Mr Clarinet Nick Stone Michael Jospeh £12-99 hbk ISBN: 071814855X Jan. 2006 Ali Karim

One of the real thrills of book reviewing is stumbling across a masterwork, and this debut by the enigmatic Nick Stone is just such a book. Like the exotic work of John Burdett and his inside view of Bangkok; Nick Stone focus’s his mystery in the dark and mysterious world of Haiti. Mr Clarinet however will do little for Haiti’s tourism board, but will certainly do a great deal for Mr Stone’s career as a thriller novelist. This is one of the best debuts I have read over the last decade, and I read a lot. Reminiscent of William Hjortsberg’s ‘Falling Angel’ [filmed by Alan Parker as ‘Angel Heart’] as well as John Connolly’s ‘The Black Angel’ it weaves a Chandler-esque detective story from the ashes of the dead and dying, but still has a voice that is as fresh as it is dangerous. I find it hard to shake off the story from the darker recesses of my mind, and it has haunted my dreams and made me wake in the early hours with my skin filmed with sweat, icy sweat – and I mean it, because this book is very, very scary.

It really does grab you right from the opening even if it uses a most conventional plot device that borders on cliché — The ex-cop turned P.I. asked to trace a missing child. In most cases this would result in a yawn from this jaded reviewer, but the skill of Stone’s writing is such that the convention / cliché is turned into a real strength because the writing is such a joy; but beware as I felt real fear as I turned the pages with trepidation when the story hit top gear.

Rather than tell you about the opening, let me extract it —

"There’s one other thing," Carver said when he’d finished talking. "If you take the job, it’s going to be dangerous … Make that very dangerous."
"How so?" Max asked. "Your predecessors, they … Things didn’t turn out too right for them."
"They dead?"
There was a pause. Carver’s face turned grim and his skin lost a little of its color.
"No …not dead," he said, finally. "Worse. Much worse."

And so Max Mingus, P.I. who specialises in the tracing of missing children starts his journey from his release from Rikers Island Penitentiary. Jailed for the murder of three sadistic murderers and mourning the loss of his wife, he decides to take the case to try and fill the void inside his heart. Working for the rich and powerful Carver family he first checks out one of his predecessors, a sleazy P.I. named Clyde Beeson. The scene where Mingus meets Beeson will take a long time to erase from my memory; such is the surreal and shocking fate that befell the unfortunate investigator. But understand quite clearly that the shocks that lie ahead for Max Mingus are far, far worse.

The trail leads Mingus to Haiti and the vivid prose makes for compelling reading, but like manoeuvring past a car crash, one’s compulsion is balanced by an equal dose of revulsion. The other strength of this book is the way that the huge array of characters is detailed; from the Carver clan, and their secrets, right up to the characters who lurk in the shadows. It is also an angry book, a book that shows how close we as human beings are to our savage past, because there is brutality in full view in a landscape peppered with the stench of death and evil. The shadows are filled with the supernatural; of ghosts, of voodoo and of pain brought on by the exploitation of our fellow human beings. There is a scene where some UN Troops accused of rape find that retribution can be a terrible thing and for the reader, it makes one question how justice can be achieved when there is no law.

The plot is far from conventional as Mingus traverses Haiti trying to find out who Mr. Clarinet is, and why children disappear from the island. Not knowing who is good or who is bad gives the narrative a slippery texture. Another facet that makes this an interesting read is the landscape, which is peppered with contradiction, and proves that in life - no one is truly innocent. Mingus soon finds that his past seems linked to the missing boy named Charlie, and that the $10m bounty is a price that reflects the immense danger of the case. Only someone with nothing to lose would risk their life for the bounty, but as Mingus delves deeper into the darkness he soon realises that losing one’s life may not be the ultimate price in a land where the dead and dying still walk the streets.

This is a big book [over 500 pages], but each word seems to have been considered deeply, heavily evaluated, and then polished. The chapters all appear like short stories or vignettes that weave themselves around this strong central character — Max Mingus. This is crime fiction at its zenith, challenging, compelling and with an insight that delves deep under the skin.

I have only two problems with this book [1] I needed a long cold shower when I finished it as I felt so damned grungy and [2] the wait for more from the pen of the talented Mr. Stone may become unbearable. Reading Mr. Clarinet reminded me of the day I turned the last page of Harris’ seminal work - Red Dragon. Need I say anymore?