Friday 18 June 2010

CRIME REVIEW: A Darker Shade of Blue - John Harvey

BOOK BLURB:

John Harvey has been described as the master of British crime and in A Darker Shade of Blue he has collected together some of his very best writing. From the killing fields of the East Midlands to the mean streets of London, from the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho to the barren fenlands of East Anglia, this is a world of broken families and run-down estates, revenge killings and prostitution, drugs, guns and corruption; a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives, men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice; and, a world in which everything, even friendship, has a price. Featuring characters like Frank Elder, who tried to turn his back on police work and failed; Jack Kiley, ex-copper and one-time professional footballer, now a London-based PI; and, the renowned jazz loving and much-loved Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick, John Harvey's finely-crafted vignettes perfectly encapsulate life in the badlands of modern Britain.


REVIEW:

If you want some top notch crime thriller short stories then Arrow have just catered to your every wish. Within this offering is a series of tales that fit quite firmly into short journeys or for a brief five minute read that feel a bit more realistic than a lot of the titles out there.

They’re dark, gritty and above all set within our world with consequences that are just too realistic to be believed. Whilst some would say that John is concentrating on the darker part of the human mind its these tales that bring the humanity to the fore of many of the cast. Beautifully written and above all with a prose that just ingrains itself within the psyche of the reader it’s a title that will definitely embed itself within your imagination and perhaps give you the odd nightmare.

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