Turn a Blind Eye by Jeffrey Archer

Published by St. Martin's Press on April 13, 2021

William Warwick enters Turn a Blind Eye as a Detective Sergeant and leaves as a Detective Chief Inspector. That is the pattern in the Warwick novels. The young man starts from the bottom, completes an investigation with an arrest and a conviction (aided by his father, who prosecutes), and earns a promotion. His meteoric rise must be the envy of the Metropolitan Police.

The Warwick series divides William’s story into multiple novels — three so far. After a brief stint as a beat cop, Warwick put his art history education to use in the first book, where he met his nemesis, the wealthy Miles Faulkner. In the second book, Warwick moves to drug investigations, where he again encounters Faulkner, who has expanded his criminal repertoire from art forgery to drug distribution. In this third novel, Warwick moves into a new unit, the Met’s version of internal affairs, where he investigates corrupt cops.

Faulker dies and is cremated at an early point in the story, although nobody believes he’s really dead, least of all the reader. By the novel’s end, Warwick is again promoted and transferred to the murder squad. Faulkner is still at large and engaged in more scheming with his art collection. Warwick’s wife and Faulkner’s former wife continue to pursue their unlikely friendship.

The primary plot involves a bent copper named J.R. Summers, who investigates burglaries and helps himself to part of the loot. He’s particularly successful at busting members of a London crime family while spectacularly unsuccessful at gathering evidence against a rival crime family. That discrepancy leads to the obvious suspicion that Summers is corrupt. Summers becomes involved with a detective constable who apparently doesn’t understand the concept of birth control, leading Warwick and his cohorts to hope that she will merely experience heartbreak as a girlfriend rather than a conviction as a co-conspirator.

A second plot thread involves Assem Rashidi, another drug dealer. Warwick must testify against Rashidi, resulting from Warwick’s earlier stint in the drug unit. As always, the Crown is represented by Warwick’s father, Sir Julian, who is second chaired by Warwick’s sister. Why anyone thinks that a father questioning his son is a good idea is beyond me, given the likelihood that the defense will be pointing out the conflict of interest to the jury at every opportunity. The defense barrister, Booth Watson, instead focuses on a variety of dirty tricks. The Warwicks go up against Watson again in the novel’s second trial, this one involving Summers.

The trials are the best part of Turn a Blind Eye. None of the barristers are as clever as Rumpole, but courtroom clashes are always fun. Both sides get away with questioning that would never be allowed in an American courtroom, but perhaps British judges are more tolerant of unfair tactics.

As always, Warwick — whose commitment to rectitude has earned him the name “choirboy” — is a one-dimensional character, and that dimension is dull. As proof that Warwick has a personality, Jeffery Archer has Warwick and his father reciting historical facts and quoting great works of literature. To be a Warwick is to be admired by other Warwicks. I suppose being pompous and self-satisfied is indeed a personality, but it is not one anyone would admire other than similarly pompous and self-satisfied members of the British aristocracy. How Warwick managed to conceive his twins is a mystery, since he has no discernable interest in anything as messy as sex. He likely thought it was his duty to procreate. Warwick is all about duty.

None of these novels suggest that there is any gray area between good and evil. Good people are resolutely good and only a scallywag like Watson would defend the guilty. Readers who don’t want to grapple with the complex reality of life will probably find this series refreshing. The stories are certainly pleasant and the courtroom scenes, at least, are entertaining. Others might find the Warwick novels to be a bit one dimensional, if not dull. The novel’s ending isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but it does set up another confrontation between Warwick and Faulkner.

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Slough House by Mick Herron

Published by Soho Crime on February 9, 2021

Members of a group called the Yellow Vests are making noise about British pride, referring of course to white pride. While Slough House avoids direct mention of Brexit, Mick Herron alludes to it throughout the novel, painting its proponents as chumps and the politicians who endorse it as power hungry chump manipulators.

Peter Judd is one of the manipulators. He’s using Desmond Flint as his stalking horse. Until Judd takes ownership of him, Flint is part of an unruly mob who are trying to “own the libs.” Judd is manipulating Flint into a position of power, a position that Judd plans to control.

Judd believes he also controls Diana Taverner, who occupies the First Desk at the Secret Intelligence Service. Judd and a few other men of wealth bankrolled an off-the-books operation that Taverner directed without the knowledge of her superiors or the Prime Minister. Seeking revenge for a GRU murder of British agents, Taverner commissioned an assassination of her own on Russian soil. The private funding made it possible to do so without seeking permission that never would have been granted.

The GRU, of course, doesn’t appreciate Taverner’s retaliation, so it sends two assassins to England to perform a counterretaliation. To make that mission work, it needs to identify some agents. The GRU has acquired an archived list of agents from a wealthy young media owner named Damien Cantor, who believes that owning a news channel is “like putting a deposit down on a government.” The list is so old that some of the agents are no longer working. All of the agents happen to be assigned to Slough House, where the SIS sends spies who turn out to be useless when it doesn’t kill them instead.

The plot thus parallels current themes in British politics, from rising nationalism and Brexit to media influence and image as a substitute for substance. The plot begins with the murder of former Slough House agents. The killings coincide with a training exercise that irritates Jackson Lamb almost as much as the murders. Lamb is the curator of Slough House and perhaps the most unlikely spy master in the history of spy fiction. Lamb despises his agents (or at least that’s his claim) but he is solidly behind them, following the code of protecting his joes at all cost. When it becomes clear that his joes are being targeted, Jackson doesn’t let Taverner get in the way of doing what he believes should be done. The slow horses at Slough House might not be the best that Britain has to offer, but under Jackson’ guidance, they’re always good enough.

No other series in spy fiction infuses the intrigue of espionage with humor as effectively as the Slough House books. The supporting cast is quirky — Roderick Ho unrealistically regards himself as James Bond; Shirley Dander regularly gets drunk and sleeps around, River Cartwright never quite lives up to the standard set by his legendary grandfather — but they are endearing in their own ways. Rarely does a book go by in which a slow horse doesn’t die and it’s always a bit sad when that happens.

Much of the humor comes from Herron’s keen observation of the world: “When they went on about sixty being the new forty, they forgot to add that that made thirty-something the new twelve.” Herron alternates between dry wit and fart jokes, always achieving a perfect balance of humor and drama. His stories make clear that the world’s evil is not confined to places like Russia and China but is equally embodied in the lust for power that threatens all democracies. Every book in this series is a winner; Slough House is no exception.

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House Standoff by Mike Lawson

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on April 6, 2021

In an earlier Joe DeMarco novel, DeMarco had a fling with Shannon Doyle, who abandoned her earlier life to write a novel. DeMarco thought their relationship might turn into more than a fling, but Shannon was chasing her dream and the dream led her to the west coast. DeMarco works as a fixer for a congressman and has no idea what he would do if he left that job. Besides, he’s happy to have a job that lets him spend more time golfing than working. Leaving D.C. isn’t in his immediate future. That’s good news for DeMarco fans.

At the beginning of House Standoff, DeMarco reads in the newspaper that Shannon was murdered in Wyoming. He pulls some strings with Wyoming’s congressman and learns that the local Sheriff’s deputy investigating the death believes that Shannon was murdered by a random trucker who entered her motel room and stole her laptop. DeMarco regards that theory as unlikely. He travels to Wyoming to pursue an investigation of his own, or at least to make a nuisance of himself until the deputy tries harder to solve the crime.

House Standoff is a good book for whodunit fans. DeMarco develops several suspects who might have wanted Shannon dead. Shannon had been gossiping with locals to develop a sense of atmosphere for her new book. She learned about an affair that would be troublesome if it were exposed. A jealous wife suspects Shannon of having an affair with her husband. And Shannon knew the secret of a woman who lives across the street from the motel, a woman who claims to have witnessed a female entering Shannon’s room shortly before she was murdered.

Another plot thread involves a wealthy and influential rancher who is at war with the BLM because he shares the common belief that, as a member of the public, all public land belongs to him. He doesn’t believe he should be required to pay grazing fees when his cattle are on public land. Not long after the rancher and a BLM agent were in a standoff, the BLM agent was shot in the back. DeMarco uses his unconventional approach to problem solving to gather evidence against the killer. (That part of the story, Mike Lawson reveals in an afterword, was inspired by an actual armed standoff in Wyoming. The prevalence of libertarian characters who believe that problems are best solved with guns was probably inspired by Wyoming’s existence.)

The whodunit reads like a classic mystery. Lawson develops the suspects in a fair amount of depth, revealing their potential motives while giving the reader reason to question whether they are likely to have committed a murder. The solution is surprising, all the more so because for all of the nosing around that DeMarco does, he has little to do with solving the crime.

Most of the characters, including an FBI agent, view DeMarco as ruining lives by meddling in people’s secrets. DeMarco doesn’t have much sympathy for the lives he might have ruined, although he does try to mitigate the damage. I like DeMarco because he’s shady but fundamentally decent. The same could be said of most of the murder suspects, although they fall on various points along the continuum between purity and corruption.

Lawson has hit his stride with the recent DeMarco novels. House Standoff is the latest in his series of beach reads that have a deceptive amount of depth.

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Northern Heist by Richard O'Rawe

First published in Ireland in 2018; published by Melville House on April 6, 2021

Northern Heist begins with the planning and execution of a bank robbery and ends with two trials. James “Ructions” O’Hare faces a criminal trial for masterminding the bank robbery. Tiny Murdoch faces an IRA court martial for misusing his position. From the robbery through the trials and at all points in between, Richard O’Rawe tells an absorbing and convincing crime story.

The robbery is conceived by Ructions and his uncle, Johnny “Panzer” O’Hare. The plan requires Ructions to have an affair with Eleanor Proctor, whose husband Frank is a Belfast banker. Ructions has a girlfriend named Maria but won’t let that stand in the way of the robbery. As Panzer notes with pride, Ructions has “a flair for handling the women.” From Eleanor, Ructions will obtain a schedule of staff rotations. Then their hired guns will kidnap two trusted bank employees who are scheduled to work together and will hold their families hostage while the employees give them access to the vault. One empty vault later and the O’Hares will be wealthy men.

The plan calls for Eleanor to be killed when she’s no longer useful, as she’s the only loose end who can identify Ructions. The plan takes a detour when Ructions falls in love with Eleanor. Another glitch arises when Murdoch suspects that Panzer is up to something. Murdoch taxes crimes on behalf of the IRA and he’s convinced that Panzer has committed crimes without paying the tax. Murdoch has long wanted to make trouble for Panzer’s son Finbarr, a suspected pedophile, and has long wanted to acquire Panzer’s farm. Using the IRA as a smokescreen, Murdoch launches a scheme to accomplish his goals.

Character motivations and dialog have an authentic feel. The crime’s intersection with the IRA gives the plot a unique twist. In contrast to most modern American crime novels, the crime that O’Rawe develops is simple and credible. The story’s credibility isn’t surprising. As a former IRA bank robber, O’Rawe understands his subject matter. At the same time, the plot unfolds with sufficient complexity to keep the reader guessing at what might happen next. This is O’Rawe’s debut novel, but it is executed with the sure hand of a master craftsman.

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The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin

Published by Harper on April 6, 2021

The Night Always Comes is a story of snowballing woe. At the age of thirty, Lynette is a fundamentally decent person who has, so far, survived a troubled life. She has anger management issues. When she was young, she tried to commit suicide. She left home to avoid being assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend. Her unstable mental health resulted in a hospitalization. Her choice of men has not been healthy.

The Portland Lynette knows is changing, but so is Lynette. She feels a darkness inside her that she is learning to keep contained. She takes care of her mentally disabled brother. She tries not to hurt people and she regrets the pain she has caused. Her friend Shirley tells Lynette that “you never give up, you’ve got a good heart, a damaged heart, but a good heart, and you want to do good.” That pretty well sums her up.

Lynette has made serious efforts to clean up her life. She works hard at a bakery although she earns extra cash through prostitution. She saves money because she wants to help her mother buy the crappy house that they’ve been renting. Despite soaring property values, the owner is willing to give them a deal. Lynette is sure they’ll never find a nearby dwelling that they can afford to rent if the owner sells it to someone else. The novel’s central conflict arises when Lynette learns that her mother is having second thoughts, or is only now sharing her thoughts, about the family’s future.

Lynette and her mother have long and difficult conversations during the novel’s two-day span. Lynette’s mother uses her constant exhaustion as an excuse to avoid unpleasant discussions, but Lynette and her mother eventually air their grievances and may, for the first time, begin to understand each other. Lynette might not be able to understand her mother’s selfishness, but her mother has been through a good bit of pain, some of it inflicted by Lynette during her teen years. Lynette’s mother is depressed, on the verge of giving up because she’s sure her life will never be better, no matter what she does. She has an irrational resentment of street people because, in her view, they don’t need to pay rent and they get free health care. Lynette, by contrast, sees the possibility of a better future that her mother refuses to embrace.

The story takes Lynette into some hairy situations. She steals a car, not to keep it but because its owner pissed her off. She steals a safe to collect money from a friend who refuses to repay a loan. She enlists the aid of a former boyfriend who tries to rip her off. She acquires some drugs and tries to sell them to a dealer who tries to rip her off. Lynette’s resourcefulness and determination keep her alive as she jumps from one precarious moment to another, yet it seems like only a matter of time before her actions catch up with her.

Willy Vlautin’s prose combines grit and elegance to shine a spotlight on Portland’s underbelly. While gentrification is moving the poor and the drug addicted out of their old haunts, the gentrified are seen only from a distance. Apart from a scene with a finance wizard who has been paying Lynette for sex — he dumps her when she asks him for free advice — people with money and stable lives occupy a world that does not welcome people like Lynette.

The plot serves to keep the story moving, but it is secondary to Lynette’s confrontations with her mother. Their dialog reflects the hesitancy of two people who never learned how to talk to each other, who don’t believe the other really wants to listen. The reader sees both characters in depth, two damaged women who have damaged each other. It is easy to feel sympathy for both of them, although it is easier to cheer for Lynette, simply because she hasn’t given up. By the novel’s end, Lynette doesn’t know where her life will go — no one does — but she knows she needs to take control of it. The reader can only admire her for persevering.

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