Review - THE BURNING SOUL by John Connolly

By John Connolly, Hodder and Stoughton, 9780340993538

John Connolly is that rarity; a series author who is unafraid to take risks not only with his characters, but also his narrative voice. His lyrical and compellingly literary prose style – that nimbly and effortlessly breaks all the rules to switch between first and third in a way only James Lee Burke seems to have managed previously – has grown in leaps and bounds since his confident debut in EVERY DEAD THING, becoming unique and recognisable both within the genre and perhaps beyond. His peculiar obsessions – the nature of evil, the idea of an afterlife, the physical and mental embodiment of sin – have also marked him out as unique within a genre that can, all too easily, rely on easy tropes and generic shorthand to explore its themes. Even those ideas that seem familiar take on a unique and fresh aspect; Connolly's books demmand and maintain your attention.

While one might have expected Connolly to adhere to a more straightforwardly supernatural route following from the revelations that came to his ongoing protagonist, Charlie Parker, in THE LOVERS, the more overtly fantastical elements of THE BURNING SOUL feel toned down and held back in a way that suggests some characters may be haunted not by outside elements but by their own guilt and fear. Again, this is the hallmark of a Connolly novel: while he may have acknowledged the idea of some other realm of existence, it is all too often the more human incarnation of evil that provides the catalyst for his work.

The novel begins with Parker taking on the case of a man who once lived under another name. That man killed a black girl with the help of his best friend when all three were in their teens. Now living with a new identity and trying to build something that might be close to a worthwhile life, Randall Haight has been receiving threats from someone who seems to know his secret. And with a local girl missing, Haight is going to be suspect number one if anyone does hear a whisper of the boy he used to be.

The grey areas of morality have become Connolly’s playground, and here he asks the reader to consider a number of issues about responsibility of both of the perpetrators and the authorities, and whether someone found guilty of a crime as a child is capable of becoming an adult who contributes to society. There are no easy answers here and Connolly manages to explore sensitive issues without exploiting them or reducing them to a kind of one-dimensional melodrama, something that many lesser writers may have wound up doing.

Sins of the past and issues of identity play deeply into the narrative, and it seems that everyone has a secret to keep, maybe even Parker himself. The idea of the small town with skeletons buried under the streets (metaphorically and perhaps even physically) is nothing new in American literature, but here it serves Connolly’s intentions perfectly and allows him to slowly chip away at his characters to reveal surprising truths about what makes them tick.
On top of all the thematic depth, Connolly’s often-gothic narration is a joy to read. Unusually among thriller writers, his turn of phrase is often beautiful and evocative; a skill that he has developed and honed over his career. He should now one of the most lyrical of the modern crime writers – again, something he shares in common with Burke.

But unlike Burke, Connolly rarely lets his love of words interfere with the swiftness of his narrative, and there is a sense that every word has been carefully considered to build up not only atmosphere, but a riding sense of movement to the novel. And once the novel kicks into its final act, it becomes difficult to stop turning those pages as revelations come thick and fast and assumptions are confounded for both the characters and the reader. And while a few of the central twists might seem a little obvious in the cold light of day, Connolly is a skilled enough writer to make them feel fresh upon a first reading, caught up as you are in his narrative. Connolly is the perfect argument for the literate thriller. On the surface, his books are thrilling and gripping – forcing you turn these pages to find out what happens next. But beneath all of that, the construction and the engagement continues on a deeper level if you care to look for it. This is what makes him exciting and unique as a thriller writer, his insistence on giving his readers something deeper and more than they might expect.

THE BURNING SOUL is a brilliant, tense, literary thriller with just a hint of the supernatural, a uniquely Connolly-esque mix. It will reward long-time fans and recruit new ones, who will no doubt scurry to the backlist to discover what they’ve been missing for all this time.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotland 10/01/11

Review - THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC, by Lawrence Block

Telemachus Press, 9781937387310 (ebook), 9781937698071 (Epub), 9781937387327 (paperback)

It’s no secret that in my other life (that of an unrepentant writer of PI fiction), I have always acknowledged the debt I owe to Lawrence Block’s magnificent creation, Matt Scudder. So the moment I realised Block’s new collection of short stories, THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC, focussed on the PI who used to do “favours for friends”, I was sold. Block and Scudder are a powerhouse combination, but I admit I was intrigued to see how this combination would work in the short story format, as a great deal of what I loved about the Scudder novels was the way that he would intertwine themes and ideas with the main action. Thus the novels were not merely about crime, but about alcoholism, about dealing with past sins and future change, and of course the evolving cityscape of New York. Its worth noting that before I ever visited NYC, my impressions were formed by constant viewing of NYPD Blue and of course the Scudder novels.

This collection maintains all these elements from the Scudder series, and a whole lote more besides. THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC collates shorts from various sources and inspirations (which are detailed in Block’s intriguing afterward) and details moments from over 50 years of Scudder’s life. So here we meet Scudder as he was in his uniform days (in the very clever LET’S GET LOST) and see him through his alcoholic years, his first attempts at sobriety and his more sober senior years.

The stories themselves range from clever mystery construction (OUT THE WINDOW) to odd and affecting viginettes from Scudder’s life (THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC and MICK BALLOU LOOKS AT THE BLANK SCREEN) to affecting glimpses of the transient nature of life in Scudder’s NYC (the quite wonderful, A CANDLE FOR THE BAG LADY) and a whole lot more besides. Scudder’s always been as much about character as he is about crime solving and here we get the evolution of a character through a series of short and often sharply penned stories that grip the reader from the first paragraph and linger for a long time afterward. As a reader, I tend to read short collections in gulps and it’s the rare anthology where I finish one story and then immediately start another. But with THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC, I found myself thinking, “oh, one more short won’t hurt” and suddenly realised I was closing in on the end of the book before I knew what was happening.

Of course all of this emotional connection with Scudder may mean that the collection may not be the best starting off point for newcomers to Scudder (there’s a great deal of history to the character that might better require the breathing room afforded of a novel to elucidate the uninitiated) but that’s a minor criticism and Block handles any necessary exposition with grace and humour. The result is the feeling of dipping in and out of the life of an old friend. Which means that not every story centres on a crime or act of wrongdoing. Indeed, the title story is a brilliantly told mood piece that will deeply satisfy those who have followed Scudder on his journey through life. It is a rare moment of pure humanity in Scudder’s world and, along with moments such as MICK BALLOU LOOKS AT THE BLANK SCREEN (which has the double impact of justifying my adoration of the finale of THE SOPRANOS) serves to give the impression that Scudder is a lot more than just a PI, that his story doesn’t stop when we’re not reading about him.

Along with A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF, this collection makes 2011 a banner year for fans of Scudder (and his creator, Block). You owe it to yourself to stop whatever it is you’re doing and read this collection straight away. As a portrait of not just a man but a city that changes with the years, you’re really not going to do any better.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotland.blogspot.com, 04/01/11

Review - ASSUME NOTHING by Gar Anthony Haywood

ASSUME NOTHING by Gar Anthony Haywood, Severn House, 9781847513793

One of my favourite characters in crime fiction is not a detective or even remotely a hero. Rather he is Richard Stark’s anti-hero, Parker. The sheer determination and absolute focus of the character are reflected in the spare, powerful prose style of its author.

So from the word go, I was inclined to adore this latest novel from the supremely talented Gar Anthony Haywood (YOU CAN DIE TRYING). Its central character, Joe Reddick, shares much in common with Parker. He’s focussed. Determined. Able to improvise. And utterly ruthless. And again, this is reflected by Haywood’s lean, muscular narration. But what makes Reddick more than just a Parker clone, is the fact that while Parker is driven by money and challenge, Reddick is driven by a more primal instinct – the urge to protect his family.

Reddick is an ex-cop with anger management issues. Having seen his family slaughtered almost a decade earlier, he is trying to rebuild his life, despite his frequently inappropriate responses to explosive situations as seen early in the novel where he almost kills a couple of punks causing trouble in a fast food outlet. But he’s grounded by Dana and her son, his new family, his new reason for living. They are what give him hope for the future and allow him to carry on without giving in completely to the psychopathic rage that boils inside him.

As with all good crime novels, what happens next has the organic feel of “shit happens”. Like Elmore Leonard, Haywood spends a while setting up seemingly disparate threads and allowing characters to collide in ways that set up the action to come. Its an accident that puts Reddick in the path of some would-be bad guys trying to dispose of a body. And its those guys who make the mistake of thinking that the best way to make sure Reddick doesn’t talk to the police is to threaten his new family.

From this point on, the novel explodes. The action unfolds quick and fierce, and Reddick unleashes that righteous anger that’s been inside him the whole time. Like Parker, though, he has a code and tries his damndest to stick to it even when the odds dictate he should maybe do otherwise. Unlike Parker, though, this code has a simple moral base and allows the reader to truly get on side with Reddick despite some of the terrible things he does. And it also allows Haywood to play with ideas of ethics and morality in a way many crime novels shy away from. The question of who the bad guy is comes into play as the cops become interested in why bodies are piling up and start to piece together the disparate pieces of the puzzle that the reader already knows. And its a credit to Haywood that while Reddick is an incredible creation, he allows the supporting cast room to breathe. In particular, the trio of "bad guys" that Reddick pursues are painted not as simple schm,ucks or cackling villains, but as ordinary guys who made some bad, bad decisions. This only adds to the novel's sense of realism and increases the tension of the moral conumdrum at the heart of this work. It also means that when they collide with Reddick, the results are anything but predictable. Haywood's characters live and breathe in a way that means we can imagine they might be merely a street away.

Years ago, I read Haywood’s YOU CAN DIE TRYING and adored it. More recently his short story collection, LYRICS FOR THE BLUES confirmed that Haywood is a major talent. ASSUME NOTHING has brought me firmly on board as a fan of Haywood’s literate, engaging and uncompromising brand of crime fiction. You want my advice? If you haven’t read Haywood, you need to start now. Trust me, you’ll want to devour his entire back catalogue.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotland 03/01/12