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Time Out
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His new "hero" is Sloane a failed anglo-american artist, based in London's Camden Town. The story starts as he walks free from prison after serving two years for his part in a very clever art-forgery scam. Upon returning home he finds a letter from a long forgotten girlfriend- she's at the point of death & reveals to Sloane that he has a 40 year old daughter living in New York. Sloane travels to america to make contact with her & discovers she's in an abusive relationship with a man who's killed at least once.
The style of the book is pure class & uses all Harvey's usual skill. The book is dripping with jazz references, smokey bars & slightly jaded wanna-be artists. Few authors are capable of gnerating such a sense of atmosphere in such few words. Unfortunately Sloane's character is poorly developed- we never even find out his first name. You get the hint that there's a Resnick lurking there but he doesn't generate any of the easy sympathy that Resnick does. Likewise the plot is lazy & meandering. The forgery is interesting & should have been expanded more. The conclusion of the book is bloody & not entirely convincing.
In a true light marks an interesting change of direction for John Harvey, but it does need some improving. "In a true light" is good, but somehow doesn't ring as true as the authors previous works.
The story is the tale of failed art forger, Sloane. He discovers on his release from prison that an old girlfriend has tried to contact him. On tracking her down to her deathbed in Italy she tells him that their affair over forty years ago led to a daughter that Sloane knew nothing about. Sloane tracks down his daughter to the smoke filled jazz bars of New York to discover not only is she hooked on cocaine she is also in an abusive relationship with a dangerous man that the police are most keen to speak to.
I know next to nothing about the modern art scene and even less about the jazz club scene and yet Harvey manages to convey both worlds in a completely authentic and interesting way. He doesn't bombard the reader with facts and figures about either world but draws the reader into both as a friendly and knowledgeable guide.
What I especially liked about the book was the wealth of minor characters who maybe only feature in a couple of sections and have no more than two or three lines of dialogue, and yet these were some of the most interesting characters in the book. Dumar the café owner is a prime example, as is aged poet Ranch.
The plot of the book is quite simply told so although there are sub-plots and other goings on, the interweaving of these is very cleanly done so there's no confusion or over complication.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found its ease of reading enabled me to complete it in a weekend.
With `In a True Light' the references continue, indeed you would expect it from a writer who calls his website' Mellotone'. Indeed, another of Harvey's themes the world of Art forgery is also revisited in the opening chapters of this novel.
The book is competent but I could not stand the Noir Chandleresque Pulp Fiction style and after awhile it began to bore.
The story was very pedestrian and the use of this style to give it a bit of glamour for me did not come off.
It will make me think twice before I purchase another of his books.
Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill need not feel too threatened.
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