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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Darkness, Darkness by John Harvey
4.0
‘The snow had started falling long before the first car departed.’
Thirty years ago, Charlie Resnick was a newly promoted Detective Inspector. Thirty years ago, in 1984, Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers in one of the most infamous strikes in the UK’s history. And as the British Miners’ Strike became increasingly violent, Charlie Resnick ran undercover operations in Nottingham where policemen, disguised as union sympathizers were sent into the ranks of the protestors in order to gather intelligence. In 2014, the body of a young woman, is found under concrete at a Nottinghamshire home. The body is identified as belonging to Jenny Hardwick, a miner’s wife, who went missing in 1984. Who killed Jenny Hardwick, and why?
Charlie Resnick has now retired from the police force but does some work as a civilian investigator. Detective Inspector Catherine Njoroge is assigned the Jenny Hardwick case, and asks Charlie Resnick for assistance given his knowledge of both the strike and of Jenny Hardwick. Charlie Resnick knew Jenny Hardwick as an impassioned activist for the strike, imploring the wives of the miners to keep their husbands out of the pit and on the picket line. Jenny’s own husband Barry was one of the ‘scabs’ still working in the mine, complicating their own lives at the time as well as the present investigation. Some of the enmities engendered by the miners’ strike still exist, and colour people’s views of the past. All of this complicates Charlie Resnick’s investigations.
This, I read, is to be Charlie Resnick’s last case, and as the narrative moves between past and present, we can see how Resnick himself has changed over the thirty years. As he investigates the case, he struggles with his own grief over the death of his partner. And Catherine Njoroge has some problems of her own to deal with.
While this particular story drew me in, reminded me of the impacts of the Miners’ Strike and had me guessing about who killed Jenny Hardwick (and why), the character of Charlie Resnick has me intrigued. This is the first of the Charlie Resnick novels I’ve read, and I’m keen to read the earlier novels in the series.
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Thirty years ago, Charlie Resnick was a newly promoted Detective Inspector. Thirty years ago, in 1984, Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers in one of the most infamous strikes in the UK’s history. And as the British Miners’ Strike became increasingly violent, Charlie Resnick ran undercover operations in Nottingham where policemen, disguised as union sympathizers were sent into the ranks of the protestors in order to gather intelligence. In 2014, the body of a young woman, is found under concrete at a Nottinghamshire home. The body is identified as belonging to Jenny Hardwick, a miner’s wife, who went missing in 1984. Who killed Jenny Hardwick, and why?
Charlie Resnick has now retired from the police force but does some work as a civilian investigator. Detective Inspector Catherine Njoroge is assigned the Jenny Hardwick case, and asks Charlie Resnick for assistance given his knowledge of both the strike and of Jenny Hardwick. Charlie Resnick knew Jenny Hardwick as an impassioned activist for the strike, imploring the wives of the miners to keep their husbands out of the pit and on the picket line. Jenny’s own husband Barry was one of the ‘scabs’ still working in the mine, complicating their own lives at the time as well as the present investigation. Some of the enmities engendered by the miners’ strike still exist, and colour people’s views of the past. All of this complicates Charlie Resnick’s investigations.
This, I read, is to be Charlie Resnick’s last case, and as the narrative moves between past and present, we can see how Resnick himself has changed over the thirty years. As he investigates the case, he struggles with his own grief over the death of his partner. And Catherine Njoroge has some problems of her own to deal with.
While this particular story drew me in, reminded me of the impacts of the Miners’ Strike and had me guessing about who killed Jenny Hardwick (and why), the character of Charlie Resnick has me intrigued. This is the first of the Charlie Resnick novels I’ve read, and I’m keen to read the earlier novels in the series.
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith