Nighthawking

By Russ Thomas https://russthomasauthor.com/index.html

Published by Simon & Schuster UK https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/

431 pages ISBN 1471181405

Publication date 29 April 2021

I read an uncorrected paperback proof provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

From the blurb

Sheffield’s beautiful Botanical Gardens- an oasis of peace in a world filled with sorrow, confusion and pain.  And then, one morning, a body is found in the Gardens.  A young woman, dead from a stab wound, buried in a quiet corner.  Police quickly determine that the body’s been there for months.  It would have gone undiscovered for years – but someone just sneaked into the Gardens and dug it up.

Synopsis

It’s a year since the firewatching case and there have been many changes.  Mina Rabbani has joined Adam Tyler in doubling the strength of the cold case review unit, but it is still at danger of closure.  Guy Daley has returned to work following his bad injury and appears to be a changed man.  With the encouragement of Jim Doggett, Tyler is investigating the suicide of his father, but his personal and professional relationships are becoming strained.

The finding of a young woman’s body in the Botanical Gardens changes priorities meaning Tyler and Rabbani are drafted into the investigation.  Rabbani quickly identifies the woman with a missing person’s report, but Tyler and Daley are both distracted for different reasons.

The murdered woman (Chi) is Chinese, and her father is a man of authority in the local branch of The Party back in China.  Accordingly, the investigation will have to proceed with caution and with no hiccups.

The location of the body is so enclosed that immediate suspicion falls upon the people who work there, particularly volunteers.  There are also links to the local university where Chi studied and one of the volunteers worked and the shady activity of a group of night-time treasure hunters.

A tale of greed and love that comes to an end at the Bear Pit.

My thoughts

I first came across Russ Thomas only last month when he appeared on one of the panels of Hull Noir 2021.  I’m friends with the organisers and so was duty bound to watch all the sessions and read up on the works as many of the authors as I could who I was unfamiliar with before the day.  I read Russ’ debut novel Firewatching and enjoyed it, thinking it was a well-written first novel and set up a collection of characters and back story well served as a series going forward.  I always think it a little presumptuous to start writing a series, unless the author has a multi-book deal, but nobody seems to write crime fiction standalone novels.  This I feel is going to be a good series of stories.

If you turn on Sky Documentaries, in amongst the Nazis, UFOs, mummies and storage units which provide the staple viewing you will also see treasure hunters, many who use metal detectors.  Metal detectors had a brief surge in popularity, as toys, in the 1970s but still to this day have their enthusiasts, such that the BBC even produced a highly rated comedy series about the hobby.

Nighthawking is the (illegal) activity of treasure hunting at night.  Most of the time it is done for the thrill as nothing of value is uncovered.  Other more serious issues arise where such activity infringes upon genuine archaeological digs where damage is done, and artifacts are stolen.  In the book the Nighthawkers discover 13 extremely rare gold roman coins.  The dilemma is then to either report the find and face the consequences or to sell the finds on the black market.  Most of us would surely do the former, but then we’ve never held treasure in our hands.  The actions of these Nighthawkers lead to a series of unexpected consequences including murder.

Each chapter starts with a description of a night’s activity of each of the six nighthawkers and their thoughts on what are generally wasted trips, finding little of value on cold and wet November nights.  They are a club, but it tends to be a solitary activity and it can, one can imagine, lead to a degree of paranoia and resentment.

The plot centres on the investigation of the woman’s murder but there are also side plots, only some of which are resolved, leaving others to be developed as the series continues. 

Family is also central to the story.  As well as looking into his father’s past Tyler is trying to contact his estranged brother Jude.  He also encounters different generations of a well-known criminal family which may well hold information about his father, but which will come at a high price.  The interaction of the initial victim, Chi, with her own sister Ju and her husband are key drivers to the plot which are deftly handled.  When we feel trapped who can say how we respond to jealousy and greed even if it involves those closest to us?

The main characters are strong and have great scope for development along with future storylines.  Tyler is openly gay, something unthinkable for a policeman only a few years ago, but has problems committing fully in relationships.  He is also disturbed by the apparent suicide of his police officer father, who some say was corrupt, and has become consumed by uncovering the truth.  Rabbani is a young Asian woman struggling to make an impact as a detective.  Her family don’t approve of her career and want her to settle down, get married and have children.  The pair of them have a talent for upsetting their senior officers and the protocols they try to enforce.  It’s not all petty bureaucracy though, Tyler’s digging into the past may uncover police corruption and conspiracy.

This was an enjoyable read, with enough incident and tension to keep the reader engaged.  The whodunnit aspect of the plot defeated me and kept me guessing to the end, which I always feel is a good thing.

This is not quite the end though.  There is a short epilogue, which takes place 3 months later.  These normally tidy loose ends up, however, this one sets the hare running for book 3 and came totally unexpected for me.  All the most reason to buy the next novel in the series, but not before you’ve enjoyed Nighthawking.

If you wish to watch ‘In Cold Blood’ the Hull Noir https://www.hullnoir.com/ session he features in, it can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTbDvkoTmxQ

Hermit

By S.R. White

Published by Headline https://www.headline.co.uk/

375 pages ISBN 9781472268419

Publication date 17 September 2020

I read a hardback review copy passed to me by a friend.

From the blurb

Nathan Whittler was not their usual kind of suspect.  It wasn’t, she guessed as she watched him now, simply that he was scared of being in a police station.  He wasn’t unnerved only by having been arrested next to a dead body.

It went deeper than that.

Nathan Whittler seemed terrified of people.

Synopsis

Police respond to a store’s silent alarm to find the storekeeper dead and a man beside his corpse with blood on his gloved hands.  It becomes apparent that the man simply vanished 15 years earlier, but it is not clear why he vanished, where he has been or why he has returned now of all times.  He his clearly disturbed and is not communicating.

Detective Dana Russo has taken a day’s leave, which she does on the same day each year, to face her own personal demons but is called in to lead the investigation.

The suspect can be held for 24 hours before a lawyer is automatically appointed for him, so it is a race against time for Dana.  Can she get him to open up and reveal what he knows?  To do so she will have to confront her own past but at what personal cost.

My thoughts

I can’t recall reading a crime novel set in Australia before.  I’ve never been there so my blinkered views are from the news and media in general.  I know occasionally backpackers go missing and are murdered and there have been a couple of notable serial killers in the past, but I always envisaged people were more at risk from the sharks, spiders and snakes.  Don’t Aussie cops just deal with drunken footy players as portrayed by Paul Hogan in his pre–Crocodile Dundee days?  Perhaps Antipodean Noir will become a genre; I do hope so.

The plot is simplicity itself, Dana Russo trying to get Nathan Whittler to open up and tell her (and the reader) what happened and why.  Even so it didn’t exactly move in the direction I was expecting so it’s not entirely predictable.

The bulk of the story is set within the confines of the police station which gives a sense of claustrophobia as it moves from interview room to office.  Perhaps because of this it is somewhat a slow burner as Dana winkles more information out at each interview.  If you like Dan Brown’s style of ‘this happened followed by this’ storytelling, then this is probably not for you.  The prose style at times reminded me of John le Carré in the George Smiley books, dense and not giving up secrets lightly, which made the interview scenes convincing.

The idea of using a troubled detective to gain the trust of a disturbed suspect worked well and at the plot line developed it was easy to empathise with both main characters and their underlying issues.

The concept of simply vanishing undetected for 15 years, and never coming onto people’s radar, initially seems ridiculous in the modern world were going off grid for a weekend is almost impossible, so wedded to technology we have become.  However, the author’s explanation of how it was achieved seems reasonable in such a vast continent and the motivation for doing it is credible.  This is no Homer Simpson ‘as dirty as a Frenchman’ after one day without Marge but a highly organised man with a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who meticulously plans his escape.  He is also intelligent.  I liked the bit where he is unhappy that the paperback, he is given to occupy him is by Zane Grey, poor Zane but not the first time he has been so maligned.

The interviews between the two main characters start to take on a confessional nature which chimes with them both having religion playing a part of their troubled past.  Zealotry in any form has to potential to poison the mind.  Dana comes to question whether by working to gain Nathan’s trust she has exploited him.

The closure of the story is both well timed and nicely worked out, albeit a bit of a surprise to me.  Whilst been a slow paced and intense read it is not overlong and demands sticking with.

The ending leaves it unclear if it will be a series or a stand-alone, though I think there is mileage in developing Dana Russo character further.  Either way I will keep an eye out for his next novel and also try and track down some more Aussie crime.

February’s Son

By Alan Parks https://www.alanparks.co.uk/

Narrated by Andrew McIntosh

Published by Canongate (WF Howes) https://canongate.co.uk/

336 pages ISBN 9781528853712

I listened to this novel as an audiobook on the RB Digital app which is supported by Hull Libraries.  During the Covid lockdown the library service has been doing sterling work trying to keep us informed and entertained, be it by click-and-collect services or by electronic means.  As well as RB Digital, BorrowBox is also supported locally providing e-books and audiobooks to registered library users.

From the blurb

Bodies are piling up with grisly messages carved into their chests. Rival gangs are competing for control of Glasgow’s underworld and it seems that Cooper, McCoy’s oldest friend, is caught up in it all.

Detective Harry McCoy’s first day back at work couldn’t have gone worse.

Synopsis

It’s a month since Harry’s run in with the Dunlops and after three weeks sick leave and assessment he is pronounced ready to return to work.  He is immediately called in to investigate the brutal murder of a young Glasgow Celtic player, who has a message carved into his chest.  A high profile killing but as he is the fiancé of the daughter of a figure from the underworld complications are going to follow.

Heroin is on the streets of Glasgow and rival underworld gangs are competing for control of the City’s drugs take.  Stevie Cooper is central to this battle and McCoy’s long-term friendship with him is going to test loyalties and come under scrutiny.

Demons from their youth also resurface to haunt them.  Vengeance may be just but could come a too high a price.  Cooper and McCoy, however, are not known for their restraint.

My thoughts

A swift return to the mean streets of 1970s Glasgow and the exploits of Harry McCoy.  I would normally wait a bit longer between instalments of a series, but this is a series I can quickly catch up on, I enjoyed the first and I wanted to hear how it fared on audiobook it seemed appropriate to get stuck in.  I do a lot of dog walking so I listen to a lot of audiobooks; spring sunrises, a couple of hours with the mutt and a good crime novel, a great start to the day. 

The narrator of this story, Andrew McIntosh, did a great job, clearly Scottish but also perfectly intelligible.  As someone who goes to Scottish football matches, I know it can take a while to ‘get your ear in’ with some speakers, but this was fine and thankfully there was no reverting to silly voices like the English luvvy actors trying to do a Scottish accent.  Can’t recall hearing Andrew before, but there’s plenty of Scottish crime writers around so I’m sure he’ll find more jobs.

I was curious to see how Alan approached the ‘difficult second album’ and can say he did fine.  The story is set just a month following the previous outing, rather than the more usual year, and I can see that the next two novels have ‘March’ and ‘April’ in their titles so 1973 could be a remarkably busy and painful year for Harry McCoy.

The plot is focused and centres on the struggle for supremacy in gangland Glasgow with Harry’s long-time pal Stevie Cooper central to it.  The barbaric and discredited practice of lobotomy is introduced and whilst being a key component to the plot it isn’t over played, and it doesn’t derail it by over researched detail.  There are still enough twists to keep the readers interest and at least for me it didn’t quite play out as expected.   1970s Glasgow is a great setting for Noir and Parks uses it skilfully, its grotty and violent but it remains the backdrop and never takes over.

The relationship of Harry and Stevie is clearly going to be a central theme of the series and provides great opportunities to highlight the corruption and police practises of the time as well as some scrapes for them to get into.  Whilst a great strength now, over reliance may stretch credibility in the future for the sake of entertainment, which would be a shame.

The relationship of Harry with his police colleagues is further developed and whilst never going to be a team player it prevents him being the cliché of just another maverick cop.  At the end of the novel important aspects of his life are revealed and we see the importance of family, in the wider sense of the word, to him.  Once again the feeling is that McCoy is trying to be a good man even though at times he struggles to do the right thing.

Once again incidents from Harry’s and Stevie’s shared childhood resurface in the form of an abuser who is confronted.  The dealing with physical, sexual, and psychological abuse is pertinent to our current times and the failure to deal with, and indeed at times covering up, in the past is being addressed.  The question of what appropriate punishment for historic abuse and the morality of victims is trying to extract retribution is a perplexing one for a civilised society.  Whilst vigilantism is bad, I suspect that many would turn a blind eye where a victim of abuse can gain revenge, even though these actions may diminish the original victim who may then regret their actions.  This aspect and the subsequent dichotomy of feelings is dealt with deftly by the author.

Another entertaining read in a series which I can see becoming very popular and I for one will be reading book 3 before the year is finished.