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GOOD BAIT interleaves two completely separate stories. Karen Shields has overcome the perceived handicaps of colour and sex to reach DCI rank. Murders on her north London patch with apparent links to organised crime bring her into contact with other national crime agencies, which provides an enhanced political dimension to complicate the unravelling of events. Resolution is achieved by solid routine police work and while Karen has concerns about the progress of the case, and sympathy for the victim, she is supported on a professional level by an effective team, and personally by friends. DC Trevor Cordon, by contrast, is a loner; his former wife is long gone and he has little contact with his son. His interest in the death of a woman with whom he had minor contact, and her daughter, has no professional legitimacy, but arises out of some personal need which Trevor seems to have difficulty defining, even to himself. Unlike Karen, Cordon has little control over events. He is nothing if not persistent, however, and assisted by Kiley, a reluctant colleague, plays the white knight in a shifting world. The technique whereby two stories are interleaved is a well-used one and can serve several purposes. At a very minimum, it provides a way of regularly interrupting the narrative to provide a tantalising break when the reader is keen to move on, or a change of scene when nothing much is happening. But ideally the two halves should have some sort of resonance which enhances both. In GOOD BAIT this sort of mutual benefit is not readily apparent. Whilst the two stories do move together towards the end, creating a sense of anticipation, there is still not enough significant intertwining to provide a sense of satisfaction. This problem notwithstanding, both stories considered alone have enough interest and pace to sustain interest, and the characters are sufficiently well-developed to be interesting and sympathetic. The title GOOD BAIT comes from a jazz composition favoured by Cordon, who picks up versions by various artists as he moves through the book. Too much of this sort of thing can be wearing, particularly if the reader doesn't share the hero's musical enthusiasms, but here it is not overdone, although a song with some relevance to the action would have served the book better. § Chris Roberts is a retired manager of shopping centres in Hong Kong, and now lives in Bristol, primarily reading.
Reviewed by Chris Roberts, November 2011
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