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For more information on cookies see our Cookie Policy. (BUTTON) X Will a more affecting psychological thriller appear this year? Declan Burke reviews the best new crime fiction including Colette McBeth’s The Life I Left Behind Sat, Jan 17, 2015, 17:05 Declan Burke Crime novels tend to end with the guilty punished and justice served, for the very good reason that fiction allows for scenarios that real life doesn’t always deliver. Colette McBeth’s second novel, The Life I Left Behind (Headline Review, €16.99), takes a significantly different approach to the consequences of a serious crime. Melody Pieterson is celebrated as a “survivor”, a woman who not only fought off her violent attacker but also saw him punished for his crime with a conviction and a jail sentence. But the experience has utterly changed Melody, leaving her insular and terrified. The news that her attacker has struck again, after being released from prison – this time he has killed a young woman called Eve – only heightens her sense of isolation. Melody’s story is but half the tale here, however: another perspective is provided by Eve, a campaigning journalist who speaks to us from beyond the grave about her murder, how she believes that Melody’s attacker was framed and the methods she was using to clear his name in the weeks before she was killed. The ghostly presence of Eve might suggest otherwise, but The Life I Left Behind is less a supernatural thriller than it is a psychological investigation into the damage wreaked by cruelty, emotional and physical brutality, and murder. McBeth, formerly herself a journalist, is unsentimental and clear-eyed about the immediate and lingering consequences of violence on victims and their families and friends, yet her direct, unfussy style evolves into a heartbreakingly poignant tale. If a more affecting psychological thriller is published this year, it will be a very good book indeed. The opening of a new casino gives the depressed Pennsylvania town of Penns River a welcome economic boost in Dana King’s Grind Joint (Stark House, €9.99), even if some of the town’s more upstanding citizens are concerned about the origins of the venture’s start-up capital. When the body of a drug dealer is discovered dumped on the casino’s steps just before its grand opening, it appears that their worst suspicions are confirmed: the casino will serve as a “grind joint”, a clearing house for dirty money. But when detectives Ben “Doc” Dougherty and Willie Grabek begin their investigation they quickly find themselves stymied when confronted by vested interests that include mobsters, politicians, former spooks and high-ranking members of their own department. Rooted in the Slavic ethnic heritage of western Pennsylvania, Dana King’s style – this is his fourth novel – has been compared to the work of the late Elmore Leonard, and it’s easy to see why: Grind Joint is a compelling tale of small-town gangsters and cops rooted in vernacular dialogue and blackly comic in the way the bad guys’ ambitions easily exceed their abilities. Grind Joint reads more like a proto-Leonard story, one more reminiscent of George V Higgins, whose The Friends of Eddie Coyle exerted a major influence on Leonard’s style. There is a chilly and occasionally unsettling quality of realism to King’s unflinching appraisal of the devastating impact of economic downturn on the small-town United States, which leads its protagonists to perform increasingly convoluted moral gymnastics. As its title suggests, there’s more than a hint of the cautionary fable to Antonia Hodgson’s debut novel, The Devil in the Marshalsea (Hodder, €11.90). Set in London in 1727, it features Tom Hawkins, a gentleman rake who gambles his way into the infamous Marshalsea debtors’ prison. Faced with appalling conditions, Hawkins agrees to buy his freedom by investigating the circumstances behind the murder of a former inmate, Captain Roberts – but in the Marshalsea everyone is a potential murderer, and few will take kindly to the idea of Hawkins uncovering the prison’s secrets. Laced with profanity and soaked in the filth and grime of the period, The Devil in the Marshalsea is a delightfully irreverent historical mystery. The lurid cast of characters, some of whom are based on real-life historical figures, represent a cross section of the period’s social hierarchy. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the most fascinating character is the prison itself: Hodgson’s fabulous descriptions lead us through a world within a world where inmates have access to an abundance of food, booze, drugs and sex – providing they can pay for the privilege. Blending mystery, the supernatural and a sharply detailed account of the wretched jail itself, The Devil in the Marshalsea is a wonderfully evocative statement of intent from a very promising debut novelist. The fourth in Adrian McKinty’s award- winning series of police procedurals featuring Seán Duffy, a Catholic detective serving in the RUC during the 1980s, Gun Street Girl (Serpent’s Tail, £12.99), opens in 1985, as the news of the impending Anglo-Irish Agreement sends Northern Ireland into a turmoil of strikes, riots and violence. “How can you investigate a murder in a time of incipient civil war?” Duffy wonders as he attends the scene of what appears to be a professional double killing of “civilians”. That conundrum is quickly left behind as Duffy finds himself investigating the possibility that the murders are connected to the theft of Javelin missile systems from the Shorts manufacturing plant, which may well implicate rogue members of an American secret service. The claustrophobic tension of the previous novels is replaced here by a surprisingly jocular tone, as Duffy resorts to absurdist humour in order to preserve his sanity in an increasingly bleak Northern Ireland. “Out here,” he tells us, “on the edge of the dying British Empire, farce is the only mode of narrative discourse that makes any sense at all.” Gun Street Girl may well be a comically implausible tale, but its roots in historical fact renders it a superb satire of its time and place. Declan Burke’s current novel is The Lost and the Blind (Severn House) * Topics: * Adrian Mckinty * Antonia Hodgson * Dana King * Declan Burke Subscribe. [image.jpg] Click here to sign up to the Irish Times Book Club More from The Irish Times * Books Lebanon * Music Pop Corner: Selena marks her ex’s spot; Zayn chaffed at control * People Impossibly photogenic: the Tiger’s Nest, or Taktsang Palphug, monastery, Bhutan’s most sacred site. Photograph: EyesWideOpen/Getty Bhutan: the price of paradise * Opinion “The Red Hand, that ubiquitous symbol of Ulster, straddles the political and sectarian divide.” Right hand, wrong foot – An Irishman’s Diary about political and religious symbolism ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268859|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Bo oks;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] ADVERTISEMENT The Irish Times Logo Sign In Email Address ____________________ Password ____________________ [ ] I agree to the Terms & Conditions, Community Standards and Privacy Policy (BUTTON) Sign In Don't have an account? Sign Up Forgot Password? The Irish Times Logo Sign Up First Name ____________________ Surname ____________________ Screen Name ____________________ The name that will appear beside your comments. 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ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268858|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Bo oks;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] [image.jpg] IFRAME: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playl ists/72151780&color=b74f7d&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comm ents=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false Subscribe on iTunes Follow on Soundcloud Listen on Stitcher Thomas Morris: the stories may not range very far geographically, but Morris manages to display remarkable range for a young man in his cast of characters, proving himself equally at home in a middle-aged woman’s heels or an old man’s slippers. The Book Club Click to join in the discussion about this month's book: We Don't Know What We're Doing by Thomas Morris Hennessy short story of the month How to Float by Niamh Donnelly: Two girls drift through a polluted paradise in this month’s winning Hennessy New Irish Writing short story Most Read in Culture 1 Family sugar audit: Eva Orsmond with Louise and Ollie Ryan Television: A sugar-crash course in how we are poisoning ourselves 2 Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Creed ‘Apollo Creed meant everything to African-Americans’ 3 Did Philip K Dick dream of electric sheep? Much worse 4 Final bow: Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc at the end of the final Friends, in 2004 Friends: they lived perfect lives in a time of plenty. Of course we want them back 5 ‘I think cognitive enhancers should be allowed for academics’ Unthinkable: Is it unethical to take brain stimulants? Never miss a story. SUBSCRIBE IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook. com%2FIrishTimesBooks&width=292&height=258&colorscheme=light&show_faces =true&header=false&stream=false&show_border=true Short stories All the Boys, a short story by Thomas Morris Eilís Ni Dhúibhne New Zealand Flax, a short story by Eílís Ní Dhuibhne Alan McMonagle: has written two collections of short stories, Liar Liar (Wordsonthestreet, 2008) and Psychotic Episodes (Arlen House, 2013) and has just signed two-book deal with Picador Bleeding Boy, a short story by Alan McMonagle Book reviews At Home in the Revolution review: the Rising’s clan na gals Review: Perspectives for a pathbreaker 1916: A Global History review: midpoint for a world engulfed in war High Treason: The Appeal of Roger Casement. By courtesy of Rosensteil’s on behalf of the Estate of Sir John Lavery UK Government Art Collection Making 1916: The stuff of history John De Lorean: a high-octane outline, a glittering absence, always on the move. It’s tempting to see him simply as a gambler where the game always means more than the outcome. But he was also a talented engineer and an innovator, responsible for that classic muscle car the Pontiac Firebird. Photograph: PA Gull by Glenn Patterson: John DeLorean, taking us all for one hell of a ride Sign up to the weekly Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more Google ID ____________________ Name ____________________ Surname ____________________ Email ____________________ (BUTTON) Sign Up [X] I would also like to receive occasional update emails from The Irish Times New poetry Lebanon Liz Quirke Poems: Nurture and Juno Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz: inspiration for WB Yeats, Kevin McAleer, Fintan O’Toole ... and you? Photograph: Sligo County Library Improve on Kevin McAleer’s WB Yeats meme: win two silk kimonos and gazelle* Great reads From crosswords to great wines and the best bits from The Irish Times - Buy an Irish Times Book today Brought to Book What lessons has Danielle McLaughlin learned about life from reading? “To question. To see things from different viewpoints. That there are as many versions of a particular story as there are people involved. That some stories don’t get told at all” Danielle McLaughlin: ‘I think we need different books at different times’ Frankie Gaffney: I did fill an artist’s notebook with anecdotes and phrases once I’d decided to write a book. I’d recommend this to anyone; daily life is instantly transformed into research, and life itself becomes more rewarding when you start finding and recording value in the mundane Frankie Gaffney’s advice to writers: ‘give up the booze and break some rules’ Shelved: a selection of books by Irish women writers. Might some of these names figure in the final 12? Women writers Putting Irish women writers back in the picture Subscribe About Us Policy & Terms Subscribe * Subscription Bundles * Gift Subscriptions * Home Delivery Irish Times Products & Services * ePaper * eBooks * Crosswords * Newspaper Archive * Dating * Ancestors * Email Alerts & Newsletters * Article Archive * Executive Jobs * Page Sales * Photo Sales About Us * Advertise * Contact Us * The Irish Times Trust * Careers Download on the App Store Download on Google Play * Our Partners * Rewarding Times * MyHome.ie * Irish Racing * Entertainment.ie * Top 1000 * MyAntiques.ie * The Gloss * Irish Times Training * Terms & Conditions * Privacy Policy * Cookie Information * Community Standards * Copyright * FAQs © 2015 THE IRISH TIMES For the best site experience please enable JavaScript in your browser settings Sign In ____________________ ____________________ (BUTTON) Sign In Forgot Password? Don't have an account? 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