There is a long-running series
of Edinburgh-based police procedurals that continually demonstrate
the best the genre has to offer, deservedly garnering awards and
nominations along the way. Pity its not the series written
by Quintin Jardine.
OK, thats a cheap shot,
but by inhabiting the same small city Jardines Deputy Chief
Constable Bob Skinner performs his duties with the ghostly shade
of Dr Rankin OBE peering over his shoulder. Even Jardines
own publishers acknowledge this on the cover of this, the 12th
novel in the series, and the comparison is not to Jardines
benefit.
Nor does Jardine help himself or
his reader by trying to marry two incompatible elements; a US set
conspiracy thriller readers will soon twig is connected to THE
great 20th century murder, and an Edinburgh police procedural.
Moving jarringly between the two, as a a short chapter set in the
USA gives way to one set back in Edinburgh, Jardine hardly gives
his reader time to adjust to one plot strand before returning them
to the other. Clunky dialogue with far too many characters
speaking in statements also hampers enjoyment.
It is understandable why Jardine
took this approach. Having established his supporting characters
over a dozen books, it would be hard to abandon them and Bob
Skinners absence allows his junior officers a chance to step
into the limelight, principally married cops Maggie Rose and Mario
McGuire, who find their own families caught up in a murder hunt.
Its an intriguing enough
tale, but too much when linked to Skinners own investigation
into the savage killing of his parents-in-law and a conspiracy
that stretches back to 1960s Washington. This could have made for
a book in its own right if Jardine had been bold enough to rest
his Edinburgh supporting cast, but in not doing so hobbles his own
novel.
And there is an unsatisfying
conclusion with the great cop Bob Skinner effectively allowing a
murderer to go free. For devotees only, Im afraid. |