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gervase_fenGreg Iles’ 800 page plus epic took me a month to read – and it turns out that this is just the first of three planned volumes, dealing with the legacy of the racial hate crimes of the 60s in Natchez. As well as initiating a trilogy, Iles is also catching the reader up with previous novels involving the lead characters throughout – ‘incident packed’ is an understatement.
The result for me was a bit like joining a long running US TV drama in season six, episode eight, with five episodes to go until the mid-season finale. To smooth things along Iles idealises his heroes and paints his villains in the deepest shades of black – and it’s a bit of a jolt to realise that said villains are a bunch of pensionable KKK adherents still clinging to the faith in the 'present' of the book, 2006.
There are structural problems. One character is abruptly parked in a hotel room, never to be heard from again – in this instalment, anyway. The ‘inciting incident’ (the death of a retired nurse – a mercy killing gone wrong or murder?) fades from view as the master villain, Brody Royal, steps out of the shadows. Nevertheless, the violent finale delivers on tension and thrills : instead of Chekhov’s Gun we have Chekhov’s Flamethrower.
Having read all the shortlisted nominees I still prefer Apple Tree Yard to the other contenders. The category winner, An Officer and a Spy, I would put in second place, ahead of this, and all three of these way ahead of I am Pilgrim.
Next up, a contender for next year’s Daggers – one among many that the CWA website is listing as submitted for consideration in 2015.
The result for me was a bit like joining a long running US TV drama in season six, episode eight, with five episodes to go until the mid-season finale. To smooth things along Iles idealises his heroes and paints his villains in the deepest shades of black – and it’s a bit of a jolt to realise that said villains are a bunch of pensionable KKK adherents still clinging to the faith in the 'present' of the book, 2006.
There are structural problems. One character is abruptly parked in a hotel room, never to be heard from again – in this instalment, anyway. The ‘inciting incident’ (the death of a retired nurse – a mercy killing gone wrong or murder?) fades from view as the master villain, Brody Royal, steps out of the shadows. Nevertheless, the violent finale delivers on tension and thrills : instead of Chekhov’s Gun we have Chekhov’s Flamethrower.
Having read all the shortlisted nominees I still prefer Apple Tree Yard to the other contenders. The category winner, An Officer and a Spy, I would put in second place, ahead of this, and all three of these way ahead of I am Pilgrim.
Next up, a contender for next year’s Daggers – one among many that the CWA website is listing as submitted for consideration in 2015.
