Chosen because
Time for a bit of crime and detection, and this book purports to combine police procedural, film noir and multi-generational dark deeds. Although the second of the author’s “Brighton Mystery” series it seems to stand alone and may open out a new seam in the detective fiction genre.
The Review
The first half of the book is set in 1960s, with heavy handed references that seem more like name-dropping that scene setting. The initiation and development of the eponymous crime boss is related against a background of pop culture and gangland violence.
The second half moves to current day, but with nearly all the characters being offspring (one or two generations?) of the sixties crew, it can test the memory and stretch credibility. Following the convoluted motivations and familial relationships is not helped by a couple of errors that sent me scuttling back through the pages to check who did what and when.
The violence continues with the current generation using more modern weapons and globally inspired if less subtle means of disposing of business rivals. All this is graphically described and is equally worrying as a realistic representation of sixties gangland or a product of the author’s imagination.
None of the characters are attractive, most are positively unpleasant, which makes the read an intellectual rather than emotional journey. Morbid fascination took me to the conclusion, which managed to be both inevitable and unexpected.
Read another?
Unlikely to search out the earlier “City of Dreadful Night
