Deep Cover by Shay Doyle with Scott Hasketh

Shay Doyle (not his real name) grew up on a rough housing estate in Manchester. He came from a family which was on the wrong side of the tracks - they weren’t criminals per se, but they weren’t strictly law-abiding either, and there was lots of fighting with other residents of the estate. His father was what might be called one of the estate’s “hard men”. He also physically abused Shay’s mother.

It was in part to escape his father that Shay joined the army. Here he was unruly, but dedicated, and quite the risk taker. He left the army and someone suggested he join the police. This he struggled with (most of his family and friends hated the police) but eventually did. Again, in the police, he was a risk taker and was never afraid to go toe to toe with criminals. This got the attention of the organised crime squad, who quickly recruited him (within just two or three years of joining the police, which is quite an achievement).

It was then suggested to Shay that he apply for Undercover Officer training, which he did. He got on the course and passed with flying colours. Soon, he became a Level 1 undercover operative. Level 2 operatives do buys of crack or heroin to build intelligence on street dealers, but level ones do long-term infiltrations. I’ve read a couple of biographies of Level 1 officers before, and most are only on assignment for a couple of months, and in between they’re in detective squads - such as CID. Shay appears to have been undercover for long periods of time and sent from one level 1 deployment to another, which makes him unique.

As someone so utilised, he was used against some major criminals, though most of his assignments seem to have been against wider criminal fraternities. So, for example, he worked undercover in the Moss Side in Manchester, building a picture of the criminal landscape there, and again later in Cambridge. What he never seems to have done is been deployed against a major criminal or crime family, such as the Adams crime family in London, or the Noonan crime family in Manchester. So, he never seems to have been deployed to infiltrate such an OCG and “bring them down”. This isn’t a criticism of Shay, or even the police. As a layperson, I don’t know. Perhaps that’s not how it’s done, or such an operation would be too risky. 

That said, some of his work (albeit not his undercover work so much, but his intermittent work in the organised crime unit) led him to take on Dale Cregan and the OCG he was part of, after Cregan murdered two police officers, and then later, to pursue Paul Massey’s killers.

Throughout the book, Shay Doyle talks of being a bit of a maverick who was not afraid to take on criminals. And he complains that his bosses often thought he was out of control. I’m in two minds what to make of that. As it’s his biography, it’s easy to take his side and assume his bosses didn’t - as Shay complains - understand what it took to be a successful Level 1 undercover operative. But equally, one could ask whether he did stray over the line occasionally. I have to stress. I’m not suggesting he did. I’m not making any accusation against the author. And certainly the police command seems to have had enough confidence in him to keep using him. But equally, as with any biography, this is a one sided account. Unfortunately, due to the operations he writes about being secret, we’re never likely to have a more neutral account written by a journalist (such as Michael Gillard’s book, Legacy, which looked at a Met police officer’s battle with a London based OCG), so all we have is Shay Doyle’s account, and obviously he tells things how he sees them.

This is a very good and very revealing account of undercover policing in the UK. I’m sure it’s been vetted by the police prior to publication and there are operational details he can’t divulge, and it will have inevitable limitations because of that, but it’s well worth a read.  

 

A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury

 

A great book for the crime writer this, and as a crime thriller writer I was keen to read it. Each chapter is dedicated to a different poison, how it was discovered (if relevant, some have been around since “the dawn of time” to use a cliché), their legitimate uses, etc. 

Then, through the use of a nefarious case study - someone murdered with the said poison, and how the murder was discovered and solved - the author shows how the compound works on the body, biochemically speaking.

This isn’t a science book, it’s easily comprehendible to the lay reader like myself, and is very readable and fascinating. Personally, I was reading this for research for my writing, but I’m sure many people would find this fascinating and it’s a great read.

The Hungry and the Fat by Timur Vermes

By the author of Look Who’s Back, a satirical novel about Hitler travelling through time to present day Germany, and how modern German society responds to him (which is well worth a read, by the way) comes this title. Again, it’s a satirical novel, and again, Like Look Who’s Back, it’s long. The Hungry and the Fat comes in at nearly 600 pages!

This is a book about a reality TV star/presenter, Nadeche Hackenbusch, who goes to film her show, Nadeche Hackenbusch: An Angel in Adversity, in a refugee camp in sub-Saharan Africa. Her show previously has shown the plight of refugees living in hostels, but now they’re taking it to the next level. 

And soon her show is a hit. 

Nadeche herself is naïve and seems to care only about shallow things (handbags and make up, etc) but the TV executives underestimate her (as does everyone) and when she falls for the refugee who is the show’s fixer, Lionel, trouble is in store. Because one thing leads to another, and she and Lionel decide to walk to Germany to seek asylum. 

With 150’000 other refugees in tow.

The author paints a scenario where all the countries this human convoy passes through let them pass, because they don’t want to be stuck with them. At first the German government and the rest of the world don’t take them seriously, but as they get closer and closer, the panic sets in.

This is a great novel and despite its length, I was gripped all the way through. The plot is weirdly plausible, despite being far-fetched, and always topical (because when isn’t the world gripped by a refugee crisis), and I write this review while Russia wages war on Ukraine and refugees flee that war zone.

While Ukrainian refugees are welcome (so far) many refugees are treated with hostility, whatever the suffering they've been through, and the author shows how those in Germany who want to be humanitarian are pitted against those who want to slam shut the gates of Fortress Europe. And all the while, the refugees are stuck in the middle.

A fantastic read, as was Look Who’s back, I look forward to Vermes’ next novel.

Murder: The Biography by Kate Morgan

A “biography” of murder and manslaughter in the UK told through legislation. This is really a biography of the law of homicide, rather than of homicide itself.

This was a fascinating read and gave a good insight into things like insanity defences, etc, through various test cases. 

That said, other reviewers have complained it wasn’t what they expected, because they thought it was going to be a “biography”/ history of murder itself, rather than the legislation (clearly they didn't read the blurb). I didn’t make that mistake, but I still felt this was lacking somewhat. For example, one issue I’m very interested in is Joint Enterprise and while this book covered that, it didn’t really do the topic justice (excuse the pun).

Also, I didn’t find the book particularly illuminating on more recent history, such as the abolition of double jeopardy (which was covered, but not in enough detail).

This title was much more interesting on historical cases, such as the grisly case that looked at cannibalism amongst sailors and the law of the sea.

 

Use Your Psychic Powers to Have It All by Uri Geller

 

Self-improvement titles are not my usual read and Uri Geller is someone who divides opinion. Some think he’s a true psychic, some not. So I picked this up on a whim, not exactly sure what I was going to get.

I actually found this title quite inspirational. You don’t have to believe in the author’s claimed psychic powers to benefit from this title, a lot of the content involved visualisation techniques and positive thinking methods which are helpful and effective.

This is a short book, but an engaging one, and Geller has a good writing style which kept me turning the pages.

The Inheritance by Gabriel Bergmoser

 

A sequel to the author’s brilliant first novel in the series, The Hunted, The Inheritance picks up a little after the first novel ended, with Maggie trying to live a quiet life while still searching for her mother. 

She’s got a job in a bar and when her manager is attacked by a patron who’s clearly extorting money, she follows the man and blows up the warehouse he’s in. She’s always been a little impulsive and has an urge for natural justice, after all. The man is linked to a drug cartel though, and it’s no surprise that he ends up following her to Melbourne, where she’s following a lead as to where her missing mother might have gone to.

In Melbourne she falls in with an ex-cop friend of her father’s who she’s unsure she can trust and the two soon become cross paths with a biker gang called the Scorpions. Between them and the gangster following her, this is a recipe for violence galore.

The Inheritance isn’t as good as The Hunted in my opinion, but it’s still an excellent read. I would love Maggie to return in a third instalment and hope that she will.

The Witch Bottle by Tom Fletcher

 

Daniel is a milkman who’s split up from his partner and young child. He lives and works in a remote rural area and does his rounds and has little in the way of any social life. The village and surrounding areas are full of eccentric characters and his work colleagues aren’t all particularly collegiate or nice. 

It’s when people begin to have nightmares that the real troubles begins. And the Fallen Stock drivers (Fallen Stock being the people who collect dead animals up from farms) keep running people off the road. When Daniel meets Kathryn, a witch who makes witch bottles which stop the nightmares, and gets Daniel to distribute them to those afflicted, he soon begins to attract thew wrong attention.

This is a sinister and chilling novel which is expertly written and well worth a read. Highly recommended. 

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

 

A novel set in Ireland, the protagonist Mina is an aspiring artist who's struggling for money, and accepts a job from a friend in the pub to deliver a parrot to a buyer. She drives into a remote part of Galway where her car mysteriously breaks down on the outskirts of a wood. She walks along the road which leads through the woods and this is the worst mistake she could make. Because at nightfall, with screams chasing her, she’s beckoned into a building by an older woman who then slams the door shut Inside, she finds her rescuer, Madeline, and two others, Daniel and Ciara. But now the real nightmare begins, because watching them through the window are monsters, who will kill them if they leave.

The Watchers is a fantastic horror novel, which delves into ancient Irish myths. I’ve been reading a lot of horror recently, and this is one of the best I’ve come across this year. Hugely enjoyable and well worth a read.

Vine Street by Dominic Nolan

 

I’m a fan of Dominic Nolan’s first two novels, contemporary crime thrillers, Past Life and After Dark. Vine Street is a departure from Nolan’s previous books because it is a historical crime thriller, set in London in the 1930s. I’ve always loved London’s Soho and used to enjoy night outs there in the 1990s, and its reputation and history is rich and storied.

Vine Street is set in a world of organised crime set around prostitution, prostitutes, and corrupt police. With the war on the horizon in the first half of the novel, and then the war itself and postwar, there are also fascists in the guise of the Blackshirts and spies. And in the centre of it all, is a serial killer, whose murder spree crosses decades and whose killings aren’t recognised as such except by DS Leon Geats, a member of the porn squad,  DS Mark Cassar of the flying squad, and WPC Willamina 'Billie' Massey.

This is a sprawling book, 600+ pages, and is an incredibly impressive feat. It’s a great story and the characters are well drawn and interesting. The serial murders are gruesome, the victim’s fates horrific to contemplate. The story is compelling and I highly recommend this novel.

 

Bad Apples by Will Dean

 

The 4th in the Tuva Moodyson series, and Tuva is back in Gavrick, but her beat now extends to a town up the road, the hill town of Visberg. In fact, the story opens with Tuva visiting the town and after hearing a cry for help in the woods, discovering a headless corpse.

Will Dean’s strength is in his conjuring of eccentric characters. In the previous three novels he’s filled Gavrik and the surrounding woods with such people, and now he populates Visberg with more. And his best creation of all returns in this novel: the wood carving sisters, complete with their gruesome trolls.

Visberg is a town of secrets, not least its sinister festival of Pan Night, where the townsfolk all get together to engage in cult-like behaviours. And then there’s the no-questions asked storage facility. Indeed, while the plot of the novel is compelling, it’s this characterisation and environment which places Dean’s books a cut above the rest. There’s plenty here for future novels too, and I imagine Visberg will return to fill the pages of a good few Tuva Moodyson books yet.

4 out of 5 stars 

Bloody Foreigners by Neil Humphreys

 

Inspector Stanley Low is a Singaporean Detective in London to give a lecture at the London School of Economics. When a Singaporean man is stabbed to death, he’s asked to consult. Graffiti for the xenophobic group Make England Great Again was daubed above the body, which complicates things. Low is something of a loose canon, and so he needs to be kept in check by DI Ramilla Mistry, who also so happens to be his ex-lover.

Bloody Foreigners is apparently part of a series, though most of the books don’t appear to have been published in the UK, at least not be a publisher who markets them properly. I had seen the author’s work before but not read any of his novels, so this was my first introduction to his writing. Despite being part of a series, the book can be read as a standalone, as I did.

This is an enjoyable read, it has clear social commentary on the state and decline of the UK, without layering it on too thick. It’s one-part police procedural, one-part action thriller. There are parts of the narrative which stretch credulity a little, but nothing too extreme to spoil the enjoyment of the narrative. Low is an enjoyable misanthropic character, who despite his obvious flaws, is committed to justice and doing the right thing. the other characters are also well drawn out and I particularly liked the villains of the piece, especially a character who has more than a passing resemblance to Nigel farage.

This is a really enjoyable read and I’d recommend it.

4 out of 5 stars 

The Dying Squad by Adam Simcox

 

Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus stands in a ditch outside a deserted Lincolnshire farmhouse. It’s being used by a gang of countylines drug dealers to store drugs. It's a gang he’s been working hard to bring down and he’s conducting a solo surveillance of the house. But then a teenage girl walks up to his hideout and asks what he’s doing. She seems to know about the operation and so he assumes she’s undercover police or an informant. She accompanies him into the house and there he finds a couple of dead drug dealers and his own dead body. Because Lazarus has himself been murdered and is now a spirit.

So start’s his quest to solve his own murder. The girl, Daisy May, takes him to a bleak purgatory and The Duchess, the woman in charge of this halfway house of the afterlife, tells him if he wants to move on from there and to a better place (or perhaps worse) he needs to return to earth and find out who killed him and why. But there are complications. The air on earth is toxic and rots his memories, and if he doesn’t solve the crime quickly, he will lose his mind completely and be condemned to walk the earth, a mindless ghost.

The Dying Squad is the author’s debut and is a supernatural crime thriller. The book has two strands running through it - Joe’s attempt to solve his murder, which is the crime thriller bit, and the supernatural strand which brings in heaven and hell, and a sinister beast, the Xylophone Man, who snatches souls to carry down to eternal damnation. 

This is a well-plotted novel, and the characters are compelling. Daisy May in particular is an interesting character. It also has a surprising twist, and I thought I knew who was behind Joe’s murder until near the end when the surprise was sprung. The narrative resolved itself well and is left open for a sequel, though it equally could remain as a self-contained story if the author wanted to write something else.

An impressive debut by a novelist to watch. 

The Rule by David Jackson

 

When we first meet Daniel we think he’s a child. He acts like a child and speaks like a child and his inner monologue is that of a child. But we soon learn he is in fact about to turn 23 and is looking forward to his birthday. 

But Daniel also has a rule which his parents insist he must follow, and The Rule is not to touch anyone. We soon discover why: Daniel is uncannily strong and can cause harm without meaning to. 

Daniel lives with his mum and dad in a block of flats and one day they encounter a man in the lift, a drug dealer, and things go awry.

I won’t divulge spoilers but needless to say, Daniel’s strength now leads the family into great peril. Because the drug dealer’s associates want to know what has happened to him, as do the police, and it isn’t long before they’re all closing in

The Rule is the second novel by David Jackson that I’ve read, after his excellent novel The Resident. This isn’t a sequel, but it’s similar in that it takes a surprising premise and runs with it. Like The Resident, The Rule is well worth a read.

The Colours of Death by Patricia Marques

This is an intriguing novel set in an alternate universe Lisbon where a small percentage of the population have psychic powers and are treated with mistrust by the rest. When a man inside a train carriage is lifted by invisible forces and slammed against the carriage walls until he’s dead, psychically gifted Inspector Isabel Reis is put on the case. 

This is a good and original sci-fi which touches on various issues, not least the prejudice minorities face. The gifted community are treated with suspicion by most, and hatred by more than a few, especially after an event in the past where a powerfully gifted girl caused a disaster. In this way their treatment is reminiscent of how Muslims are treated today: a tiny minority commit atrocities and yet the majority suffer intolerance because of it. The victim is linked to the head of a powerful anti-gifted party and this too has strong similarities to the anti-immigrant nationalist parties we have today. 

There’s a slight oddity to the narrative in that we never learn the wider context - how the gifted came into existence (it’s a relatively new phenomenon) and whether they exist anywhere else in the world. Indeed, the wider world outside of Portugal is never mentioned. That said, this doesn’t spoil the story at all, it just leaves the reader with some unanswered questions.

A great read this, and presumably there’ll be a sequel. If so there’s plenty of space for the author to flesh out the world she’s created.

 

The Basel Killings by Hansjörg Schneider

 

It’s the end of October, though it could be December, as it’s unseasonably cold and wet. The setting is Basel, a city in northwestern Switzerland. It’s late at night and Inspector Humkeler is walking home, a little worse for wear, when he spots someone he knows, old man Hardy. He stops, hoping to beg a cigarette from the old man. But Hardy is dead, his throat slit ear to ear. The police and media assume it is the work of Albanian drug traffickers, but Inspector Humkeler remembers an earlier case, that of Barbara Amsler, who was murdered in a similar fashion. He investigates and visits Basel’s seedier side - the red-light district and underworld - and soon finds a conspiracy which leads to the political and industrial elite.

This is the first novel in a new series and it’s the first book by the author that I’ve read. It’s a solid noir, reminiscent of the Private Investigator novels of old, in that Inspector Humkeler is very much doing his own thing. He’s part of the police, but because the force he belongs to is pursuing the Albanian drug trafficker angle with which he disagrees, he’s conducting his own investigation.

Switzerland is a rich, industrial nation, but it has its darker side. Well known for laundering dodgy money through the its banking system, but the country also has its fair share of illegal migrants and the people who prey on them, prostitution and drug trafficking. In a past life I worked as a journalist for Channel 4. I worked on a documentary filming in Switzerland which touched on some of these issues. The author does a good job of portraying this scene, the desperation of those who fall victim, and the unsavoury characters who ply their trade.

The Basel Killings is an excellent book and a strong start to a series.

Passenger List by J.S. Dryden

 

When Kaitlin Li’s twin brother, Conor, disappears after Atlantic Airlines Flight 702 vanishes while flying across the Atlantic, with all passengers and crew presumed dead, she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. She sets up a Facebook page for tips and is soon investigating. Inevitably this leads to a whole heap of conspiracies and various people who might be kooks, spies, or various shades of baduns.

The tragic, and downright weird, tale of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared without a trace over the Pacific in 2014, clearly inspired Passenger List. MH370 has inspired many conspiracy theories and these are clearly also an inspiration for Passenger List. In real life I have no time for conspiracy theories, but in fiction I love a conspiracy thriller. For example, personally I suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK, but I love a JFK conspiracy novel or film and Oliver Stone’s movie might be hokum but was great fun.

That said, as I read Passenger List I wondered whether this was going to be just a rehash of MH370 conspiracies, all pushed along by cardboard cutout genre fiction tropes and two-dimensional characters. This is a novel inspired by a podcast (a drama podcast, obviously. Not a true crime one). It feels cardboard cutout and there is little depth to the characters. That said, the plot moves along at pace and when the final denouement occurs it is believable, even for someone like me who doubts conspiracy theories in real life. The author doesn’t go with the most outlandish theory, but ends with something much more realistic, knowing as we do how governments have a tendency to cover their backs.    

Anthrax Island by D.L. Marshall

 

The island of Gruinard, off the coast of Scotland, is the setting for this novel. It’s an actual island which was poisoned with anthrax during the second world by a British Government experiment on germ warfare. Unfortunately anthrax spores are hardy and the island remained polluted for decades until a hugely expensive clean up operation. But what if the government failed in their endeavours and anthrax has returned? Such is the scenario painted by debut novelist D.L. Marshall.

A technician has died from a virulent strain of the disease. Attached to the new scientific mission to clean up the island, his death is a mystery and the intelligence services despatch freelance operative John Tyler (under the guise as the technician’s replacement) to investigate what has happened. It quickly transpires that the technician’s death might well be foul play and so John has a captive cast of suspects (for obvious reasons access to the island is strictly controlled). 

What follows is one part locked room mystery, one part spy thriller. It’s an interesting set up and John Tyler is a well-drawn protagonist. The suspects are well-drawn too, and the novel is adeptly plotted. Did I guess who the killer/killers were? Well, no, I must confess that I didn't. But they were credible and their motives believable when the reveal came, and the narrative led to a satisfying denouement.

Tyler himself is clearly set to return in a sequel and it will be interesting to see his back story. He’s an action hero in the mould of many in the espionage/action genre, though Marshall tells us he’s never been in the military. That was a little confusing as we gather he knows his way around weapons, etc. But I’m sure Marshall will explain this as the series continues and I’m not somebody who needs everything to be spelt out on page one of book one.

This was a great read, and Marshall is a great talent. Bring on book two in the series.

I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmoud

 

Xander Shute is a once wealthy banker now living on the streets. After a fight with another homeless person in a London park, Xander sees an open door and shelters inside someone’s flat. Only they return when he’s there and he witnesses the woman of the house being murdered. Filled with shame at his cowardice in not stopping the assault, Xander becomes obsessed with finding out who her attacker was and bringing him to justice.

This is the author’s second book and a worthy follow on from his excellent debut, You Don’t Know Me. It’s not a sequel and does not follow on from his earlier title (although I would encourage people to read both books, as they’re both excellent). 

While the two titles have something in common in that they’re both told in first person from the protagonist’s point of view, and the reader has to decide how much of their account to believe, Xander Shute is a much more unreliable protagonist than the young man on trial who was the centre of the plot of the author’s debut. 

Xander had quite an eccentric childhood, fiercely bright but encouraged by his father to compete with his much more gifted younger brother, a contest he always lost. This led to years of resentment on Xanders' part, although his brother was always kind to him. But then tragedy struck and Xander went off the rails and now his memory is flawed. Throughout the narrative he discovers things about his past which cast his memory of the murder in a new light. This keeps the reader guessing until the end.

I Know What I Saw is a brilliant read and I finished it in just a couple of sittings. Xander is a sympathetic character, and the plot is compelling. This is a great read.

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox

 

Zoe and Kim Nolan are identical twins who have recently enrolled at Manchester University. They’re housed together in a flat in a hall of residence, and the narrative revolves around them and their flatmates, and some other students they befriend. Most important is Zoe’s boyfriend, Andrew Flowers, her course mate, Fintan Murphy, a flatmate of the twins, Liu Wai, and one of Andrew’s housemates, Jai Mahmoud. Other friends and flatmates appear in the narrative but are less central. Soon after the term begins, just three months into their time at university, Zoe Nolan goes missing and is never heard from again.

True Crime Story is written as a true crime book (hence the title) and includes emails between the author, Evelyn Mitchell, and a character called Joseph Knox (yes, THE Joseph Knox), who in an act which kind of breaks the fourth wall, appears in the narrative of his own novel. There are even references to Knox’s brilliant Sirens trilogy. Evelyn is obsessed with the case and interviews all the surviving participants - Andrew Flowers, Fintan Murphy, Liu Wai, and Jai Mahmoud, and Zoe and Kim’s parents, as well as the police liaison officer and some other people who become involved in the case.

The case became a media sensation, with Andrew Flowers, Kim Nolan and Jai Mahmoud in particular, coming under suspicion. Evelyn pulls on these threads, and on others, and soon exposes the dark underbelly of this story. For example, the twins' dad is quickly exposed as a repellent piece of work, as are others.

This is an innovative crime thriller that will keep readers guessing until the end and is not like many books on the market. It’s well worth a read.

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

 

A landline rings, just as Agneta Broman, the wife of Stellan Broman, a post-war Swedish TV celebrity who the Swedish viewing public saw as an “uncle” to the nation, is waving her grandchildren goodbye. She answers the phone only to hear one word: “Geiger”. She immediately digs out a gun she’d kept hidden for years, shoots her husband dead, and disappears.

So starts this absolutely brilliant Swedish crime/espionage thriller.

Sara Novak is a vice cop who grew up a friend of the Broman’s daughters, Lotta and Malin. She was always the poor friend, her mother the Broman’s housekeeper, and as the narrative continues we learn the Broman daughters bullied her somewhat. She’s drawn into the investigation and it soon becomes an obsession. 

The police only know that Stellan is dead, and Agneta is missing, and are unaware that she was the one who murdered her husband. But as the bodies pile up and things point to a motive linked to the cold war and the conflict between the Communist East and that Capitalist West, it isn’t long before a nest of international intrigue is discovered.

The publishers billed Geiger as the most gripping debut since I Am Pilgrim, and I have to say I thought the analogy was apt. This is an ambitious thriller, encompassing big themes, not least, the Cold War and its legacy, establishment sex rings and cover-ups. Sara is an interesting protagonist, while Agneta makes for a brilliant antagonist, reminiscent of the anonymous English assassin in Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal. In both novels the police and protagonist are unaware of the identity of who they are after until near the end, and this is a device which works as well in Geiger as it did in Forsyth’s classic.

At the time of writing this review, Geiger is my book of 2021. There’s still a good few months to go, so other titles might well surpass it, though I suspect even if this were to happen Geiger would remain a close contender. Either way, this is a brilliant novel and highly recommended.