Library Limelights 227

Coronavirus times becoming permanent times ...?

Graham Hurley. Sight Unseen. Electronic edition (ebook) 2019, download from Toronto Public Library; originally published by Severn House Publishers, 2019.

The delightful Enora Andresson returns in Act Two; the actress keeps busy to avoid thinking about her brain tumour. Besides the film business, she’s finding great compatibility with blind scriptwriter Pavel—to the general dismay of “H,” father of their sometimes wayward son Malo. When Malo reports his adored girlfriend Clem(Clemenza) has been kidnapped, a drug gang is the suspected ransomer and the big guns roll out in response: Clem’s father Mateo Munez musters all his contacts, Colombian and otherwise; H summons his own former crew of Pompey lowlifes. Both spurn the services of Munoz’s useless K & R (Kidnapping and Ransom) insurance, represented by a Mr. O’Keefe, and no cops at all, of course. But it’s Enora who finds a way into the nasty network through a series of bold moves. Judging by his shady past, she expects H can be equally nasty when his family is threatened.

Then disaster befalls Pavel; H’s jealousy turns to sympathy. Enora feeds Pavel her adventures to skirt his depression, stoking his creative spirit. He responds with the promise of his best film script ever. Malo disappears off and on, increasing her anxiety about his possible drug involvement. Hurley takes us into the dark underbelly of current millennial life in England. It’s not that far under the surface and it’s very disheartening. Despite the action and tension of a first-rate mystery, the prevalence of highly organized drug distribution and delivery systems sends a serious message that I hear from other Brit writers. Yet Enora and H are irresistibly engaging characters. Soon ... more acts (plays?) in this most excellent series.

Word: khazi – Brit slang for toilet

Enora

▪ H will give me anything that money will buy. Yet at the same time, deep down, he knows that I’m not for sale. (28)

▪ One of the reasons this morning has shaken me so badly is more than obvious: it’s the first time I’ve seen H in action. (183)

▪ Or has the time come to look reality in the face and admit I’m somehow involved with a man, at best a dreamer, at worst a serial liar, who’s slipped his moorings? (190)

▪ Should I play mother, step in, confiscate this makeshift pipe, tell him to get a grip? Too late. His head’s down again and he’s sucking the fumes deep into his lungs. (282)

▪ It’s not just O’Keefe who’s been overtaken by the giddy pace of change in the criminal milieu. It’s H, as well. (336)

▪ I want this story of mine to run and run. I want to hook him [Pavel], to fascinate him, to enfold him in a sticky web of what-ifs, rampant speculation that will see him through the long nights to come. (368)

Others

▪ Back home in Bogotá, he says, kidnappers are ten a penny. Criminal gangs, political crazies, they’re all at it, and each one follows the same script. (37)

▪ (re illegal drug problem) “The end of days, right? Because that’s where we fucking are. At the end of days. And you know why? Because we never paid enough attention.” (108)

▪ “These people are predatory. Clem and Malo were theirs for the taking.” (180)

▪ “She knows you’re hiding something, which is why she’s being so fucking unpleasant.” (325)

▪ “The boy says we ought to try lechora casera. It’s a kind of pork thing. The chef gave him the recipe.” (468)

▪ People should do more of this, he tells me. We need to get out of our tiny selves. We need to think hard about being someone else. (477)

Sharon Bolton. Sacrifice. Electronic edition (ebook) 2009 from Corgi, download from Toronto Public Library; originally published in the UK by Bantam Press, 2008.

What a great thriller! Shetland is the setting, where obstetrician Tora Guthrie joins a hospital staff under the directorship of Kenn Gifford. Tora and husband Duncan have barely moved in when a woman’s body is uncovered in the peaty hillside of the home they bought. No, it’s not an archaeological find; it’s a modern woman with runic symbols carved on her back and her heart has been removed. Identifying her is a tough problem, especially since she appears to be the wife of local lawyer Stephen Gair; his wife died some time ago of natural causes and was buried in the churchyard. That’s complicated enough. Tora can’t let go of the baffling problem although police inspectors Andy Dunn and Dana Tulloch dismiss her questions. Yet someone, something, is trying to scare her off a search in the hospital records.

Duncan takes her sailing for a break from her pregnant patients, but their mast collapses in a sudden, vicious storm and they capsize. Separately, they both survive the harrowing ordeal, discovering that their mast had been deliberately sabotaged. Dana becomes a surprising ally for Tora in uncovering irregular numbers of births and deaths in the islands. They suspect many islanders are complicit in some mysterious scheme they can’t pinpoint. Then Dana is found dead in her bathtub with slit wrists; the locals are swift to render a suicide verdict. Dana’s wife Helen, a cop from Dundee, comes to quietly carry on with Tora. They try to puzzle out the meaning of runes, and Viking legends of Trows—mythical creatures that can spirit people away and replace them with a “semblance.” But it’s Tora’s examination of vital records over the years and doing the math that reveals the bizarre truth.

Duncan was born in Shetland; he’s under Tora’s suspicion too. Not knowing who the conspirators are, or what their plan is, makes for fast-moving action and fearful shocks. All is revealed, almost unimaginable. Author Bolton conceives a chilling thriller from an age-old secret tradition. It’s not a tourist guide to the Shetland islands.

Bits and Pieces

▪ “She was still alive when they got her to hospital but with very severe brain damage and s broken neck.” (160)

▪ I suppose it’s a very individual thing, one’s relationship with the grave of a loved one. (167)

▪ “He just doesn’t seem to be taking it terribly seriously. First the body was an archaeological find, then the victim couldn’t possibly be local, and then last night was a practical joke.” (197)

▪ One of them had watched Duncan and me set off in our dinghy, believing that I wouldn’t survive the trip. They’d conspired to murder me. (348)

▪ How do you hold a funeral with an empty coffin? (497)

▪ Here, on Shetland, legend lived. The Trows of so many island stories were real, dwelling among humans, passing for human.

▪ “We are not a religious people, but if we were, our mothers would be our saints. They made the ultimate sacrifice for their sons.” (574)

▪ “We are the Kunal Trows, stronger and more powerful than any other men on earth.” (588)

▪ We listened to the regular thud of spades against damp earth and waited. (611)

Graham Hurley. Off Script. Electronic edition (ebook) 2020, download from Toronto Public Library; originally published by Severn House Publishers, 2020.

Yes, here is Enora Andresson’s third adventure. Her son’s father, known as “H” to all and sundry, is paying for a lavish suite in Exmouth and nursing care for Pavel, Enora’s dearest friend. Pavel has been blind for a long time, but now he’s a quadriplegic due to a freak accident. A round-the-clock care team has settled in; Enora is visiting so she can read and talk with Pavel for hours every day. Trouble is not long in coming. Carrie, the beloved day nurse, is uncharacteristically nervous one day. Enora presses her hard to confide her fear: a strange, mentally disturbed young man had somehow entered her flat last night, woken her up, made obscene overtures, and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Carrie is terrified by his threat. Enora tries searching in vain for this odd kid, then decides to break the confidence by going to police inspector Geraghty.

Neither has any luck tracing him among the town’s homeless population who recognize his description as a vagrant called Moonie. But during the hunt, Enora meets and falls head over heels for dream man Deko. A day later Carrie is found brutally murdered. Pavel, Enora, and everyone are devastated. Enora finds some comfort with her new beau; he amazes her with his energy in renovating rundown properties to generate rental income, including the former nursing home where Carrie had worked. Pavel is not happy about the turn of events. Will Enora finally have good luck with her love life? At the same time, she is learning more about Moonie and Carrie too (is that her real name?!).

Pavel is hospitalized with a stroke. Could anything else go wrong, just when Enora’s met a wonderful man? Yes – it could and it does. How about the police not completely trusting her ...? How about a fraught sail to Brittany for a holiday weekend? How about Moonie’s mother materializing? Unlike the first two books, a few of the clues or red herrings here are a bit clumsy but nevertheless a fitting third and final act. Oh wait – encores! Enora returns in September 2020.

Bits from Enora 

▪ As I tried to explain to H recently, I truly love this man, partly because of the way he handles his situation but mostly because time at his bedside opens so many doors in my head. (13)

▪ Pavel’s eyes are closed behind his tinted glasses. “So, where did you really go last night?” (152)

▪ Did he ever bother with being born at all? Or did he arrive on earth fully formed, a dreamweaver of genius? (456)

▪ This man, I know for certain, has led a life or two. (90)

▪ My lovely man, as capable as ever, is playing nurse, swabbing my wounds, saving my worthless life. (394)

▪ Believe in this man, because it’s his life on the line as well as yours. (403)

Others

▪ “Do you know how much police time is taken up with stuff like this? People with mental health issues? Forty per cent. Forty.” (68)

▪ Geraghty has her arms around me. She’s swaying gently, just the way my mum would when I was a child. (186)

▪ “This country’s dying on its feet. It’s getting older, fatter, and more frightened. Believe me, you can make money out of that.” (165)

 ▪ “His dad used to say that everyone needed something to do in life. What I do is forgive.” (312)