The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies I’m no great fan of fiction written exclusively in the present tense, for all its reputed ‘immediacy’; I generally fancy novels with a past. But that’s…
CHAOS:Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies In Stephen Dobyns’ murder mystery Saratoga Swimmer Charlie Bradshaw, unlicensed private eye and true-crime addict, recounts the story of New York gangster Dutch Schultz’s 1935 assassination…
Cari Mora by Thomas Harris
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies The day my review copy of Cari Mora arrived I spent the afternoon strolling on Morecambe’s splendid promenade. The view across the Bay from the Naples…
A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Some novels strike such an authentic note in the beginning that they give you the immediate assurance — the eagerness — to read on. You can’t…
The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies At times crime fiction seems a genre so powerful that it sucks in and revitalises other forms. At others, literary fiction appears to piggyback expediently on…
Only To Sleep by Lawrence Osborne
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies A short walk from my ergonomic study chair is my Chandler bookshelf. It includes some Philip Marlowe fiction not by Chandler: Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, A…
The Hazards of Good Fortune by Seth Greenland
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies The title of Seth Greenland’s book harks back to William Dean Howells’ 1889 New York novel of business and politics A Hazard of New Fortunes. The…
Vernon Subutex 2 by Virginie Despentes
Translated by Frank Wynne Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Almost two decades ago I saw a French movie called Baise-moi. It contained, besides much simulated violence, what Wikipedia fastidiously calls ‘several…
House of Beauty by Melba Escobar
Translated by Elizabeth Bryer Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies Each time I walk into town from my house I pass at least one nail/beauty salon/spa/bar/studio (the titles variously inflect the…
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies This novel borrows its title from Fritz Lang’s canonical film noir (which is also a teasing, ironic comedy of the repressed returning) and Finn’s first-person narrator, Dr…
The Apothecary’s Shop by Roberto Tiraboschi
Translated by Katherine Gregor Reviewed by Terence Jagger In early twelfth century Venice set we our scene, although the cod historical touch is maybe just a little unfair, there is…
A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies However deeply the irony may have entered his soul, John le Carré has no reputation as a jester. An element of satire typifies his work, always….
Return to the Dark Valley by Santiago Gamboa
Translated by Howard Curtis Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies I found a molten quality in this novel (if it is a novel). It burns off the page, as they say. It…
Testimony by Scott Turow
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies The ‘international theme’ – Old World/New World – was a foreground concern of Henry James. It typically featured the experience in Europe of an American…
The Zoo by Christopher Wilson
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies Christopher Wilson’s new novel takes us back in time while signalling contemporary concerns. It recalls the Cold War epoch, focussing on the ‘court’ of Josef…
Belladonna by Daša Drndić
Translated by Celia Hawkesworth Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies There can be no quick digest of this book, marketed as a novel though in fact much more, and no doubt…
All the Places I’ve Ever Lived by David Gaffney
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies David Gaffney has earned himself a distinctive reputation as a writer of ‘flash fictions’ – micro-stories, variable in tone and topic but springing from a…
The Wrong Case by James Crumley
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies First published in 1975 – the year the NLF took Saigon and expelled the US from Vietnam – The Wrong Case is deservedly, though posthumously, reissued. It…
The Girl in Green by Derek D. Miller
Reviewed by Gill Davies In the past, I have hesitated to read a novel that uses dreadful contemporary events as its plot and thematic focus, in case it feels exploitative…
Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey
Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies Erik Storey’s début novel, which bids to inaugurate a series, comes garlanded with approving quotes from established authors Lee Child and Jeffrey Deaver and has been…
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