Classic LA Noir: "Serpentine" by Jonathan Kellerman

 Serpentine is the 36^th Alex Delaware novel and I have read every one of them.

Jonathan Kellerman is one of a select band of my go-to authors. These are authors whose books I will always eagerly order before they are even published and when I get them in my hot, eager hands, they tend to last less than two days. One day I will write an article dedicated to this group, but for now let’s talk about Mr Kellerman and his work.

I have been a fan since the mid-80s when I was introduced to Kellerman’s novels by a work colleague, yes hard to believe, almost FORTY YEARS. Given my age I can’t really claim to have “grown up” with Kellerman what I can say is that I have aged with him, which, when you think about it, is perhaps even more laudable.

What do I find so compelling? Well in the first place there is the main cast of characters, basically Alex Delaware, a child psychologist and consulting psychologist, his partner, Robin Castagna, a luthier, their pet, latterly a French bulldog called, Blanche, and of course gay LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, there are a cast of secondary characters some of whom have even starred in their own novels, but I have to say I have never found them to be quite so compelling as the original quartet.

And then there is ambience, Kellerman always gives you throwaway but compellingly detailed descriptions of the different areas of LA, a smattering of history a brief description of the landscape, food, architectural styles, décor, or flora. Dialogue is fast and witty. Plotting is occasionally contrived but strangely satisfying. There is always a clear ending.

Serpentine belongs to the sub “historical” group of Delaware novels, novels based on the past.  A highly successful entrepreneur wants to know what happened to her mother, she has one photograph of her, wearing the serpentine necklace of the title, and a smattering of recollections gleaned from the man who brought her up but is now dead. Milo is called by the brass to resolve this coldest of cases.

The plot is as twisty and turny as the name suggests and there are some nice flashbacks to the flamboyant 80s in LA and a series of killings. We also get to learn a little more about Dr Rick Silverman, Milo’s partner.

Classic Kellerman. A riveting read.

 

A Butterfly Tethered to A Slug: The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean

 

“My name is not Jane.”

This is the stuff of my nightmares. A woman is held prisoner by man and is compelled to comply with his every whim. If she attempts to escape, he will break her ankle, if she fails to obey an order, he will burn one of the few “personal” possessions she has left, effectively erasing her personal history and the inner life she clings to. He ensures she becomes addicted to strong painkillers in order to better ensure her compliance and her passivity. Her day-to-day existence is a misery of fear, loathing, housework, drudgery, and rape.

Somehow this is all made even worse by the fact that the man in question is the dumpy child of a drab culture whereas the woman is a living spark from a culture full of beauty and vividness, it is as if a slug had enslaved a butterfly.

I picked up distinct vibes here not only of contrasting differences between the sexes but between different ways of life. Is this a post Brexit novel? I very much think it is. The dull farmer with his flat life, bland food and unimaginative lovemaking seems to be the epitome of British cultural isolation. He also has all the prejudices inherent to those who voted for Brexit, the obtuse intolerance and misunderstanding of other ways of existence, the completely unmerited sense of superiority, the hatred and prejudice of everything and anything foreign.

This is a hard, hard novel to read, I found it unbearable in parts, but I could not put it down. If you have the stomach for it, you will discover it is definitely one of the best books of 2020 and probably even of 2021. 

Thank you as always to Netgalley for making an ARC copy of this text available to me.

A Supernatural Prison Break: Strange Ways by Gray Williams

This is another instalment set in the creepy universe created by Gray Williams in which magic is real, demons exist, and practitioners and summoners have mostly been co-opted by organised crime.

Due to the fact that a wave of uncharacteristic liberalism has led to the automatic death penalty usually applied to those practising magic being commuted, there are now also, of course, special magic-resistant jails created to hold such people, the Strange Ways to which the title of this book alludes (Strangeways being an actual category “A” prison in Manchester).

The main plot of this novel is therefore a prison break, an attempt by the daughter of an incarcerated practitioner to liberate her mother, using her supernatural gifts to create new-fangled black-market magic-based drugs that directly impact the emotional state of the users to generate funds. All her plans are, naturally, rent asunder.

The world portrayed is an extremely seedy and depressing version of the UK convincingly bought to life. The writing is visceral, and the narrative is full of twists and turns with some impressive plot developments along the way.

I will definitely continue to read the books in this series.