I picked this book up partly on an impulse; I'd seen it picked out in a newspaper review supplement and noticed it had won the Old Peculiar Crime Novel award. I had it on my amazon wishlist for a bit and then happened to see it in the supermarket book section (shhh, I know it's bad, but it was £3.99 and I do shop at independents sometimes...).
I can only apologise for that terribly boring introduction - I'm still new to reviewing. Denise Mina's novel is much more interesting and deserves better!
It's a crime novel of sorts, set in Scotland but far from Rebus territory. The plot follows Alex Morrow, a DS investigating the brutal murder of a young woman in an old mansion house. This murder is obliquely connected to the suicide of a businessman in Sevenoaks. And that's where Mina's intriguing novel differentiates itself from standard crime fare. The connection is actually pretty clear from early in the book - it's the why that we are waiting to find out.
This makes for an interesting writing style. Mina drops crucial pieces of information in almost as asides; these plot points are often so casually inserted into the narrative as to require a quick re-read. As a reader it certainly kept me on my toes. I did find the book quite dark- for example, the details of the murder victim's death are so gruesome that they shock the police officers. Characters discuss their nature without providing specifics, and when the specifics are provided in a later scene at the police station, I felt a shiver of revulsion.
It became clear early on that I was reading one of a sequence of novels. Some details about Morrow's personal life are alluded to which must form the plot of earlier novels. It's to Mina's credit that I am interested to read other earlier stories featuring Alex Morrow, whose connections to criminal underworlds via her brother provided a layer of social commentary which deepened the scope of the novel.
Like many crime novels, this doesn't offer easy answers to some of the issues it raises: poverty, middle class neglect and corruption are explored through the various layers of the plot. Whilst the end was relatively bleak, some hope was offered, but not so much that it seemed corny or unbelievable.
All in all, an enjoyable, unusual and thought-provoking crime novel. Not a whodunnit to gobble up but a social exploration to absorb.
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