Material Witness

REVIEW: The Dying Light by Henry Porter

At its heart The Dying Light has two premises. The first is that the combination of the anti-terrorist legislation and other surveillance tactics and methods introduced by current and recent governments holds the potential to undermine the freedom of the British people totally. The second is that we are all in grave danger of allowing this to happen through our general ignorance of the changing legal framework, our apathy and our willingness (prompted by state propaganda) to exchange some of our basic human rights in exchange for our safety from events such as 9/11 and 7/7.

This is natural territory for espionage writer Henry Porter to explore in fiction, given his four year campaign to educate his readers about the danger of Britain's slide into becoming a surveillance society in which basic freedoms are being rapidly eroded by government - as evidenced by this recent piece in the Daily Mail.

Porter casts us forward to 2014 to illustrate the impact these developments could have. David Eyam, a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee and confidant of the Prime Minister, is killed in a bomb blast in Colombia - apparently he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when his close friend Kate Lockhart, herself a former spook, attends his funeral, she quickly discovers that others are desperate to protect the secrets of Eyam's life and death: desperate enough to kill anyone who stands in their way.

Lockhart is soon at the heart of a political conspiracy that leads to the very top and one that is underpinned by the volatile combination of money and power, the ego and paranoia of a politican and the ruthless manipulation of legislation to serve personal ambition.

At times a storyline in which peacetime Britain effectively became a police state strayed into territory I considered a little unrealistic, but then I reminded myself that the legal framework that allowed it actually exists now. And of course the other factors required have already existed: vain, egomaniacal politicians; greedy businessmen; and, yes, a passive population largely unaware of the dangers.

And that in turn made The Dying Light a little bit frightening at times, because it does not take much of a mental leap to imagine it happening and after that the leaps to other totalitarian horrors become smaller and simpler. A slippery slope we already seem to have taken a step on.

If all that makes The Dying Light sound like a polemic on the dangers of CCTV and internment, then I should point out that it is also an exciting story, which begins like a classic tale of espionage before developing into a  gripping political thriller that one day will make a perfect television drama for the BBC's Sunday 9pm slot.

The characters are recognisable and therefore credible and Porter deftly brings his story to the boil and a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

So don't let the fact that Henry Porter occasionally writes for the Daily Mail put you off. This is a book with an important story to tell and one that is well told.

Interview: Marshall Karp, author of the Lomax and Biggs series

Regular readers will know that I have become a big fan of Marshall Karp in recent years. Karp is a New York (state) based author writing a detective series set in LA that is inspired by his days there working as a Hollywood script writer. (See reviews of The Rabbit Factory and Bloodthirsty.)

His writing has drawn some comparisons to Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich. As I have not read the latter I cannot comment on those, and while I understand the Hiaasen comparison - they are both very funny - this only goes so far as Karp is a more conventional writer of police detective tales.   But his is a refreshing and entertaining voice, as hinted at by his answers below, and his books are cracking mystery stories that deserve a wide audience.

I am grateful to Marshall, who I have interviewed "live" before - here - for answering more questions following the publication of his third novel, Flipping Out, by Allison & Busby publish . Flipping Out is another winner, and I will have a review shortly. 

Is Marshall Karp, Lomax or Biggs?

Terry Biggs is a New York wiseass, the master of the quick comeback, goes for the laugh every chance he gets, loyal adoring husband, devoted father, workaholic, driven by the challenge of starting a new career and rising to the top. So it’s pretty obvious — definitely not me.

On the other hand, Mike Lomax is warm, lovable, sensitive, pays more attention to the little voice in his head than he should, intelligent, intuitive, protective, and good in bed. Not me either.

I guess I just made those guys up.

I also made up Big Jim Lomax, Mike’s well meaning, totally meddling father. Really — he’s completely fictional. Just ask my kids.

Flipping Out has a great plot premise - is it based on real LA events?

Yes and no. The primary plot revolves around a bestselling mystery author who buys a run-down house in LA, and while her business partners turn it into a showpiece, she makes it the scene of a grisly murder and the star of her next book. It may sound like a plausible LA scheme, but it’s something I created — although it’s not a bad idea to put into practice. However, as you get deeper into the book, a second, much more sinister plot opens up. I won’t give it away here, but it is based on the real life activities of some very nasty criminals.

People in the UK regard LA as being a sort of giant theme park of the bad, the mad and the utterly insane. Is it as loopy as it looks long distance?

LA is a thriving metropolis with real people doing real jobs and living real lives. But that wasn’t my experience when I lived there for two years.My world was show business, and while I met some genuine people along the way, I also ran into some of the people who live up to the Tinseltown stereotype. LA, especially the entertainment business, is a magnet for the greedy, the needy, the egomaniacs, and the ego starved. It may look loopy from afar, but when you get up close it can be downright ugly. I have no regrets for my time spent in LA, and only a few resentments toward some of the more arrogant, exploitive people I met. And while they were in the minority, I’m kind of grateful for having met them. Many of my best murder victims were thinly disguised versions of assholes I worked with.

Can you give any hints about the next Lomax and Biggs plot?

Broad hints. When the first body is found (the wife of a British diplomat living in LA), the killer has left behind a detailed scrapbook as a signature. The subject of the scrapbook: the victim. Since I seem to have this penchant for multiple bodies, there will be multiple scrapbooks. If it seems simple so far, let me warn you that no one who has read it has been able to figure it out. And of course on the lighter side, Big Jim and Terry Biggs team up in a hilarious get rich in Hollywood scheme, and Mike Lomax and Diana ponder the question so many of their fans have been asking. Should they or should they not get married and/or have a baby?

What do you make of the Hiaasen / Evanovich comparisons?

There’s something about this business that seems to invite people to discover a new writer and then try to pigeonhole him by comparing him to established writers. I wonder whom Hiaasen and Evanovich were compared to when they started out. In the broadest sense I think the comparison has merit, because they both write funny, and so do I. But I hadn’t read either of them before my first book was published. I think the most accurate comparisons I’ve gotten are from close friends or others who know me well who say “your books remind me of you.”

Who/what are your literary inspirations?

James Patterson is a good friend whose style of rapid fire, easy to digest, hard to put down chapters had an enormous impact on how I craft and pace my books. While our writing styles are different, he understands better than any author what readers want and knows how to give it to them. I’ve learned a lot from him, and since we’re friends, I often get the education first hand.

My comedy style is influenced by the American playwright Neil Simon, and to some degree by Woody Allen. And I’ve learned a lot from American humorists, particularly Mark Twain.

How has your background in TV writing helped in writing novels? What are the principle differences?

My books have a lot of dialogue, and not a lot of description. Certainly that comes from my TV background. TV scripts are all dialogue. But then, so much of life is dialogue. (Especially mine. According to my wife, I do tend to prattle on.) The major difference between TV and books is that I have to remember that some description is necessary. TV shows have a scenic designer to build the set, a casting director, a wardrobe department, a location scout, and a whole crew of people to bring a script to life. When I sat down to write my first book I had to learn how to paint the pictures and capture the emotions for the readers with words alone.

If you were holding a dinner party and could invite six guests - three fictional, three real - from any era of his choosing, who would your guests be? And what would he serve them?

Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Superman. I’d have the guests order whatever they wanted from any restaurant in the world, then a few minutes before dinner, I’d send Superman out to pick up the food.

For more from Marshall Karp, check out his excellent website: LomaxandBiggs.com  

 

REVIEW: The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham

I don't make a habit of reviewing books that are not newly released, but I have to make an exception for The Night Ferry, Michael Robotham's third novel of a loose  "series" featuring a cast of changing characters including psychologist Joe O'Loughlin and detectives Vincent Ruiz and Alisha Barba.

I make an exception because this is a truly excellent novel that I hope I can help a few more people to find. This is the first of Michael Robotham's book I have actually read, as the other three I have downloaded from Audible and listened to on iPod with the exceptional narration of Sean Barrett (more of which when I have listened to the last couple of hours of Rowbotham's most recent novel, Shatter).

The Night Ferry is a book I had heard whispers about. Whispers suggesting it belonged in the first class of crime fiction. The whispers were absolutely spot on. This is a near flawless novel.

What makes it special is the combination of a powerhouse plot with gravitas, urgency and depth and the development of fascinating, multi-layered characters. The cement that holds them together is Robotham's exceptional feel for a story and how it develops and an exquisite way with words. Often, when listening to Robotham's books, I find myself simply nodding at how "right" every passage is - the way a chapter ends or starts, how a new character or idea is introduced. Timing is not a quality that applies easily to writing, but Rowbotham has it in spades.

The plot, as is the case with all his books, is darker than night itself. Ali Barba is contacted by an old, long-lost friend desperate for help. They meet at a school reunion but before the friend can explain her problem, she is knocked down by a car and killed. At first it looks accidental but Barba, her detective instincts to the fore, refuses to accept the obvious explanation. Her investigation, aided by old friend Vincent Ruiz - perhaps the most singluar and interesting of all current fictional detectives - leads her to the black heart of the intercontinental trade in babies and the desperate lives of those caught in its merciless grip.

If it were not quite so dark, The NIght Ferry would be a one-sitting thriller. It is entrancing, in part  because Rowbotham makes it impossible for the reader not to care about the characters. But even to a reader such as myself who is hardened to the viciousness of life as portayed by this type of fiction, there are moments in this book that require respite.

But it is exceptional, and if you haven't found it yet, get out there and grab a copy.

(further reading: excellent LA Times review. )