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GAME OVER
by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Severn House, September 2008
240 pages
10.99 GBP
ISBN: 1847510566


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I‛ve always loved the Bill Slider series to bits, and have never been able to understand why Cynthia Harrod-Eagles isn‛t a household name. Her books are well-written and witty but seem to have slipped under many people‛s radar.

GAME OVER displays the trademark wit, underscored with melancholy, and this time some real risk to keep both the reader and Slider looking over their shoulders.

Slider and the team are called in to investigate the murder of former BBC journalist Ed Stonax. He‛s found dead at his flat and the investigation unearths some strange contradictions in his life. Meanwhile, Trevor Bates, otherwise known as the Needle, is on the run and has some scores to settle with Slider.

Oh yes, and our hero would quite like to find the time to marry long-suffering partner Joanna before their baby makes its entrance into the world.

GAME OVER boasts a raft of immaculately-drawn characters (both old favourites and cameo roles) who you feel you‛ve known for years. Harrod-Eagles resists the temptation to overdo the cleverness, so Det Supt Porson‛s malapropisms are endearing rather than cruel or exaggerated. And she keeps Atherton‛s smart-arse comments from becoming tiresome – mainly because you totally believe in the character.

Harrod-Eagles is a confident and relaxed storyteller who can move a tale along whilst keeping a very firm hand on the plot threads. It‛s a book you don‛t want to put down.

I‛m wondering, though, if this is the end of the road for Slider, Atherton and Co given the way the book finishes and the slightly wistful feel to proceedings. It‛s not giving anything away to say that GAME OVER doesn‛t end with one of those slightly annoying cliffhangers (the only thing that‛s ever irritated me about Harrod-Eagles‛s books). So either our old friends are taking a break, or a change in publisher has put a stop to that trick. I sincerely hope it‛s the latter!

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, October 2008

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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