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I always feel that I should like Paul Johnston's books more than I do. His near-future Scottish and Greek PI series never quite hit the mark, and sadly THE WHITE DEVIL doesn't quite make it either. Matt Wells is a music journalist-turned-crime novelist. Not that he's making much money from either. He rather foolishly, it turned out, moved from his successful 1600s series to one featuring an Albanian PI, which went down like a lead balloon. And he's rather bitter about the fact his career is going down the pan. Oh, and his marriage is over as well, although he spends time with his cute little daughter Lucy. So he's harbouring revenge fantasies against anyone and everyone. And then along comes some very strange fan mail. Before too long, though, Matt realises that his mysterious correspondent, the White Devil, is bumping off anyone who's made his life a misery. And he has more horrors in store for Matt. THE DEATH LIST has rather too many unexplained 'hang on a mo' moments. Why doesn't Matt resurrect the successful series? Why doesn't he go to the police the minute he makes a gruesome discovery at his ex-wife's house? And does he really think his rugby and crime fiction mates are going to be any match for a psychopathic killer who knows far too much about him? Johnston has a fixation with the playwright John Webster, hence the title and many of the references. But it's hard to know how seriously to take the book. It indeed felt like one of the grandly OTT revenge dramas and I could imagine Johnston writing with tongue inclining firmly towards one cheek. Oh, and be warned . . . Unless a hefty amount of correcting has gone on between ARC and final edition, the book has been Americanised, despite this being a UK version. Do publishers really think American readers won't manage to work out cheque, Labour, metre and so on? These cosmetic changes seem a waste of time in a book firmly rooted in London. So it's a neat enough idea, in keeping with Johnston's obviously slightly leftfield brain. But in the end the story is more or less a one-trick pony (if you know THE WHITE DEVIL the action won't surprise you). And it could also be that I'm pretty much burned out on books where the grossness factor is through the roof. And to be honest I didn't warm to any of the characters – it's hard not to agree with the fellow crime writer who sent Matt a terse message describing him as a sad git! So file under interesting idea, writing not bad at all, but in the end reviewer not fussed.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, June 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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