I don't review too many crime novels for one simple reason - I call it the "Yeah, right!" factor. Having studied both criminology and forensic psychology for several years, whenever I read crime fiction, there usually comes a point in the book where I say to myself "Yeah, right - that would never happen in a million years." Because I know quite a lot about crime in general, I often find crime fiction unbelievable and, as a result, my enjoyment of the book is spoiled. I realise that the majority of readers would accept the book at face value. I know I'm just hard to please. However, I don't feel it is fair to damn a perfectly acceptable book with faint praise simply because I personally can't be objective, not just about one particular book but about a whole genre. Stephen Booth's latest book, "Blood on the Tongue", gave me only one "Yeah, right!" moment, but it was a "Yeah, right!" moment of a completely different kind.
If anyone had told me six months ago that I would be scrabbling through a long-awaited delivery of true crime books, trying to find a crime novel because I so desperately wanted to read it, my answer would have been a very disbelieving "Yeah, right!" Yet that was exactly what happened last week and, since then, "Blood on the Tongue" has consistently got me into trouble. It has kept me up at nights long past my normal bedtime (and, believe me, I need all the beauty sleep I can get) and, on one occasion, I even became so engrossed that I was late for work for the first time in ten years.
"Blood on the Tongue" is the third offering from the pen of Stephen Booth and is, in my opinion, his best yet. (The other two books "Black Dog" and "Dancing with the Virgins" have also been reviewed here on Phoenix and there is an interview with the author himself on site.) It is the continuing story of police officers Ben Cooper and Diane Fry and their colleagues in the Peak District of Derbyshire, although it could just as easily be read as a stand-alone book rather than as the third of a series.
With the force at full stretch due to adverse winter weather conditions, three bodies are found. One is of a young woman who lives locally and who appears to have committed suicide by laying down in the snow to freeze to death. Marie Tennent is known to have a young baby, Chloe, whose whereabouts following the suicide of her mother are a mystery. A second body, that of an unidentified man, is disturbed by a snow plough in the process of trying to clear the roads and when a third, the body of a baby - but not baby Chloe - is discovered, the men and women of E Division find themselves almost overwhelmed.
Yet, in spite of the pressure of work, Ben Cooper finds himself increasingly preoccupied with another mystery, this one more than fifty years old. An RAF bomber plane crashed on the nearby hills during the war, leaving only two survivors. One, a Pole, still lives locally - the second, the pilot, disappeared without trace from the wreckage and was never seen again. Now, his granddaughter is trying to clear his name, convinced that he would never have walked off and abandoned his crew to their deaths. Somehow all avenues of enquiry seem to lead to local rogue Eddie Kemp, who is known mainly for his distinctive body odour.
That is as much of the plot as I am prepared to reveal, for fear of spoiling the book - suffice to say it has numerous unexpected, yet very believable twists and turns, enough to keep the reader on the edge of his / her seat from start to finish.
Booth's latest book has everything that I am coming to expect from this author. Since his first novel, "Black Dog" was voted Best British Crime Novel and his second, "Dancing with the Virgins", was short-listed for the UKs top crime-writing award, it is difficult to believe that they could be surpassed, but in my opinion, surpass them he has. There is excellent description, extremely strong characterisation, a superb plot and the whole book has more than a touch of 'everydayness' that allows the reader to become involved from the first page to the last. There is atmosphere a-plenty and even frequent touches of humour, such as the singing lobster that lives on the desk of one of the police officers. There is also the ever present will they / wont they? in the prickly relationship between Cooper and Fry.
In short, this is a first-class crime thriller, 424 pages of superb writing. In fact, all Booth's books are good - so good that I'm surprised they haven't yet been snapped up by a television company wishing to dramatise them.
Whereas I can normally find numerous faults with books of the crime fiction genre, I can only find one fault with this one. That is that author Stephen Booth doesn't write fast enough - having finished "Blood on the Tongue", I can't wait to read his next book.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0 00 713064 3
Price: £10.99
Date Reviewed: July 2002
My Rating: 5/5
