From Publishers Weekly
Acclaimed British noir author Waites (
The Mercy Seat) is somewhat less than accomplished in his debut novel, first published in the U.K. in 1997, a grim look at the Newcastle underworld. Stephen Larkin, a London journalist, is still traumatized by the deaths of his wife and young son at the hands of a man who felt himself wronged by one of Larkin's articles. His current job, for a tabloid, pays the bills, but his life remains empty until an assignment takes him to his hometown of Newcastle to write on a gangland killing. On his arrival, he runs into an old flame, Charlotte Birch, who asks for his help proving that a friend of hers was not a suicide. After the predictable violence and betrayals that follow, Larkin bounces back from the additional pain he suffers rather too quickly.
(Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From Booklist
This first mystery introduces a promising new writer on the British noir front. Stephen Larkin, a London journalist stuck working on a sensationalistic rag, is assigned to cover a gangster's funeral in Newcastle. As soon as he gets there, a former lover convinces him to investigate a suicide. It doesn't take long before Larkin realizes he is in way over his head, on both fronts. Originally published in 1997 but only now available in the U.S., the novel effectively juxtaposes an overall sense of bleakness with moments of surprising tenderness. Waites' depiction of Newcastle's criminal underbelly is stark and realistic, and his protagonist is a complex and credible hero.
David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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