This is the third Inspector
Carlyle book from James Craig in the last two years, and not for the first time
the rush in writing is beginning to show in the end product. The main character
remains incredibly likable and believable, but the plot is starting to lose
some of the latter.
For those of you who haven't read
the first two you can read my Amazon reviews of London Calling (warning: definitely not for the squeamish) and NeverApologise, Never Explain. This book largely follows the same formula of
loveable cynic policeman John Carlyle discovering a case which would ordinarily
be well out of his league, running into all sorts of madness along the way
before everything settles nicely in the end as he walks away to fight other day
(the next novel is being released later this month so I hope he’s ready!)
As with the other two books the
issues tackled are both topical and push the boundaries of acceptability.
The tone
is set pretty early on when Carlyle finds a child wandering in Green Park and
quickly suspects that there might be a link to Buckingham Palace. This takes
him on a whistle stop tour of the corrupt workings of the upper echelons of
British institutions which most people would imagine are infallible, or at
least very good at not getting caught.
Another similarity with the other
book is the clearly transparent disguise given to those in the book to hide
their real-life equivalents. While the first book had the brothers vying for
political dominance the second featured the ‘accidental Mayor’ with no
political nous but good PR skills and this one has a young Prince doing things
behind closed doors he shouldn't be (obviously when you read the book they are
much more extreme things than any real-life Prince might be indulging in).
New characters are brought into
the book and then disappear almost as quickly, sometimes only to reappear 50
pages later which means you can spend some time flicking back and forth trying
to remember where it all fits together. The end also seems incredibly rushed, the
way that everything ties up together is just too convenient (one loose end is
tied up with the conversation “What happened to him” “Oh, he died of a heart
attack” “Oh good”)
The best aspect of the book, as
with the others is the attention to detail given to describing London. That
said the number and nature of comments about everything from the Mayor to the
transport system leaves me with the impression that the author is just as
cynical as his creation. I’ll still be reading the next offering when it
appears on my Kindle, but I’d be happy to wait a couple more months if it meant
the end product was even better.
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