James Craig (5)Reseñas

This is a pretty decent Inspector John Carlyle of the London Metropolitan Police.
This was written when the UK Phone hacking scandal was going on.
A few people are killed, teenager goes missing, Lots of back and forth drama. This book had far to much going on and to many characters.
I got confused to many stories all going off in different directions.

Anyway John Carlyle solves the cases and his old nemesis Trevor Miller ends up dead.½

This is an ok Police novel set in London.
Inspector John Carlyle with the help of his new Sargent Umar Sligo have a few crimes they need to solve.
A man was shot in a childs play park
A body without a head is found
An old man is tied up outside the Police station.
A hunt for a young missing Japanese woman
None of these cases are linked.
Plus Carlyle's Mum has just died.
Carlyle manages to solve the crimes he does want to do a bit extra he wants to make sure the girl whose Dad was shot is taken care of by her Grandparents as it was the Girls Mum who arranged the murder.
ok book

Volle Punktzahl für einen Cop, der weder Alk- noch andere Drogenprobleme hat, kein Kindheitstrauma aufarbeiten muß, eine ganz normale Ehe führt statt alles flachzulegen, was sich Journalistin/Kollegin/whateverin nennt und auch ansonsten keine Leichen im Psychokeller hat, dafür aber seinen Job mit aller gebotenen Ernsthaftigkeit angeht. Und das ist knackig geschrieben, hält die Spannung durchgehend auf hohem Level und läßt mich bereits nach den anderen Stories mit Inspector Carlyle schielen. Ist ja selten genug, solche glaubwürdigen Normalos in aktuellen Krimis überhaupt noch zu finden...

I have never read any of the Inspector Carlyle series by this author, but I picked up this novella a few years ago due to its setting in summer 1984 during the miners' strike, a seminal political experience during my young adult life as it was for many others of my generation. Carlyle is at this early point in his career a young constable sent up to Yorkshire, the heart of the dispute, with many others, to face the flying pickets and allow strikebreakers to get to work. This was a highly politicised time and this strike was very controversial and bitter, much more so than any recent industrial disputes have been. The plot revolves around the murder of Beatrice Slater, a politically active 78 year old lady, in a very clear echo of the real life Hilda Murrell case. No spoilers here, but the plot involves a lot of casual violence and simmering conflict and ends up with a tragic case of injustice. This said, I was only starting to warm slightly to Carlyle by the end, and didn't care for the other characters, so I don't feel particularly tempted to try any of the others.

This is the first of the Inspector John Carlyle novels.
Someone is going around bumping off ex members of an exclusive Toffs club for Cambridge university old boys.
A few of these members are now high up in British politics
The surviving members want to resolve this and also keep this quiet as a General Election is looming.
Inspector Carlyle is a bit of a maverick loner but gets results.
SPOILER ALERT
The murderer is the son of a victim who killed himself back at University after being gang raped by these horrible toffs.
I will look out for more of these novels. The first books in any series are usually about introducing the main and support characters.½

I am enjoying this series, I think mainly because it is set in Central London. The lead character has less problems than most of his contemporaries in other series, but still gets into difficulties with his superiors. It is quite a good read, but I have felt in all three books so far that the plots are a bit improbable, which serves to lower my ratings.

Another new series to me; but not one I will be hurrying to follow up, although I notice that book 2 is already on my Kindle. This is OK; another misfit DI, this one in London and definitely not a team player, partly because of his moral code - very straight. This one tells his story from Hendon via Orgreave to Brixton and now Covent Garden, The main plot involves politicians with a past in a posh Oxbridge club, but the characters within it are a bit cartoonish. I'll let the dust settle in my mind before trying the follow-up.

After only given its predecessor 2 stars, I would not have followed it up, but I had already purchased this, # 2, and it is definitely an improvement and rates at the bottom end of the 3 star spectrum (see a later review). It is still a bit clunky but served its purpose on the plane to Malta.

London Calling by James Craig is a 2014 Witness Impulse publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in the Inspector Carlyle series. Originally released back in 2011 the series is now with a new publisher and there are several more installments available. However, I don't see myself investing in the series in the future. This one is kind of a mess, to be honest.

The Inspector is tipped off about a dead body in a hotel, and thus begins a convoluted investigation that run alongside a political election and exposes a crime committed many years ago. But, the story deals primarily with the Inspectors personal thoughts about his wife, his boss, and the media and at times the author goes into too much detail when describing things like a police building and detailing it's history. There is very little dialogue among the characters and many scenes are too graphic in their depictions of depraved sexual acts for my taste.

The plot was very slow moving, and not in a good slow building of suspense, but with only an occasional plot twist or big reveal. I very nearly gave up on this one and then the ending made me very angry with myself for sticking with it. Carlyle was a very dull guy and the dialogue was boring with no chemistry between the Inspector and anyone in the book, even his wife whom he only seems to speak with on the phone. Even his daughter seems fine with his frequent disappearances from home.

The author definitely has the right idea, especially when it come to college “clubs”, politics, and corruption. He just needs to create characters that readers will forge a bond with and begin to care about in some way. While I have no problems reading dark, gritty thrillers, this one goes a little overboard at times, but often that is matter of taste. However, when I feel like I might be sick, that's where I draw the line.

I will at times give a series a second chance because the first book can be pretty rough when trying to establish characters and write a compelling thriller too, but it will be a long time before I feel that adventurous.
1.5 rounded to 2

MY REVIEW
Inspector Carlyle investigates the murder of Agatha Mills, which took place in her apartment across the street from the British museum. Her husband is arrested for the murder as all evidence point to Henry Mills's guilt. But he refuses to admit it was him and commits suicide.

What started out as an open-and-shut-case becomes something totally different soon, although nobody, except Inspector Carlyle, is convinced. The ripple effect across London, diplomatic offices, and international companies, forces the laid-back detective to work longer hours than he hoped for. After all, life is pretty mediocre in his quarters and he doesn't appreciate his feathers being ruffled too much. He loves his walks around town, since he never learnt to drive, doesn't even possess a license to do so. He enjoys his elongated breaks away from the office, his slow breakfasts and lunches in quaint little restaurants, and a personal mobile phone which he seldom answers. Off and on he remembers to visit the gym. He needs to stay in shape, right? Yes, he is a slow mover, a relaxed person, a quiet operator. However, his mannerisms are making a lot of people nervous. Very nervous. Especially when he refuses to close the case and hand in the report.

REVIEW:
I don't want to go into the complicated plot, developing after the first murder, and spoil the surprise. The drama keeps the reader hooked way more hours than was planned as it is. Losing-sleep-hooked. Nothing spectacularly dramatic hammers away at the heart muscles, or causes severe headaches, but below the seemingly suave exterior an angry river is pulsing through the story. Manipulation, corruption, back-stabbing, greed and danger: it's all there and it's very real.

The protagonist is brought alive in all his splendor. Everything about the detective's life is painted in multiple colors. He becomes important to the reader. The dangers facing him becomes our concerns. His enemies shake up our core much more than the inspector's. He is not a nice man in every sense. The reader might not even like his attitude at all. And yet, we are rooting for him in getting his job done. A constant sense of foreboding is keeping the reader at it, come time or social objections to the opposite! The suspense is heightened by John Carlyle's 'casual' encounters with the antagonists. A joke and a laugh neutralize many volatile situations. But he is also a man who does not steer away from raising the stakes and getting people jittery and drinking away their concerns about his slow but steady approach into their lives and secrets. They know he is coming for them in his own way.

The story is multifaceted. In fact, it is rich in British textures and hues. I was pleasantly surprised with the content of the plot. There is a constant hanging knife suspended over the characters'lives. The suspense becomes intense, unbearable! The ending....mmmm....no comment. It might be a cliffhanger, for all I know, since this book forms part of a series. But it was good enough for now, anyway.

A wonderful, relaxing, yet intriguing read. I haven't read the author before, but will certainly consider his other books. I enjoy his writing style. You don't need any other relaxers with this kind of book in hand.

The book was provided by Witness Impulse through edelweissabovethetreeline.com for review. Thank you for this excellent opportunity.

A thinly disguised spoof based on the current UK phone hacking enquiries and related political events. Quite entertaining.½

I’m always honest about the books I read. If this blog seems surprisingly positive, it is because I try my best to see the best in the books I read. With that said, I do my upmost to give honest feedback and can be critical where I feel it is deserved. I did not immediately like London Calling, debut novel of journalist-turned-author James Craig. It took a while to get in, and I was somewhat put off by the crass and uncompromising style of Craig’s writing. Upon reflection, now that I have finished the novel, I am quite pleased to announce that it did in fact hook me in at some stage, and I devoured the second half of the novel in a matter of hours. If you’re open minded to some slightly suggestive and sometimes altogether diabolical scenes and you’re after a thriller that goes beyond the general run-of-the-mill political thrillers, London Calling is the book for you.

Inspector John Carlyle is disliked by most around him, yet as a reader I warmed to him almost instantly. An occasionally disgruntled police officer in his forties, Carlyle has made the rounds of the London police force, and we now find him working out of the Charing Cross station in Central London. What helps the reader get a clearer understanding of Carlyle are Craig’s frequent flashback chapters, which are off-putting to some but really aid in the story development here. The murky worlds of policing and politics are never clear cut, and for the debut novel in what will be a series of novels, a significant back-story is essential to grasp the motives of the characters and place what would otherwise be a series of unrelated events into some context.

As London moves closer to a General Election, someone is grotesquely killing off past members of an old club from Cambridge University. Serial killers are never well received at the best of times, and when other members of the notorious circle include the current mayor and the man tipped to be the next Prime Minister, things become exceptionally complicated. Once the link is made between the club and the gentleman who remain alive, it becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse as Carlyle and his fellow officers try to protect the most powerful men in the country and unravel the key question of the book: why, after all these years, are the 1984 Merrion Club members being picked off one by one?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book overall. Once I got past the initial backlog of information and composed myself after a particularly graphic murder scene, Craig’s style of writing gripped me and helped me turn the pages almost in a trance. My oh so familiar internal battle of “just one more chapter” was lost in the final 50-or-so pages of the novel as the climax is particularly engrossing. Definitely not for the faint hearted, and not by any means in the same league as personal favourite Stieg Larsson, this novel will please and hopefully thrill lovers of good, gritty political crime. I do suggest it to fellow Larsson lovers though, as Craig’s somewhat deranged killer echoes some of Larsson’s more gruesome ideas. Happily awaiting the second Carlyle novel.

couldn't get into it. got confused with characters

This novella represents a prequel to the John Carlyle series and details an episode during the Miners' Strike, very early in Carlyle's police career.
Fans of the series will be particularly interested by the portrayal of Carlyle's friend Dominic Silver who was already subsiding into a life of crime by 1984 when he was principal recreational pharmacist for the Met officers despatched to help police the picket lines.
This story is rather predictable but no less enjoyable for that, and forms a valuable addition to the oeuvre.½

Great read

Another very sounds offering from James Craig, and a worthy successor to last year's "London Calling".
As with his previous novel there are several plot lines unwinding throughout the book, but Craig manages them very well, moving towards a highly plausible (if still unexpected) conclusion. Carlyle's principle case relates to the murder of Agatha Mills in her own flat in Great Russell Street in the early hours of the morning. The doors and windows are all locked leaving her confused husband a the only viable suspect ... or is he?
Meanwhile Carlyle becomes involved in a politically-motivated series of murders on a small political campaigning group called the Daughters of Dismas who are protesting against Western mercenary activity in Iraq.
And, to cap it all, a young boy has gone missing, resumed abducted by his drug-dealing father. Carlyle has a lot on his plate.

A very gritty and cleverly plotted murder story set in and around Westminster in the run up to a general election.
The principal character is the disaffected DI Carlyle. While the disgruntled loner at odds with authority is hardly a new model for a fictional copper, it works here, and he is entirely convincing. The settings were very well captured too, and I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of City of London School for Girls and Grodzinski's bakery, both of which I recognised as accurate!
It seems as though this is merely the first in a series of novels featuring Detective Inspector Carlyle, and I look forward to it's successors..

As a failed novelist myself, I recognise the amount of work, and soul searching which goes in to producing any work of fiction. A first novel is a learning curve and I desperately wanted to find good in this one - but I couldn't.

My personal criteria for judging a book are; character, plot and literary style.

Let us take each in order. Our detective, Inspector Carlyle, is the standard "'tec at odds with his colleagues". We get pages of back story on Carlyle, which shows that an attempt has been made to create a character. The problem is that, at variance with Rebus, for example, Carlyle's history is forced out in this book, which is clearly designed to be the first of a series. Rankin, more subtly, let Rebus develop as each book was released .

Other characters within the work are; fellow policemen - none having Carlyle's commitment to serving the public; they are either time servers, waiting to retire, or career cops looking for patronage rather than to solve crimes. The baddies are just that, a collection of caricature politicians with no redeeming features.

So, low marks on the character front.: let us try plot. The story concerns a group of politicians on the verge of forming a new government, when their past catches up with them. I will say no more to spoil the book for any potential reader. Once one has extracted the Carlyle back story (see above) precious little happens; talking to a couple of people with links to the politicos, leads our hero to a solution but, in best detective tradition, the initial solution is in error and the story wraps itself up in an unsatisfactory manner whilst Carlyle flounders. Let us not be unkind, this was never meant to rival Shakespeare, but there really is little novel in this opus so, low marks for plot too.

Moving on to literary style and, bearing in mind what I have just said, this is not to be judged alongside the greats of World literature: so, does Mr Craig's style pass muster? Not for me. I know that the 'F' word has become the ubiquitous adjective for many people (everyone within this book) but, it becomes tiring after a time. In real life, many people punctuate each utterance with, 'you know', but writers do not feel the need for this level of realism. I was not petty enough to count, but I would suggest that expletives appears approximately twice per page. Even more damning, however, is the fact that James Craig feels the need to use such language within the main body of the text and, when he describes something as having 'tried soooo hard to be soooo stylish', my patience cracked. I was also confused by his continual product placement. Our hero doesn't just use a mobile, he reaches for the Samsung X125 with superior call control. Perhaps this is not an attempt at a crime story, but Mr Craig's way of collecting freebies from at least half a dozen products given the full treatment (thinks.... perhaps I should have another bash at this writing lark!)

In the crowded market of detective fiction, I can find something better to read and will not be waiting upon Inspector Carlyle's next adventure.