Disordered Daggers : The Unwilling by John Hart (2021)

[gervase_fen]

This one didn't seem to garner much attention when it came out in the UK in February last year, and to be honest there doesn't seem to be too much to shout about.  Set in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1972, this is in part a coming of age story that reminded me strongly of Stephen King (IT, "The Body"), an exploration of the ongoing impact on a father and his sons of Vietnam, and a thriller driven by a millionaire criminal mastermind on death row who has a private suite of rooms in his jail. It's all very readable, but also quite second hand, and I'm surprised this made the shortlist instead of, say, Mark Billingham's Rabbit Hole.

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

Interesting. Wallowing in the cycles of subgenre?

[gervase_fen]

Yes, there's definitely some tonal shifts which seem at cross purposes to the book John Hart describes in his introduction (which stresses a focus on the legacy of Vietnam and Charlotte in the early 70s.)

The US cover sells the coming of age side, the UK cover the ominous thriller (I wonder if anyone's ever collated all the covers these days that feature a lonely winding road in a harsh landscape with a figure or vehicle that portends... something.)