This really isn't a week when I can talk about crime fiction as entertainment. We've been incredibly lucky but the rest of Victoria(link is external)hasn't. Yesterday large parts of our home State went up in flames and the human death toll is currently rising rapidly, to say nothing of the devastating loss of animals and huge areas of land.
I often think that really really good crime fiction can give an insight into that horrible cliché "the human condition". But nothing comes close to real life. Luckily, as in all disasters, there are glimpses of the magnificent side of human nature - we listened last night to the police in a central Victorian city as they tried to clear people out of harms way - as they performed acts of enormous personal courage "in the line of duty". We listened to CFA representatives calmly trying to describe the enormity of the situation, to make people aware of the real danger. We listened to CFA controllers worry and worry and get so emotional about the safety of the firefighters (a large percentage of whom are volunteers). And we spared more than a thought or two for those volunteers - many of whom left their own homes and families to go out into the unimaginable. Conversely we listened to the utter total and inexplicable stupidity of people. Whilst it might be possible (if you work hard at it) to regard an arsonist as simply ill - what on earth do you call people who go SIGHTSEEING in fire zones. Crime fiction can't even get close to describing the soaring heights of human nature or the utter depths - the deep into the core of the earth type depths of stupidity, self-involvement, lack of awareness and the total unthinking lack of concern for others.
Needless to say, books are a little way away from my mind at the moment. Whilst we're safe (and profoundly grateful for decisions made when we were deciding where to move to), reading for enjoyment didn't work yesterday.
Having said that I did finish Deadly Intent by Lynda La Plante last week and I'll write something up on it later in the week. I have picked up Pat Flower's Vanishing Point (as mentioned in a recent posts), but to be frank I read the first chapter many many times last night because it simply wouldn't sink in.