Review of Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris (Corvus, 2013)

1947, Glasgow. Former policeman, then army major, now crime journalist Douglas Brodie is living in sin with lawyer, Samantha Campbell. When the Jewish community in the city ask Brodie to investigate a series of burglaries, he agrees, needing the cash. He solves the crime, but the thief is killed before he can be apprehended. In turn, the killer is murdered. Unnerving Brodie and the Jewish community are the evidence of links between the victim and the Nazi regime. In the meantime, Sam is asked to travel to Hamburg to take part in the war crimes trials. Brodie took part in the first trials as an investigator and when Sam is due to return for a second stint he’s asked to accompany her to help prepare the current cases. It’s also an opportunity to examine any link between the concentration camps and Glasgow. What he discovers suggests a conspiracy that will have dramatic repercussions. To help crack the case Brodie joins forces with his old police friend, Danny McRae – a man with his own shady past.

Pilgrim Soul is set in Glasgow and Hamburg in the cold winter of 1947. It charts journalist Douglas Brodie’s investigation into a string of burglaries affecting the city’s large Jewish community, the possible presence of former Nazis in the city, and his participation in war crimes trial in Hamburg having previously been involved in earlier trials when in the British army. There’s much to like about the story. Brodie is an engaging character with an interesting back story. There is a strong sense of place and time, with a nice portrait of Glasgow and its social context. The story is well contextualised with respect to the war crimes trials, including the inclusion of some real life Nazi criminals.  The plot, for the most part, is well crafted and interesting, and there’s a strong, steady pace. For the first two thirds of the book it was a solid five star read, despite one obvious telegraphed plot device. What unsettled the book for me, was the arrival of Brodie’s old, pre-war fellow policeman, Danny McRae. Pilgrim Soul is the third book in the Brodie series, as well as the third in the McRae series. In my view, the intersection of the two series was a problem for two reasons. First, the plotline and denouement attached to McRae creates one too many twists that felt overly contrived and unnecessary. The story would have stood perfectly well on its own without McRae being involved. Second, I’ve not read the previous two McRae books, only the Brodie ones, but I now have a fairly full precis of what happens, including their resolutions that’ll probably ruining any mystery to those books if I read them. Nonetheless, Pilgrim Soul was an entertaining and interesting read.

Review of Bitter Water by Gordon Ferris (Corvus, 2012)

A year after being demobbed from the army after the end of the Second World War, and a few months after a traumatic run-in with the Slattery gang, Douglas Brodie is working as a rookie journalist for the Glasgow Gazette.  An ex-policeman and ex-soldier, Brodie has a nose for trouble.  His woes start when his editor, in the absence of the established crime reporter, sends him to the scene of a murdered councillor, the chair of the planning committee for the city.  Shortly after, he’s accosted by a former soldier who wants him and advocate Samantha Campbell to help his friend, who’s been arrested for breaking in to a house.  They reluctantly agree, but the man is nevertheless sent to prison.  Then a series of brutal attacks start to take place around the city, the victims accused of committing unpunished crimes.  With the Gazette’s crime reporter poking around the death of the councillor, it’s left to Brodie to write about the vigilante attacks, but he’s soon drawn into a game of cat and mouse with the gang and other forces.

Gordon Ferris’ writing is easy on the eye and he tells a colourful tale that rattles along a fair clip, with plenty of action and twists and turns.  The story is entertaining, but one has to often suspend belief for it to work, with too many elements relying on characters not pursuing the logical course, the police being hopeless, and the public to a person siding with the vigilantes.  The result is a kind of mix of detective novel and action adventure.  The characterisation is quite nicely done, especially Brodie and Samantha Campbell and their will-they-won’t-they relationship, though many fitted the stock character mould (the dullard inspector, the red-haired barmpot, the world weary journalist, the upper class lout, etc).  The historical contextualisation is not laboured and there is a decent sense of place.  Overall, an enjoyable read that keeps several threads moving along and knots them in a blockbuster conclusion. 

Review of The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris (Corvus, 2010)

Glasgow, 1946. Hugh Donovan is a few weeks away from being hanged for the brutal killing of five young children when he contacts Douglas Brodie, his childhood friend. As teenagers Donovan stole Brodie's girlfriend and since then the two have not spoken, going their separate ways. Brodie won a scholarship to university, then joined the police before enlisting in the army. Donovan served as a tail gunner in a bomber, becoming horribly disfigured when his plane caught fire. Despite his apathy, Brodie visits Donovan in prison and agrees to help his legal advocate Samantha Campbell investigate the case further and prepare an appeal. Both quickly become convinced that Donovan is innocent and has been set-up by the police and other forces. Those forces seem to determine to stop them discovering the truth and soon their own lives are in danger.

The Hanging Shed has all the ingredients of a successful crime novel - strong characters, a compelling plot, good pace, credible dialogue and action, and good contextualisation and back story. The tale very quickly grabs the reader's attention and the pages fly by. And yet there was something that didn't quite feel right. The storytelling seemed a little formulaic. Ferris structures the story into short chapters, each typically six to eight pages long, with each chapter ending on a mini-cliff hanger. This is great for pulling the reader through the story, but I found the formula repetitive after a while restricting the narrative in its scope and form. That's not to say I wasn't gripped by the plot, I absolutely was. And I found Brodie an interesting lead character that I'd like to spend more time with. However, it all seemed a little bit by numbers. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable book, if a little formulaic.

Lazy Sunday Service

I'm back to buying books faster than I can read them. I bought two books this week and ordered two more (right). The plan is to read them all, but having worked the pile down a bit in the last few weeks there's still at least fifteen week's worth of reading backed up and that seems set to grow. What I need is a buying moratorium. I'm still working my way through new to me authors. At the minute I'm half way through Denise Mina's Garnethill.

My posts this week
Review of The Holy Thief by William Ryan
The bloody meadow
Call for crime fiction short stories
Unfinished housing estates 2011 update
Review of Open Season by CJ Box
Can't live without shoes