Reviews

The third in Craig Russell's excellent `Lennox' series and I would say one of the darkest so far. Our silver-tongued, justice seeking private eye encounters more than one or two physical scrapes through business and pleasure when he takes on two cases that will test him to the hilt. Is it really criminal mastermind Gentleman Joe Strachan that languishes below the grey choppy waters of the Clyde who appears to be sending messages and issuing death warrants from beyond the grave, or are there other forces at work? And what links an American movie star with an aristocrat's son in a positively salacious incident of blackmail? And how the jiggins is Lennox going to sort it all out whilst still in pursuit of his delectable landlady Fiona, fighting off commando window cleaners and juggling the demands of the Three Kings who rule Glasgow with their iron fists? It's no walk in the park as our battered and bruised hero grapples with his toughest cases yet with a wonderfully violent denouement that sees Lennox dispensing justice in his own inimitable style but with what consequence? This series just gets better and better in my eyes- accomplished plotting, great characterisation melded with a perfect balance of grim violence and wise-cracking dialogue.

subash's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Just when you think it can't get any better the third book comes along ... Here CR tones down the quips on Glaswegians (they haven't disappeared but there isn't the biting sarcasm as in the last two books) and a surprisingly tender love story takes shoot in here and it's all written up achingly well. The protagonists are the best yet in the series and while the 3 kings are not so much center and off as in the last two, they have their histories dredged up and it does make for some fascinating context given what we know about them from the last two books. Lennox really moves to the top of his game here though and becomes a fully realized character that makes for the Marlowe kind of cult classic. In the last two books he made surprisingly amateurish mistakes, but in this he shows a fully developed sense of who he is and while bodies do drop left and right and more than usual, this villain is one for the ages ... anyways can't say any more without giving it away. But the best part of the book was how Lennox is slowly reverting back to his true sense of honor and it's done so authentically you barely notice it ... like i said earlier it's all in the shading, how the quips are less bitter, how he becomes more aware of the damages to his psyche, and also more in how he's beginning to put some of the self loathing behind him and come to terms with the things he's done in the past and the real shading comes in how he treats the regulars in his life. Josh, Mrs. White, Archie and the surprising lengths he goes to save the life of a gutter rat who was blackmailing his client. All adds up to one of the more intriguing characters in Noir that I've run into in a while.

Now on to book 4 (hate to think this may have been the last in this series) (less)

More...