SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL: Books to Look Forward To From Europa Editions

SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL: Books to Look Forward To From Europa Editions: January 2021  The third and final installment in the remarkable Marseilles Trilogy ( Total Chaos , Chourmo ), Solea continues Jean-Claude I...

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Rage by Gene Kerrigan

Gene Kerrigan is an Irish journalist who focuses on political commentary. He has an impressive list of nonfiction books to his credit. He’s also published four volumes of crime fiction. The most recent one, The Rage (Europa Editions, 2012) received the 2012 Gold Dagger for the best crime novel of the year from the Crime Writers’ Association. Structured along two story lines that eventually intersect, the story is set in Dublin during the aftermath of the real estate crash in 2008 to 2010. The first victim is a real estate developer killed in a home invasion, which is followed by a series of attacks on property developers and bankers. Detective Sergeant Bob Tidey is assigned to investigate them.

 

In the meantime Vincent Naylor, a small-time hooligan, is out of prison and determined never to return. This doesn’t mean he plans to eschew his previous life of crime. It just means he doesn’t intend to get caught. Within two weeks of his release he is planning a huge score on an armored car firm that collects cash from various businesses. The details are instructive; Kerrigan seems to know all about how to conduct a robbery like this.

 

The two stories come together when a retired nun reports what appears to be an abandoned car in front of her house. She knows it doesn’t belong to any of her neighbors. It is one of the get-away vehicles that Naylor plans to use to escape capture by the police after his big score. The gang planted a series of vehicles to use for a short time each to avoid being identified with a specific automobile. She reported the car to the local police and the information filtered up until it reached Tidey.

 

Fast-moving, evenly paced story, even though the point of view alternates between the two stories, which can make reading a little choppy. Rounded realistic characters, none of them perfect, even the nun, but all of them likable at some level, including the criminals. The ending is typically noirish, incorporating moral ambiguity with justice. Starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal.

 

·         Paperback: 336 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1609450922

·         ISBN-13: 978-1609450922

·         Publisher: Europa Editions; 1st Edition (February 5, 2013)

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored by Philippe Georget (Translator Steven Rendall)

Philippe Georget is a French television anchor and author of five crime novels. His debut, L'été tous les chats s'ennuient, published by Éditions Jigal in 2009, won the SNCF Crime Fiction Prize and the City of Lens First Crime Novel Prize. Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored (Europa Editions, 2013), the first Inspector Gilles Sebag book, was translated from the French by Steven Rendall.

It’s miserably hot on the French Mediterranean coast, as usual during the summer, and Inspector Gilles Sebag is tired of his job. The air conditioner at the Perpignan police headquarters breaks down with depressing frequency. The tedium of tourists and petty crime along with the heat have him sleepwalking through his days. His real interest is his family, and he’s consumed with the realization that his children are growing up. Both of them are spending part of their vacation away from the family for the first time and he misses them dreadfully. In addition, he’s caught his wife Claire, whom he loves deeply, in a lie and he fears she is having an affair. His anxiety is heightened when she decides to go on a cruise alone for part of her vacation, since she has more time off than he does.

Sebag’s mind is nowhere near work when a Dutch girl is found murdered on a beach. Then another Dutch girl disappears. Still a few days later a third Dutch girl is attacked with a knife during a failed kidnapping. The belief that a local serial killer has singled out Dutch tourists for his attentions has caused a slick Paris cop to be assigned to the force to serve as liaison between the police on the ground and the French authorities in touch with the Dutch police. Sebag despises him on sight and the feeling is mutual. The investigations flounder while leads dissolve one after another. Sebag is singled out by the kidnapper to receive a series of taunting messages, and his management wonders why. The team follows thorough but plodding police procedures with some success but it’s Sebag’s instincts that finally get them a true break.

The book is labelled noir but Sebag is far from the average noir character. He dislikes guns, doesn’t carry one unless he has to, and has to think to remember where he put his service weapon. He runs marathons; his practice sessions give Georget frequent reasons to describe the picturesque scenery of southern France. He enjoys housework. He feels great compassion for those caught on the wrong side of the law. The typical detective of crime fiction he is not.

I bought this book for its title and was rewarded with a fine police procedural. Intricate and well-executed plot; gorgeous writing, for which the translator must take some credit; great behind-the-scenes look at the operations of an investigative law enforcement team; powerful sense of place. A really good book!

Starred review from Publishers Weekly and a PW Pick.

·         File Size: 1077 KB

·         Print Length: 429 pages

·         Publisher: Europa Editions; Reprint edition (July 2, 2013)

·         Publication Date: October 8, 2019

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Lesser Evils by Joe Flanagan

Lesser Evils by Joe Flanagan (Europa Editions, 2016) is an astonishing piece of noir fiction. Bill Warren, its protagonist, is surrounded by corruption in his small Cape Cod town of 1957, yet he remains convinced of the need to be an honest, fair, and upright human being. Bill is the acting police chief in Barnstable while the police chief is on medical leave. He is the sole support of a disabled son since his alcoholic wife wandered away years ago; he’s trying hard to care for young Mike while doing his best on the job. His rectitude backfires on him sometimes, as when he discovered the antique store owned by a gay couple is being robbed but no one on his force responds to the reports. He investigates himself and finds the thief to be the son of one of the selectmen, who threatens him with his job if he doesn’t close the case. While he damages his standing with the very people who can give him the chief of police position permanently, he is able to return the latest stolen items to the store owners, much to their surprise and gratitude.

Someone is killing young boys on Bill’s turf. His team turns out in full force only to have a publicity-hungry State Police captain sweep the case out from under them. Another family disappears after they reported violent treatment by a local group of gamblers in an attempt to collect money. An investigation of the bar that fronts the gambling den links the group to organized crime in Boston. Bill organizes a raid on the place, only to find it cleaned out and the pigeons flown – someone within his own team is feeding them information.

There are some great characters here. The local politicians are deliciously seedy. The pedophiles pulled in for interviews are skin-crawlingly creepy. A doctor trolling for patients to try his new drug on betrayed every ethic of his job. A prominent subplot involves Father Boyle, a sad priest who believes he’s lost his faith and his calling but he continues to carry out his duties at the local hospital and the school for disabled children run by a group of nuns. Father Boyle has a confused past; his grasp on reality doesn’t seem to be firmly in place. He’s deeply committed to the children in the school, where they are delighted to see him on his visits. I held my breath waiting for him to be accused of the murders. Like Bill Warren, he would have been unable to defend himself. Instead the subplot resolves unexpectedly in possibly the most unusual way I can remember in crime fiction.

This book is deeply dark and violent, showing humanity at its absolute worst at moments. I nearly stopped reading midway. The writing and the story became so compelling I was driven to learn how it all ended and a wonderful ending full of optimism it is. Publishers Weekly starred review.

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Europa Editions; First Edition (March 1, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1609453107
• ISBN-13: 978-1609453107

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.