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Product Description
Maxim Jakubowski - THE GUARDIAN - Dec 2005
Gritty and fast-paced detecting of the traditional kind, with a welcome injection of realism.
Mystery Women Reviews
"A welcome return...fast pace, lively action and realistic dialogue. Riley Gavin is an endearing character that I want to read more of."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
No Help for the Dying is the second in the series of Magson's Gavin/Palmer novels (that's Frank not Harry Palmer...). It's another solid crime novel and it reads well. Second novels are notoriously hard to deliver but Magson is essentially working to a formula and not attempting to win the Booker Prize.
His special gift is for pacing his novels well, keeping the plot moving and engaging. He does not develop Riley Gavin, his investigative journalist main character more than a fraction, which is disappointing if, like me, you enjoyed the debut No Peace for the Wicked. We don't get Riley staring into the mirror reliving a moment of existential terror from her teenage years for example, despite the plot revolving around a mysterious trend of teenage homelessness for families with military connections.
This does not match his first but it definitely has a little something that keeps you happily reading along. Magson writes without abstruseness (he keeps it simple) and so his words flow like the coffee at the WI. There are minor stylistic quibbles: he uses the word `snitty' three times (you notice these things) and the Mitcheson character is redundant this time so perhaps better not mentioned. And there is what appears to be one major typographical error on page 58/9 when a chapter ends with an incorrectly inserted paragraph that appears to have no home elsewhere in the novel but which gives away a development in the plot.
One small curiosity is the characters of Quine, and the unctuous Pastor de Haan. These seem to owe a little in their general attributes and demeanour to Charles Dickens. Not a bad thing if so.
It is a smooth ride. I did want a touch more hazard for Riley and Palmer - they seem to be a bit more robust this time around, Palmer notably. So I feel Magson has more gas in his tank. And I could see these two making very good cross-over material for TV. Magson's built-in repeatability helps.
So all you really need to know is, would I read another in this series of books? Unquestionably, I'd answer. (So: why did I question myself...? `Nurse, fetch the needle...'). The next is on order from Amazon already: No Sleep for the Dead. Crickey, he can write a title, eh?
His special gift is for pacing his novels well, keeping the plot moving and engaging. He does not develop Riley Gavin, his investigative journalist main character more than a fraction, which is disappointing if, like me, you enjoyed the debut No Peace for the Wicked. We don't get Riley staring into the mirror reliving a moment of existential terror from her teenage years for example, despite the plot revolving around a mysterious trend of teenage homelessness for families with military connections.
This does not match his first but it definitely has a little something that keeps you happily reading along. Magson writes without abstruseness (he keeps it simple) and so his words flow like the coffee at the WI. There are minor stylistic quibbles: he uses the word `snitty' three times (you notice these things) and the Mitcheson character is redundant this time so perhaps better not mentioned. And there is what appears to be one major typographical error on page 58/9 when a chapter ends with an incorrectly inserted paragraph that appears to have no home elsewhere in the novel but which gives away a development in the plot.
One small curiosity is the characters of Quine, and the unctuous Pastor de Haan. These seem to owe a little in their general attributes and demeanour to Charles Dickens. Not a bad thing if so.
It is a smooth ride. I did want a touch more hazard for Riley and Palmer - they seem to be a bit more robust this time around, Palmer notably. So I feel Magson has more gas in his tank. And I could see these two making very good cross-over material for TV. Magson's built-in repeatability helps.
So all you really need to know is, would I read another in this series of books? Unquestionably, I'd answer. (So: why did I question myself...? `Nurse, fetch the needle...'). The next is on order from Amazon already: No Sleep for the Dead. Crickey, he can write a title, eh?
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