John Mackenzie is a highly intelligent crime solver with zero emotional intelligence. Having got up the nose of his bosses at the Met, he has just been shipped off to the National Crime Agency. Having got up the nose of his wife, he has also been shipped out of the marital home and is living in a dodgy bedsit with limited access to his two children. In his spare time, he collects Open University degrees and learns foreign languages.
It is his fluency in Spanish that lands him with his first mission with the NCA, a simple job of jetting off to Spain to pick up a villain apprehended there. Twenty-four hours, max, his new boss says.
By the time the plane lands, the villain has escaped, and Mackenzie has been seconded to help track him down. Despite his less than endearing personality he teams up effectively with a young female uniformed office, Christina Sanchez Pradell, who has been assigned to provide legitimacy to his activities.
Her current situation and backstory frame most of the narrative. It was she that arrested the villain, so he is out for revenge on her. So, while Mackenzie and Christina hunt for him, he is waging a vendetta against her nearest and dearest – husband, son, and a particularly defenceless deaf/blind aunt.
It is set almost exclusively in Andalusia in the south of Spain, with plenty of local colour and an exciting climax atop the Rock of Gibraltar. No spoiler here, but the title does hint at the ending. The prose is pacey and though three of the main characters (Mackenzie, Cleland the villain, and Aunt Ana) are unconventional and interesting, it is hard to empathise with them. Christina, you feel for.
For me, this fell
short of the high standard set by May’s Isle of Lewis trilogy, but still
provided a diverting (99p Kindle) read.
No comments:
Post a Comment