Death Can't Take a Joke by Anya Lipska

Anya Lipska’s compelling sequel to “Where The Devil Can’t Go” demonstrates that she is fast building what the marketeers like to refer to as a “brand” for herself. In simple terms it means she’s a damn good writer.

The intricate plot interweaves a number of story threads, reuniting the characters of Janusz Kiska and DC Natalie Kershaw. The chemistry between Kiska and Kershaw is carefully constructed and beautifully weighted. Lipska writes the nuanced dialogue with real skill, and Kiska’s dour grumpiness provides a counterpoint to his muscular approach to detecting. He also gets some of the best dialogue, particularly when in conversation with his dodgy Polish compatriot Oskar.

The plot is complex and multi-layered, constructed with a number of false starts and dead ends so that the reader is kept guessing nearly as much as the protagonists. The denouement is both brilliantly set-up and executed, with more than a hint of Thomas Harris.

Lipska excels at creating believable minor characters with strong individual voices. I was a little disappointed that Kiska’s complicated love-interest Kasia [one time exotic dancer now running a nail-bar] didn’t get to make an appearance, apart from a brief text message. I thought she was one of Lipska’s great inventions from “Devil”, and I hope that she may return in the next book.

I was privileged enough to hear Anya speak at a Polish Crime Night a few months ago, organised by Magda Raczynska of The Polish Cultural Institute at Belgravia Books in Victoria. Anya shared a platform with another of my literary heroes William Brodrick, author of the Father Anselm books. They both spoke eloquently about their work and each performed a brief reading from their current WiP.

I am a huge fan of her writing and me this novel is even better than her debut. So many of the scenes have a cinematic sensibility, which screams movie / TV mini-series to me. I can only hope that the novel gets optioned, which it richly deserves.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

Apple Tree Yard is a profoundly unsettling novel. It starts out as a tale of obsession and sexual passion, but quickly becomes a much darker morality tale about predators and the inherent danger that can often accompany sexual fantasies.

 

Written in the first person which gives Yvonne’s voice an immediacy and a sense of realism, her story is narrated from the dock at the Old Bailey. Doughty jumps backwards and forwards to slowly tease out the story of her protagonist’s fall from grace. As I was reading it became clear to me that in any case such as this context is everything; certainly context is one of the key factors that members of a jury need to reach an unbiased decision. Doughty has a real skill in balancing the ambiguity of context in a number of key scenes, which serves to highlight the dramatic tension within the novel.

 

I found Yvonne’s measured and precise voice perfectly encapsulated her personality, the slightly passive scientist who finds herself drawn into a web of deceit that she cannot control.

 

A fellow reader whose opinion I normally value bemoaned Yvonne’s lack of depth to me. I had to disagree. For my part I didn’t feel there was a lack of depth; I was certainly able to fill in any intentional gaps. It is true that there are many things left unresolved, left unsaid. Whilst this can be mildly irritating I can appreciate why Doughty has chosen to do this. How often in life is everything neatly and fully explained? However as a reader there were a few crucial conversations that I felt were missing, particularly between Yvonne and her husband Guy. His inability to question her about her affair struck me as unlikely, given the measured personality that Doughty had constructed for him, and so I wondered why she had made this conscious decision as a writer.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel which slowly builds to its final denouement. It does not disappoint.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I found Tom Rob Smith’s debut to be a tremendous novel. It has a tortuous and labyrinthine plot which twists and weaves its way through Stalinist Russia, starting in war-torn Ukraine in the late thirties and ending in Russia in the mid-fifties. His characters are so well drawn, particularly his main protagonists Leo Demidov and his wife Raisa, along with a truly wonderful villain in Leo’s subordinate and ultimate nemesis Vassily Nikitin.

The complex plot centres around MGB agent Leo Demidov. When a colleague’s child is killed Leo is ordered to silence the family who are claiming that the child was murdered. Murder is not possible in Stalinist Russia as it would be an affront to the state ideology where the only possible crime is a crime against the state. However Leo discovers that a serial killer is murdering children and he and his wife Raisa attempt to track them down. This simple synopsis doesn’t really do justice to the intricacies of the storyline, but provides a starting point.

Smith’s story was inspired by the Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo who was executed for the murders of over fifty children in the 1980’s. However Smith chooses to set his novel in 1953 and provides a fascinating insight into Stalinist Russia and the changes that occurred with death of Stalin and the rise to power of Nikita Khrushchev.

Fledging writers are always told about the importance of their opening chapter. The first chapter of Child 44 is breathtaking as two starving Ukrainian children hunt an emaciated cat that they intend to kill for food. It is an object lesson in how to create an initial impact. I was completely hooked.

Smith’s writing is intense and unrelenting; he evokes the bleakness and paranoia of a totalitarian state and his research is exemplary.

The critical reaction to the novel is in itself fascinating. It seems to provoke praise and admiration from some quarters and utter vilification from others. I am firmly on the side of praise and admiration. I thought it was a stunning debut.