The Monday Review: But Who Reviews The Reviewers, Eh?

They’re still coming in thick and fast for Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant, folks – to wit: “Skulduggery Pleasant has all the ingredients of a huge success … Landy’s wit shines through the narrative and his adventure reads with pace and excitement,” says Lindy at Lindy B’s Live Journal, while Debra Hamel over at Spike Books likes it a lot too: “Landy’s Skulduggery won’t assume the Potter mantle – if such a thing were even possible – but it is highly readable and funny, a charming page-turner for the YA crowd.” Lovely … “A sympathetic understanding of Dublin’s Little Africa makes this a special whodunnit,” reckons Anna Kurnuszko of Andrew Nugent’s Second Burial down under at the Aussie Sunday Times … “The humour is by turn slapstick and very dark. Bateman does not follow in the conventional tradition of crime writing; rather he should be seen as the natural heir to the black comic novels of Tom Sharpe,” says Mike Ripley over at Eurocrime about The Artist Formerly Known As Bateman’s I Predict A Riot … Tana French’s In the Woods is still garnering raves, not least from Jo Litson in the Aussie Sunday Times: “This is a classic whodunit with twists and turns and red herrings aplenty. But it is Ryan’s past that truly fascinates, and here French explores complex notions of identity and memory.” MySpace Books is equally impressed: “An entertainingly complex and cinematic crime thriller that is also quite simply a good novel, Tana French’s In the Woods has the forensic interest of CSI and the nuanced characterizations and compelling interpersonal relations of The Wire, along with quick pacing, a sense of humour, and a strong sense of place.” Crikey! … “Tenderwire is a carefully-balanced book, constructed with as much skill and precision as the instrument at the centre of it, and as haunting as the strains of its music,” claims Fay L. Booth at Hags, Harlots and Heroines of Claire Kilroy’s latest … But what of Ruth Dudley Edwards’ Murdering Americans, I hear you cry. Well, Jean Utley at I Love A Mystery likes it: “Edwards writes wonderful caricatures of American types in a very funny way … Jack Troutbeck is a character to be savoured and enjoyed as the fine wine she drinks. Highly recommended.” Marvellous stuff … We haven’t featured Gemma O’Connor in a while, but Crime Time likes Walking on Water: “This is Gemma O’Connor’s fifth psychological mystery set in rural Ireland, and once again she dazzles the reader with her haunting prose and insightful characterisation,” says Mark Campbell … Siobhan Dowd’s The London Eye Mystery is ‘One to Watch Out For’ over at The Daily Mail, while Kathryn Ross in The Scotsman likes it too: “A traditional mystery adventure where the youngsters beat the police detectives at their own game … Dowd keeps the tension cranked up, but there’s plenty of humour too.” … Mmmm, lovely … Garbhan Downey’s Running Mates is Fiction Book of the Month over at Kenny’s: “Behind the satire, however, there is a serious message and this even makes the book more interesting.” You couldn’t beat it with a stick … That all-important John Connolly review runneth thusly: “As beautifully creepy, well-written thrillers go, this one in Connolly’s Charlie Parker series is way cool,” reckons Barbara King at What Are Writers Reading … Over at The Telegraph, Helen Brown likes Anna Burns’ Little Constructions: “I can’t remember the last time I read prose so profound and so punchy, at once scattergun and forensic. It’s like the ink’s been made from gunpowder. And every line leaves a darkly sparkling residue you won’t be able to wash off.” Yummy … Finally, Adrian McKinty’s The Bloomsday Dead gets the hup-ya from Mystery News, via The Mean Streets: “Adrian McKinty is an author who just keeps getting better and better. He’s also a guy who’s not afraid to take chances … McKinty’s just having a little fun and at the same time engaging in the kind of literary shenanigans that, I’m sure, would have warmed the cockles of Joyce’s heart. At its core, The Bloomsday Dead is the sort of full-throttle crime novel that other authors in the genre would sell their souls to be able to write … You can’t go home again. Or can you? Either way, this is one of the most entertaining, high-octane and literate explorations of that question you are likely to find anywhere on the shelves today.” All of which is scrotumtighteningly riverun nice …

The Monday Review: Being A Series Of Hup-Ya Snippets Culled From The Interweb Yokeybus

Detectives Beyond Borders seems rather taken with Declan Hughes’ The Wrong Kind of Blood – it’s four posts and counting by now, the gist of which runneth thusly: “One can read the technique as the product of Hughes’ efforts to liven up what in less skilled hands might seem shop-worn … Loy begins to look like an honourable addition to the roster of troubled fictional private investigators,” and “Hughes has a knack like none other I’ve ever seen of blowing away the heaviness with a laugh-out-loud funny line.” Which is nice … “I Predict A Riot careers along at a break-neck pace, keeping us rooting for the dysfunctional cast of characters, and enjoying the cameo roles that hurtle by. The book’s too long by at least 150 pages, but (sorry, sorry), it’s a riot!” reckons Sharon Wheeler of Reviewing the Evidence after perusing The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman’s latest … What of Michael Collins’ The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton? “For the well-read there is a lot of literary and philosophical discussion (Nietzsche figures prominently); for the cynics lots of world-weariness; and for the crime lovers a cracking mystery with a completely unexpected denouement,” says Lizzy over at Lizzy’s Literary Life … “Frankly, it would be hard to over-praise [Gene] Kerrigan’s second crime outing. It’s stylish enough to merit comparison with Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane, yet somehow recognisably us. If you’re looking for a terrific holiday read, look no further,” says the Irish Times’ Arminta Wallace of The Midnight Choir … Tom Widger at the Sunday Trib agrees: “Seldom have there been so many good Irish crime writers. Top of the stack, among a handful of others, is Kerrigan.” ... “Awash with hard men and lonely women, 12:23 is impeccably researched and tautly written,” reckons The Independent’s Rebecca Armstrong, while Jeff Pierce at The Rap Sheet is equally taken with Eoin McNamee’s fictionalised take on Princess Di’s death: “I reckon I could have read the entire book in under two hours, since it’s a rather slim volume in terms of page count; but bloody hell, 12:23 is a big book when it comes to ideas, literary style, and the atmosphere it can conjure in one’s head.” … Fra Jones at Verbal magazine likes Mary Rose Callaghan’s latest: “Billy, Come Home is an often upsetting story, but one not without tenderness and humour. And its heavy subject matter is handled with a sense of surety and the deftness of touch for which Callaghan is renowned.” … What’s a Monday Review without a John Connolly big-up? Bereft, that’s what … “Set in the state of Maine, with impressively accurate atmosphere and topography, [The Unquiet] is not for the faint-hearted. It grips like a hospital blood-pressure pad and might even offer bad dreams,” says Sean McMahon at Verbal … “Little Constructions is about everything that’s nasty in life, but it’s mostly about violence. So it has guns. And retribution. Madness. Paedophilia. Rape. Bruising infidelity. Desperately unhappy marriages. Damaged women and oblivious men. And somehow it all manages to be convincingly comic,” gushes the Sunday Business Post’s Catherine O’Mahony on Anna Burns’ Little Constructions … Finally, and under the rather impressive heading of ‘Best Summer Reads: Crime’ in The Times, comes Marcel Berlins' hup-ya for Brian McGilloway: “The most impressive recent debut was Brian McGilloway’s Borderlands, a tight, exquisitely written, atmospheric account of claustrophobic life around the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic … Inspector Benedict Devlin, of the Garda, a man not without his own secrets, is a compelling investigator.” We couldn’t agree more: Devlin puts us in mind of the late, lamented Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen, which isn’t a comparison to be bandied about lightly.