American Devil is a bold debut. It is a very long and involved book, ambitious for a first time novelist given the danger of a monster like this (450 plus pages of small type, more than 100 chapters) getting out of control.
It also nails its colours to the mast of genre cliche: we are introduced, in absentia, to our protagonist Tom Harper as his future is being discussed by the brass. He is an unconventional loner with a violent who has broken the jaw of a fellow officer. Some want him sacked; others argue that he is "the best we've got", "he gets results", and must be reinstated to help NYPD track a serial killer.
Finally, said serial killer is extraordinarily sadistic. Occasionally, as I read serial killer novels, I wonder if the writers are not playing some sort of game of onemanupmanship in which each novel has to be nastier than the next. American Devil is pretty nasty. I know there are a number of crime fiction fans who are increasingly turned off by stylised, graphic violence of this kind, particularly when it is against women, and it is fair to say that if you are of that mind, American Devil is not for you.
And so it's fair to say that 30 or 40 pages in I had serious misgivings about this book. But I stuck with it, and I am pleased I did. I did so because there was a quality evident in Oliver Stark's writing straight from the off, that promised better, and also for all his flirting with crime fiction cliche, Stark avoided its worst traps. Detective Harper, while certainly preferring to plough a lone furrow, did not behave with the arrogance that undermines many such characters and leads them towards behaviours and decisions that are both incomprehensible and improbable. Harper is perosnally mixed up, angry and a clear danger to himself professionally, but he is also rational and likable, appears to work reasonably well within the structures of the NYPD and while his investigation is somewhat unconventional it is also logical and credible.
A very telling passage comes early on after Harper has been referred to an NYPD pyschologist as a condition of his reinstatement. When he first meets Professor Denise Levene, he is predictably dismissive and uncooperative, but he quickly realises that a lot of what she tells him is true, and their relationship thaws and quickly develops into a partnership.
It is that partnership that evenutally is pushed to the centre of the investigation. Levene profiles a killer who is targeting wealthy young blonde women, raping and killing them and taking a prize from each. Leven develops a profile that eventually allows the detectives to exploit the few clues they have to the killer's identity.
Stark tells both of the story, spending time with both killer and detectives, and this works well, the killer leading both reader and police further into his world and into a plot which is very skilfully handled - not once does it feel out of control and Stark deftly works it towards a tense finale. (The plot is such that there is really not much more I can say about the way the killer works without publishing spoilers).
That said, I would still suggest American Devil could have been 50 pages shorter, but after initial doubts I enjoyed it hugely and towards the end could not put it down.
It is a fine and assured debut, suggesting that Oliver Stark is a name we will hear a great deal more from. I hope so.
