Mick Herron. The List. USA: Soho Press Inc., 2015.
Yes,
it's my fave again. A sixty-five page novella from the award-winning
author, dealing with his dysfunctional version of MI5, and a slightly
different facet at that. John Bachelor is in charge of "retired
assets," aka old spooks, aka the milk round, aka in from the
cold. When one of his assets dies of natural causes, John finds he'd
been a little derelict in his duty. The oversight earns him the
withering scorn of MI5's fearsome dragon lady Diana Taverner. John
must fix the problem. A delightfully clever piece from
Herron's fertile mind, but when is Herron not clever?
P.S.
The edition also includes a preview of Nobody Walks. I have
London Rules on order, newest in the Slough House series. Long
may the slow horses production continue!
One-liners:
When
a spy passes, his cupboards need clearing out. (1)
"She
can read lips," said Bachelor, trying not to move his own. (4)
It
wasn't much of a plan, and involved a lot of luck and twice as much
bullshit, but it was the best he could do at short notice. (20)
...
Slough House, which wasn't in Slough, wasn't a house, and was where
screw-up spooks were sent to make them wish they'd died. (21)
"All
being a milkman involves is wiping noses and he can't even do that."
(44)
Ghost
networks were only a problem if you believed in ghosts. (47)
She
didn't like finding other people's messes on her desk. (52)
Sara
Blaedel. The Lost Woman. USA: Hachette/Grand Central
Publishing, 2017.
Compact
and fast-paced, Blaedel's thriller ranks with the best of
Scandinavia's crime writing; this is not the first in her series
featuring Denmark detective Louise Rick. Policeman Eik Nordstrøm is
her job partner and real-life partner. As soon as we meet her,
Louise's life becomes one disaster after another. Eik disappears from
his job without a word. Her immediate boss is a jerk. Two
similar-style rifle slayings go unsolved. Her son Jonas is expelled
from boarding school. Word comes that Eik is in jail in England.
There, a matching rifle murder had taken place. Events spin by fast
as the Danish police seek information on a group of home hospice care
volunteers and Louise is forced to drill into Eik's past. She has her
hands full with changes in both her and her superiors' job positions.
Blaedel
also melds some thoughtful and fascinating insights into the right to
choose when to die ‒ if it is a right. Louise's journalist friend
Camilla is on it; perhaps only the rich can afford assisted death.
The Swiss call it free death Camilla learns, visiting a clinic in
Switzerland. All shades of opinion are voiced by the characters. The
fate of Eik's former girlfriend in an eighteen-year-old mystery is
also tied into the serial murders. It's an unusual story, a highly
recommended writer.
One-liners:
"Ohhh,
it is so irritating being old; I'm no good at it," she often
said. (14)
Her
son had just turned sixteen, and he'd saved someone's life. (139)
"Dying
people have to make it crystal clear they want to die, otherwise it's
murder." (207)
Two-liners:
"We
don't have a case. I have a case, and you are not part of it."
(81)
She
wasn't going to stand there staring at a dying man she'd never met.
It was simply too private. (109)
"I
didn't kill her. I respected her wishes." (133)
Retrieving
Eik:
"We
still need to interrogate him," Jones said. She added that she
was the one who had arrested him early that morning. "Your
colleague was quite obnoxious, and he was enraged about being brought
in, but we had no choice. He refused to tell us what he was doing at
the crime scene, and he kept saying that we couldn't deny him access
to the house, that the Danish police had sent him, and that it
concerned a missing persons case his department was investigating."
She
paused shortly, as if she were considering how much she could reveal.
"He could barely stand, he was so drunk." (56)
One
professional opinion:
The
doctor's expression was grave. "I believe it's everyone's right
to choose when they no longer want to live." She folded her
hands in her lap. "When it comes to illness and age, I mean.
When pain dominates and the will to live disappears. Or when they are
entering a life without dignity. But to keep my opinion within
professional limits, such a request has to come from the patient. On
the other hand, as I said, I have spoken to your mother about it ..."
Of
course, Sofie thought. No one can suggest to another person that
they die. "Will you help if I'm the one who asks? Will you help
her to die?"
They
looked at each other for a moment, then the doctor nodded. "But
you're not the one I'm helping," she emphasized. "It's your
mother."
Sofie
felt something loosening up inside. She squeezed the doctor's hand.
"How?"
"It's
not something we can talk about," Dr Corneliussen said. She
stared until Sofie got the message. "But your mother won't be
alone when she passes away." (87)
M.R.
Hall. The Flight. UK: Mantle/Macmillan Publishers Limited,
2012.
Wowser
... this is more than I ever wanted to know about death by airplane!
Indeed a thriller; this is a dilly. Coroner Jenny Cooper is in the
midst of the chaos when an Airbus 380 crashes into the Severn
Estuary, so close to home for her. Emergency logistics are swiftly
put into place for handling hundreds of bodies. The Ministry of
Justice immediately takes charge of the inquest, and Jenny is only
allowed to investigate cause of death for an unfortunate sailor whose
boat was demolished by the plane. Being Jenny, and suspicious of a
cover-up, she manages to dig deep into the truth. As ever, her
superiors are alarmed due to what they call her past insubordination
despite her successful record. She has to drag theories for the
crash's cause from reluctant pilots, aeronautical engineers, and the
airline company. The Pattersons, mourning the loss of their child on
board, have the most horrifying theory.
Yes,
there is a lot of highly technical information. Ultimately Jenny
finds herself breaking the law to obtain the information her inquest
needs. In doing so, she will blow open the broader crash inquest that
political interests are constraining. A sympathetic pilot, Michael,
who lost his ex-girlfriend in the crash, becomes an ally. A map of
the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel would be very useful to
understand the physical, geographical references. Jenny's assistant
Alison is as grouchy as ever, but Jenny can finally put her father
and a haunting ghost to rest. A brilliant series.
One-liners:
The
judge was trying to manage her, and that instinctively made
her want to manage him back. (50)
She
could summon pity for every undeserving drunk scooped dead off the
streets, but not an ounce for her father. (76)
"We've
all got a touch of the mongrels, Mrs Cooper, but always remember ‒
the beautiful bits are Welsh." (140)
The
rolling news would soon be filled with accounts of phantom
helicopters and explosions. (324)
The
sailor's fate:
"
... But my point is that Mr Brogan would have to have been navigating
according to a carefully prepared plan."
"Either
that or he was fortunate with his timing."
She
paused briefly to take a sip of water. Behind her, Mrs Patterson was
waiting, her eyes fixed on Corton.
"Let's
assume it wasn't luck ‒ there was nothing wrong with his rudder,
after all. High tide occurs roughly once every twelve hours ‒ is
that correct?"
"More
or less."
"And
it was some sixty minutes before high tide when the accident
happened."
"Fifty-seven."
"Mr
Brogan knew he was going to be in that spot at the time, didn't he?"
"I
have no idea."
"Doesn't
it strike you as more than coincidence that a man with his history
was the only person at the scene of an aircraft disaster?"
Corton
frowned. "I couldn't possibly speculate."
Jenny
cut in just as Rufus Bannerman QC was squaring himself to object.
"Miss Hemmings, please restrict your questions to the physical
evidence." (132-3)
Truth
comes with warnings:
"Jenny,
it's not betraying any official secrets to tell you that this
disaster is being treated as an issue of national security. The PM
has already chaired three meetings of a specially convened disaster
management committee. There are military and intelligence people
crawling all over this. You don't honestly believe you can improve on
their efforts?"
"If
they were behaving properly they'd pass their evidence on to me."
"Always
the constitutionalist when it suits you."
"You
don't have to deal with grieving mothers."
Moreton
let out a weary sigh. "I can't shield you any more, Jenny. I
won't say it again ‒ the world's safest airliner falling from
British skies is out of your league. Dangerously out of your
league."
"Noted.
Haven't you got a minister to suck up to?"
"Goodbye,
Jenny. You're on your own now." (141)
Åsa
Larsson. The Black Path. USA: Bantam Dell/Random House, Inc.,
2008.
Rebecka
Martinsson is recovering from physical and mental trauma (previous
novel: The Blood Spilt) and accepts a job in the Kiruna
prosecutor's office. A murdered woman, found in an ice-fishing hut,
is baffling policewoman Anna-Maria Mella and her associates. The
victim, Inna Watrang, was a top executive with Kallis Mining. From
there, the investigation trails through the byzantine dealings of
mining companies in the third world, searching for motive. Inna's
brother Diddi and entrepreneur Mauri Kallis aren't talking. As
Rebecka assists the police, the varied backgrounds of the mining
principals unfold with fluidity from a topnotch writer.
Business
profiteer Mauri fends with cutthroat, ruthless third world
administrators for control of natural resources; the narcissistic
Diddi is compliantly swept along in his wake. Their wives, Ulrike and
Ebba, are neglected. Mauri's sister Ester is a gifted painter with
more than a touch of Sami mysticism in her visions ―
some interesting nature/ nurture there; Ester doesn't always know
what dictates her actions. Rebecka is a prodigious prosecutor with
private daydreams about her former boss, meanwhile bonding with
Anna-Maria. Several characters have mother issues. We as readers may
suspect how the case will close, but not the degree of dark
retribution unwittingly planted by Mauri in the first place. Solid
Nordic noir winner.
Rebecka:
"But
that's my thing," said Rebecka. "Turning a great big pile
of rubbish into a two-page summary." (61)
And
so thirsty, how's she going to be able to talk to him when her tongue
is sticking to the roof of her mouth? (379)
She
looks like somebody who lives out in the forest and grows everything
organically, is on a permanent collision course with the authorities,
and looks after stray cats. (379)
Anna-Maria:
She
was completely unused to men who admitted they were weak. (101)
She
promised herself that she'd take the whole group out for some fun
when this investigation was over. (193)
No,
she'd much rather have her life full of bloody kids who left their
clothes in a pile on the floor and a man who had some kind of
built-in fault in his system that means he can never actually finish
anything. (193)
Diddi:
Diddi
tells him there's a furious hotel owner after him who's very keen for
Diddi to pay up. (95)
"I
think I've done something really stupid," he said. (239)
He
had nowhere to go. That had been the most powerful feeling when Inna
died. (347)
Mauri:
"He
hasn't chosen to start up mines in easy locations." (71)
Sometimes
he worries that all of a sudden he won't know where he is and who
he's sitting in a meeting with and what it's about. (136)
Sometimes
he just feels full of rage, like an animal that wants to growl,
attack and satisfy itself. (136)
"Does
it make me a better person if I lose my grip on everything and let us
go under?" (188)
This
isn't happening, he's screaming inside. (318)
Inna:
She's
absolutely delighted that Mauri is playing it cool and keeping the
mask in place. (260)
"Those
men you're paying, they murdered him. Then they set fire to his body
and dragged it along behind a car." (319)
Masses
of questions. It's like being trapped in a closet with a swarm of
bees. (253)
Ester:
Soon
she would be able to run the whole way blindfolded without bumping
into a single tree. (230)
She
wants to show they're happy there, beneath the snow together. (330)
Ulrika:
She's
tired of his drinking and getting high, his hangovers and his fears.
(353)
Ebba:
If
I could choose between horses and people, thought Ebba Kallis, I
wouldn't need to think about it for one second. (189)
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