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DEADLIGHT
by Graham Hurley
Orion, April 2004
432 pages
6.99GBP
ISBN: 0752858904


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I'm not sure I liked DEADLIGHT all that much -- but I couldn't put it down.

It's part of a series set in the naval town of Portsmouth -- nicknamed Pompey -- on England's south coast, featuring Detective Inspector Joe Faraday. Unpopular prison officer Sean Coughlin is found dead, and it soon becomes apparent that his death is linked to the sinking of a Royal Navy ship during the Falklands War in 1982. The book is a classic police procedural, raised above the mundane by some inch-perfect plotting. It's a tale that seems obvious but isn't and which relies on meticulous policework for its resolution.

Graham Hurley has an instinctive feel for the genre. What he doesn't have completely is a feel for all his characters. Faraday is actually a pretty dreary creation, one step away from a space cadet at times. He is widowed, has a deaf and dumb son and enjoys birdwatching. And he is surrounded by the usual suspects -- an overbearing superior, the token woman and a pushy young detective. I suspect that reading the previous three books might have helped, especially when it came to keeping a fairly lengthy cast of characters straight.

The character who you'd think would be the biggest cliche -- the maverick detective -- I actually found the most compelling. DC Paul Winter is one of the old school; dedicated to his job, but dismissive of procedure, paperwork and authority. His subplot is actually more interesting than the main plot -- but only if you ignore the annoying and unlikely character of DC Dawn Ellis, who made me think Hurley really isn't much cop at writing women.

And thereby lies the book's biggest problem. Homophobia goes unchallenged, whilst there's a token woman in a senior position, plus Ellis, who steadfastly refuses to do anything about the threatening phonecalls she is receiving. And I guarantee you will guess what happens to her later on in the book. So yes, the book's a page-turner, but it's also a depressing reinforcement of the macho image of the police force.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, May 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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