One good turn deserves another, so here is a quick review of James Ellroy’s LA Confidential.
Even if you saw the movie, read LA Confidential. The book is very, very good, even better than the movie.
Wicked Winds Down Under
Truth, by Peter Temple, is as much a character study as it is a crime story. At the center of a whirlwind of crime, family dysfunction, and political corruption is Inspector Stephen Villani. Villani is a well-schooled detective, capable of hunting down the bad guys. His wit and wisdom lend credibility to this side of his character. Then there are the added dimensions of his estranged wife, daughter on the streets, and varied affiars. Through it all, Villani makes tough decisions, weaving between the difficult and the impossible with varied results.
This being the second Peter Temple book I’ve read, I was ready for the clipped sentences, odd references to things not properly explained, and insider jargon. Temple does a fine job of authenticating his police dialog, but at times this can be challenging if one is not tuned in to subtleties. While I appreciate the desire to render things accurately, a bit more clarity would have gone a long way. And this book will take you a long way. From a guy who steps into multiple murder scenes, who juggles his emotionally inaccessible father, who wrestles with how to handle a drug addicted daughter, and who somehow manages to do his job. There’s a morality play in here, one that demonstrates how the world rarely forgets and less often forgives, but continues on, carried by people like Villani who never give up.
Deception…
Deception On His Mind, by Elizabeth George sends one of her regular characters, Barbara Havers, on a solo job. She rushes off to the fictional sea-side town of Balford-le-Nez, where a recently arrived Pakistani has been found dead, apparently murdered. Havers soon gets the job of interfacing with the local Pakistani community, which is inflamed by racial tensions thanks to actors on both sides of the divide. As would be expected, there is a list of potential suspects ranging from ex-employees to fellow immigrants, all of which have motives and means.
George tells the whole story in the course of nearly five hundred pages. While some of it is repetitive, it’s a pleasure to read a thoroughly written book as opposed to the more slender, sparsely populated ones of late. There is the backdrop of a town on the skids with renewal on the way. There is the coming marriage of the deceased into a wealthy family looking to maintain their religious traditions amidst a more secular society. There is the dynamics between Havers and her temporary boss, a relationship that teeters on the brink now and then. Not to mention the friendship between two young women whose common history is now unraveling. George leaves nothing out, building a narrative of these and many more elements, all of which spin together in a world that is highly believable.
Deception On His Mind can be read without knowing all of Havers’ background through George’s other mysteries featuring her and Inspector Lynley. Therefore, those looking for a taste of this series will find it enjoyable.
Hard Boiled and Hard Core
Box 21, by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom, is a hard ball police work novel with a harsh look at the hard core of prostitution in Sweden. This novel begins in pieces, which over time are put together in ways one suspects but follows into the darkness. The reader meets two Lithuanian prostitutes sold as sex slaves, ostensibly to a pimp named Dimitri. Then there is an enforcer/killer for hire named Lang who is just out of prison. Inspector Ewert Grens and his partner Sven pivot between these characters as the action soon heats up. When one of the girls goes beserk and the police are called, the threads wind up tightly, in ways Grens would prefer the rest of the world never finds out. But Sven has more of a consience and pursues leads on his own initiative. In the mean time, there are a few dead end plot lines that could have been left out but do lend a bit of authentic confusion to the police work aspect of the story. This is the world of scum and their victims, hunters and hunted, the innocent and abused all writ intimately and without the gloss other stories use to polish over the depravity.
All in all, this is a bleak story, one with few redeeming messages. Right to the end, the reader will be looking for some light at the end of the tunnel. Warning: there isn’t much. Such is life as created by this team of authors. However, those readers who want a glimpse into the savage ways of human traficking will want to peer through this lense, if only to see how bad it can be and what happens when a person can’t take it anymore.
The Bent Page 