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Product Description
Northern Echo
Russell is a master of terrors
Book Description
The third Jan Fabel thriller
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
ETERNAL is the third thriller I've read featuring Hamburg Murder Squad's Jan Fabel and his team, and to me this series just keeps getting better and better. Like BLOOD EAGLE and BROTHER GRIMM, the first two books in the series, ETERNAL is riveting from the outset, and sees the author drawing on elements from Germany's recent political history (both the war, and the radical movements of the 1970s and 80s) to weave an elaborate and gripping plot.
Right from the opening pages it's obvious Russell's not content to rest on the laurels of his previous best-selling successes. With ETERNAL he's really upped his game in terms of narrative strategies and developing themes which linger. Best of all, he's done it in a way that shows profound respect for the reader's intelligence. For example, a recurring, underlying theme in all three books has been the notion of "there but for the grace of God go I", as the detective characters are frequently confronted with the ways in which events can conspire to destroy an individual. In ETERNAL, instead of overtly developing this argument, Russell moves things on structurally, for example, by juxtaposing a few hours in the lives of a police detective (Maria Klee) and a civilian (Kristina Dreyer -a figure so poignantly drawn you could well be forgiven for thinking you're reading Heinrich Boll). But it's a mark of Russell's growing panache that he doesn't feel the need to labour or explain the points he's making. So, although one can't help feel one's curiosity piqued by why he is deliberately cutting between these two women, it isn't until several pages later that Russell reveals the full nature of the comparison he's drawing, all the while resisting any heavy-handed `geddit?!' type explanations.
Similarly, without wishing to give anything away, early on there is a body of man discovered who then forms the basis of a sub-plot concerning the war years. But although the circumstances of his death are completely removed from the central storyline, everything about this subplot adds weight and value to the core story. Russell works the socks off this seemingly unrelated corpse, and in so doing achieves huge amounts of resonance, while always resisting the urge to give the reader a `did you see what I just did there?' wink. In other words, it's the sort of subplot Julian Barnes might have had in mind when he said everything in a novel needs to be `radioactively relevant'.
As well as the more elegant rewards of ETERNAL, there's no shortage of bloody shocks, unexpected twist and turns, and sudden reversals in the plot. As we expect from Russell, the bodies soon pile up, and none of them are pretty. The pace is breathless, and all the more so because he achieves that rare thing of letting the reader stay a few paces ahead of the detectives. I say rare, because he does it by playing fair with both the detectives and the readers, and never with-holding information from either - even though he does it so deftly we don't always know what we know until it is too late. (Sorry, I can't think of a way of explaining that more without giving too much away...) Just read the book and then you can join me in smiling knowingly when you hand ETERNAL on to your friends and family.
Right from the opening pages it's obvious Russell's not content to rest on the laurels of his previous best-selling successes. With ETERNAL he's really upped his game in terms of narrative strategies and developing themes which linger. Best of all, he's done it in a way that shows profound respect for the reader's intelligence. For example, a recurring, underlying theme in all three books has been the notion of "there but for the grace of God go I", as the detective characters are frequently confronted with the ways in which events can conspire to destroy an individual. In ETERNAL, instead of overtly developing this argument, Russell moves things on structurally, for example, by juxtaposing a few hours in the lives of a police detective (Maria Klee) and a civilian (Kristina Dreyer -a figure so poignantly drawn you could well be forgiven for thinking you're reading Heinrich Boll). But it's a mark of Russell's growing panache that he doesn't feel the need to labour or explain the points he's making. So, although one can't help feel one's curiosity piqued by why he is deliberately cutting between these two women, it isn't until several pages later that Russell reveals the full nature of the comparison he's drawing, all the while resisting any heavy-handed `geddit?!' type explanations.
Similarly, without wishing to give anything away, early on there is a body of man discovered who then forms the basis of a sub-plot concerning the war years. But although the circumstances of his death are completely removed from the central storyline, everything about this subplot adds weight and value to the core story. Russell works the socks off this seemingly unrelated corpse, and in so doing achieves huge amounts of resonance, while always resisting the urge to give the reader a `did you see what I just did there?' wink. In other words, it's the sort of subplot Julian Barnes might have had in mind when he said everything in a novel needs to be `radioactively relevant'.
As well as the more elegant rewards of ETERNAL, there's no shortage of bloody shocks, unexpected twist and turns, and sudden reversals in the plot. As we expect from Russell, the bodies soon pile up, and none of them are pretty. The pace is breathless, and all the more so because he achieves that rare thing of letting the reader stay a few paces ahead of the detectives. I say rare, because he does it by playing fair with both the detectives and the readers, and never with-holding information from either - even though he does it so deftly we don't always know what we know until it is too late. (Sorry, I can't think of a way of explaining that more without giving too much away...) Just read the book and then you can join me in smiling knowingly when you hand ETERNAL on to your friends and family.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I swooped on this book, having greatly enjoyed the last one. Mr Russell didn't disappoint - the complex narrative, well-described setting and accurate detail are what we've come to expect. The careful research and thought that goes into delineating sometimes quite minor characters also means the book is a rich and involving read, hard to put down. What wasn't so expected were the cracks appearing in Fabel's personal life and as for the last few pages, a real eye-opener! This isn't a book for reading on the beach, though, it's one for settling down and soaking it up. Complex and rewarding.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading Blood Eagle and Brother Grimm , I was impatiently waiting for the paperback of Eternal. At last,I read it and was not disappointed ! Possibly even better than the other two, it is an absolutely gripping, complex, interesting suspens plot, with a quick pace, and excellent background stories about various characters, police officers included and Hambourg figuring large as a fascinating city with a tragic past. If Mankell was my favourite crime-writer so far, he just lost his rank to Craig Russell. I hope Russell will gather a strong following as Mankell did, because in a sense they have strong similarities, both with an endearing 'Commissaire' as a hero with a good team of policemen/women, and both full of angst about their difficult job.
My tiny only reservation would be again, as in Blood Eagle a conclusion that stretches a little bit credibility. Each time an extremely cruel killer commits slighlty convenient errors to make the ending happened. But again I'm not the writer so judging is easy...
In any case I hope Fabel still has plenty of murder enquiries ahead because I am now waiting for the next volume...
My tiny only reservation would be again, as in Blood Eagle a conclusion that stretches a little bit credibility. Each time an extremely cruel killer commits slighlty convenient errors to make the ending happened. But again I'm not the writer so judging is easy...
In any case I hope Fabel still has plenty of murder enquiries ahead because I am now waiting for the next volume...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Almost too clever
I love Russel's writing but I do have to agree a bit with the 'negative' review at the top there. The begining of this book is almost too clever. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. A. I. Harrison
Brilliant!
I have to agree with the other reviewers.This really is the best crime thriller I've read in a very long time. Read more
Published 8 months ago by JAYESSE
Very good!
Former radical left wing activists have been absorbed into German main stream politics mainly via the Green party since the 80s. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2009 by TKr
Patince will be rewarded
Not a book you will be able to just pick up and be engrossed in. But if you can endure the first 50 pages of tedious and ultimately unimportant ramblings about reincarnation and... Read more
Published on 18 April 2009 by Kyle Mitchell
Highly Entertaining
The third novel featuring Hamburgs favourite murder squad. Highly entertaining and one that really will keep the reader wondering whats happening and who the real villain of the... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2007 by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
Just Brilliant!
To say that Craig Russell's work gets better and better isn't true, as all of 3 of the Jan Faber series are cracking reads - in all aspects of character, plot and quality of... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2007 by S. Lloyd
Wow!
Eternal is the first Craig Russell book I have read. It was a joy to find such a powerfully original voice in crime fiction. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2007 by WMFrazer
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