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Heads up, noir fans! David Fine's first book, THE EXECUTIONER'S ART, is compelling and disturbing, leaving its emotional imprint on the reader long after the last page has been turned. The nature of the crime committed is horrific, but Fine moves beyond a deeply disturbing death to create a work that is surprisingly sensitive. Most members of the police force who have been exposed to the victims of a homicide become inured to the brutality that one human being can wreak upon another. However, the current murder is one that causes even the most hardened officer to turn away in horror. The victim (or rather, what is left of the victim) has been found in a deserted factory. The method of murder? Sandblasting. Beyond gruesome, the mutilation is the work of a madman, one who delighted in torturing his victim for more than two hours as he wielded his instrument of torture. The Sheffield police are under great pressure to soothe the public by finding the perpetrator as quickly as possible. The first difficulty lies in the fact that they cannot even identify the victim. The second is that the entire department is a collection of completely dysfunctional individuals who have created a totally ineffective police unit, rife with corruption. The head of the group, Detective Superintendent Jack Singleterry, is driven by only one emotion, hatred, whether that be of the crooks that he comes up against or the members of his own unit. He forces confessions by dubious means such as shoving sharpened pencils up a suspect's nostrils. He's completely cowed everyone who works with him, including Chief Inspector Bill Naylor, who has escaped into a bottle and is just putting in his time. There's a religious zealot, Detective Inspector John Tilt, and a female detective constable, Ruth Wilet, who is trying to hide her sexuality. When they are assigned to the case, they are labeled "Jesus and the Lezzie". These are the people who are going to fight the cause of justice. The case is buried which has been the approach of this police unit for almost 30 years. That would be the end of the story except for two factors: Tilt has become obsessed with the murder, a happening that is causing him to doubt his religious beliefs and to give up on his faltering marriage. He cannot close the case inside his head and continues the investigation even after it has officially closed. The second event occurs when Tilt attends the unknown man's funeral. The only other attendee steps forward and states that he is the murderer and that his reason for being there is to make sure that the victim is dead. The story that this man has to tell is even more horrifying than the facts of the murder that he committed. As the narrative unwinds, the reader finds their sympathies moving from the victim to the confessor. Indeed, my initial feelings of revulsion at how the victim was murdered began to move toward feeling he didn't suffer as much as he deserved to. THE EXECUTIONER'S ART is bleak in its outlook and is labeled "noir" as a result of the emotionally wrenching events depicted in its pages. What is truly disturbing is not the recounting of the actual murder but the revelation of its cause. I was transfixed by this book. David Fine exhibited tremendous skill in his sympathetic portrayal of a man who has committed a gruesome murder. This powerful debut novel will appeal to those who like their crime fiction hard-edged and dark. THE EXECUTIONER'S ART is published in the United States by Dufour Editions.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, December 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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