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COLD IN HAND
by John Harvey
William Heinemann, January 2008
384 pages
12.99 GBP
ISBN: 0434016942


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

DI Lynn Kellogg stops off at an incident, on her way home. A group of about 15 youths is fighting. Lynn seeks to intervene between two female combatants and grabs one of them. She turns briefly, wrenching the girl she is holding around with her, but at that moment, someone fires a gun, killing the girl she is holding and injuring Lynn.

Fortunately, Lynn is wearing a bullet-proof vest or she, too, might have been killed, but the perception of the dead girl’s parents – as well as some of the friends – is that Lynn used Kelly Brent as a shield in order to save her own life.

Lynn recovers and goes back to work. Charlie Resnick, with whom Lynn lives, finds himself the number two in the investigation of Kelly Brent’s murder. Meanwhile, Lynn receives a large bunch of roses from a SOCA officer named Stuart Daines, a slimy, self-confident man who thinks he can interest her in his smarmy self.

The investigation leads on to an inquiry into the importation of illegal guns. There are several more deaths – including that of a police officer. Detective Chief Inspector Karen Shields, together with the officer assisting her, Mike Ramsden, are called onto the case, which has expanded to include Eastern European women who have been imported into England for the purposes of prostitution.

This is a beautifully constructed novel but it is terribly pessimistic, even if most of the baddies do get caught. It presents a reflection of an England (or Nottingham, at least) with which the reader would rather not become too familiar. The face of gang youth, whatever the colour, is not a pretty one and Harvey has quite a lot to say about the crime-ridden streets that make ordinary citizens afraid to walk down them as gang violence takes its toll.

The characters are very well drawn. Charlie Resnick, approaching retirement age, is a man determined to track down those responsible for crimes he finds almost unbelievable. Always the thought of his own career coming to an end hangs over him and not even his jazz records and the voice of Bessie Smith can ease his mind for long.

I like the way Harvey’s people are just so human. Lynn Kellogg, confident in her own abilities to sort out every situation with which she is confronted, is called upon to exercise her skills as a hostage negotiator. Charlie himself is very human, troubled by the thought of retirement and deeply moved by death.

Reviewed by Denise Pickles, February 2008

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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