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ncrabb's review
2.0
This series is definitely a British police procedural, and as such, it has a slight look and feel of something from the 87th precinct here in the states.
Inspector Charlie Resnick’s work world is increasingly chaotic. It looks as though London’s gang wars are about to erupt in a major way. He’s busy tracking guns and drugs, and within a few pages, he’s busy tracking murderers who used some of those phantom guns to do their evil work.
To add to the problem, Resnick must preside over a situation in which members of his prison transportation division allowed a convicted murderer to escape. Michael Preston had been granted the privilege of attending his mother’s funeral for humanitarian reasons. The officers who had transported him from the prison where he was doing a life sentence felt particularly expansive, agreeing that Preston could visit the home of his sister and her family after the funeral, since others would gather there to partake of refreshment and presumably remember his late mother.
But somehow Preston gets a razor blade presumably from his sister’s bathroom, and while they’re all on their way back to prison, he slits the throat of the driver and nearly kills the other officer. Soon he has escaped, and Resnick and others on the force are quietly convinced he’s laughing at them over something tall and cool in Aruba or some such place. In reality, Preston remains in London, and like the gang and drug lords Resnick must try to control, Preston is committing murder to make his situation easier.
There’s a particularly sickening scene here that I won’t write much about, since it probably would guide you into the realm of spoiler, but I wanted to delete the book unfinished so upsetting was this for me. I think others will be less affected, so you should go ahead and read this. That said, if F-bombs and other profanity are a concern, this may not be your book after all.
On balance, I found the book rather slow and plodding, much in the same way you would find an actual police process to be. I presume even in our technology-rich time, there’s lots of legwork that doesn’t always reveal much the first time around. Finally, there’s an interesting subplot here that involves Resnick, a school teacher who once was his lover, and a cop who becomes his new love interest following the death of her father.
Inspector Charlie Resnick’s work world is increasingly chaotic. It looks as though London’s gang wars are about to erupt in a major way. He’s busy tracking guns and drugs, and within a few pages, he’s busy tracking murderers who used some of those phantom guns to do their evil work.
To add to the problem, Resnick must preside over a situation in which members of his prison transportation division allowed a convicted murderer to escape. Michael Preston had been granted the privilege of attending his mother’s funeral for humanitarian reasons. The officers who had transported him from the prison where he was doing a life sentence felt particularly expansive, agreeing that Preston could visit the home of his sister and her family after the funeral, since others would gather there to partake of refreshment and presumably remember his late mother.
But somehow Preston gets a razor blade presumably from his sister’s bathroom, and while they’re all on their way back to prison, he slits the throat of the driver and nearly kills the other officer. Soon he has escaped, and Resnick and others on the force are quietly convinced he’s laughing at them over something tall and cool in Aruba or some such place. In reality, Preston remains in London, and like the gang and drug lords Resnick must try to control, Preston is committing murder to make his situation easier.
There’s a particularly sickening scene here that I won’t write much about, since it probably would guide you into the realm of spoiler, but I wanted to delete the book unfinished so upsetting was this for me. I think others will be less affected, so you should go ahead and read this. That said, if F-bombs and other profanity are a concern, this may not be your book after all.
On balance, I found the book rather slow and plodding, much in the same way you would find an actual police process to be. I presume even in our technology-rich time, there’s lots of legwork that doesn’t always reveal much the first time around. Finally, there’s an interesting subplot here that involves Resnick, a school teacher who once was his lover, and a cop who becomes his new love interest following the death of her father.
eleellis's review
4.0
Apparently, only two novels with Charlie Resnick as the main character are left after this one. As mentioned in a previous review, Harvey improves these stories with each progressive novel.
He mostly sticks with his formula of taking threads that seem unrelated and then weaving them into a broad, interrelated tale.
I also like how he brings back characters from previous books that one feels as if he simply forgot about them.
I don't want to bring up other aspects of the story out of fear of spoiling parts of it, so if a person has enjoyed, this series, then keep on reading the novels and he or she won't be disappointed.
He mostly sticks with his formula of taking threads that seem unrelated and then weaving them into a broad, interrelated tale.
I also like how he brings back characters from previous books that one feels as if he simply forgot about them.
I don't want to bring up other aspects of the story out of fear of spoiling parts of it, so if a person has enjoyed, this series, then keep on reading the novels and he or she won't be disappointed.
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