Places in the Darkness by Christopher Brookmyre

Published by Orbit on November 7, 2017

I’ve generally enjoyed Chris Brookmyre’s crime fiction. Judging from Places in the Darkness, his science fiction version of crime fiction doesn’t have the same depth. Still, the story if fun, even if it lacks originality.

Alice Blake travels to Ciudad de Cielo on behalf of the Federation of National Governments to begin her tenure as Principal of the Security Oversight Executive. While ascending the space elevator, she blacks out. When she regains consciousness, she’s a little fuzzy on the details of her trip.

Alice isn’t on the job long before trouble breaks loose. The orbiting colony has its first (reported) murder as cargo from an inbound ship is being hijacked. Former LAPD homicide detective Nikki “Fixx” Freeman is assigned to investigate it, shadowed by Alice in an undercover identity. Rumor has it that Nikki is corrupt and Alice would like to determine whether the rumor is true. It is immediately apparent to the reader that Nikki, for all her virtues as a detective, is involved in a protection and shakedown racket and perhaps some other shady activities.

The juxtaposition of those two characters contributes to the novel’s interest. Alice is morally binary; she has the virtue of refusing to be corrupted, even when her scruples limit her effectiveness. Nikki is morally flexible; her corruption gives her access to information that makes it possible for her to enforce the laws that she deems important, while ignoring or benefiting from violations (like black markets) that arguably make life easier for the colony’s residents. But by the novel’s end, neither character is quite what we expect them to be (one of them even worries that she might not be human). Having said that, neither character is given enough fullness to make think of them as real people.

The story revolves around the familiar transhuman theme of brains interfacing with computer software, and the implications of that technology. One of the questions the novel asks is whether a character should be held accountable for actions that are motivated by false memories, which parallels the current debate about whether individuals should be held accountable for actions that might be traced to damaged or underdeveloped brains. The philosophical implications that drive the story could have been explored more deeply, but Places in the Dark is more about action and solving mysteries than an exploration of free will. In that regard, the novel earns points for its steady pace and smooth flow. The story isn’t shockingly original, but it takes enough unexpected turns to keep the reader guessing for much of the novel.

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Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre

First published in Great Britain in 2016; published by Atlantic Monthly Press on November 1, 2016

Jack Parlabane is an investigative journalist who, as series readers will recall, is not always on good terms with the government. Or, for that matter, with newspaper editors. He’s looking to get back in the game when Peter Elphinstone’s sister asks him to investigate Peter’s presumed death. Also investigating is PC Ali Kazmi. Making an occasional cameo is DS Catherine McLeod, who stars in another series of books by Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre.

Peter’s car went off the road and into a river. Perhaps Peter had an accident, but if he was murdered, the prime suspect is his wife, Diane Jager. Diane is a surgeon who, for a time, blogged about sexism in the medical profession. She blogged anonymously until her blog was hacked and her identity exposed. She experienced blowback due to unfortunate things she said about her colleagues, who were easily identified once her identity was made known.

Jager blamed the fiasco on her employer’s IT technicians, who failed to protect her from hackers. Yet she married Peter, an IT tech, a few years later. Peter was estranged from his father, who happens to be a wealthy and politically connected man from whom Peter was destined to inherit nothing.

Brookmyre does a nice job of showing both Diana’s perspective on her marriage (in the first person) and her husband’s perspective (as filtered through people who knew him). The clever ways in which Brookmyre presents and withholds information make the reader sympathize with one spouse and then the other, without really knowing whether either of them are worth the sympathy. That continues throughout the novel and is, I think, the key to the story’s success. Readers who like clear-cut heroes and villains might dislike Black Widow for that reason, but the ambiguity contributed to my unwavering interest in the story.

Satisfying twists at the end confirm that the journey is worth taking. Some aspects of the ending I managed to guess, but key details came as a true surprise. Whether it was entirely believable is another question, but the story never goes so far over the top as to become outrageously implausible.

Although this is a Parlabane novel, Parlabane is almost a secondary character for most of the story. Early chapters focus on Diane and Peter and their acquaintances. There isn’t as much drama in Parlabane’s life in this novel as in the last one, although he endures a bit of personal drama before the story is over. Parlabane regains center stage toward the end, but Brookmyre’s decision to underplay his role gives the other characters a chance to develop. Brookmyre is a masterful crime writer and Black Widow is a deft performance, both in plot development and in convincing characterizations.

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Dead Girl Walking by Christopher Brookmyre

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on April 21, 2015

On the strength of his Jasmine Sharp/Catherine McLeod novels, Christopher Brookmyre is near the top of my growing list of Scottish writers whose crime fiction I admire (only in part due to the joyfully creative swearing that seems to characterize Scottish crime fiction). I particularly enjoy Brookmyre's ability to craft clever sentences. In Dead Girl Walking, he describes one of the bad guys as having "a domed head you could smack with a fence post for hours before you got bored." Gotta love that.

Unfortunately, I did not love Dead Girl Walking as much as I enjoy the Sharp/McLeod books. Dead Girl Walking stars beleaguered journalist Jack Parlabane. DS Catherine McLeod makes a cameo appearance but not until 300 pages have gone by. I have not read the earlier Parlabane novels so that might explain my reaction to this one, although Dead Girl Walking works well as a stand-alone novel.

Heike Gunn is the temperemental lead singer for Savage Earth Heart, a Scottish band that achieved fame on the basis of a song that became a hit after it was played on an American TV show. When Heike failed to appear at the last show of their most recent tour, the band's publicist, Mairi Lafferty, covered her absence by making an excuse about a throat infection. In truth, Mairi has no idea why Heike disappeared. It quickly becomes apparent to the reader (from her unpublished blog entries) that the band's new fiddler, Monica Halcrow, knows something about Heike's disappearance, but Monica has also made herself scarce.

Mairi hires Parlabane to find Heike. Parlabane is an investigative journalist who has been unemployed since he upset the government by refusing to divulge his sources. His history of resorting to burglary and hacking also makes him unpopular with certain police officers. Since Parlabane once covered the music industry, Mairi figures he will be the perfect undercover investigator.

Chapters alternate between the perspectives of Parlabane as he investigates Heike's disappearance and those of Monica, who blogs her experiences in the band. Both characters learn that Heike was widely seen as a self-absorbed user who gets what she can from people and abandons them. Heike has the ability to make both women and men desire her, an ability that might provoke jealousy or worse. While waiting for the two stories to converge, the reader will assemble a list of characters who might have a motive for doing something bad to Heike.

The plot is full of complications. Some women who join the Savage Earth Heart tour bus, allegedly part of a marketing scheme for a promoter, are not what they appear to be. Monica's deteriorating relationship with her fiancé, Heike's busted relationship with the band's former fiddler, and the dissatisfaction of current band members with Heike may or may not have something to do with Heike's disappearance.

The plot is solid, the characters are engaging, the prose is fine. So why didn't I love Dead Girl Walking? It lacks energy. I am surprised the story was not told with greater urgency and intensity. The pace is never plodding, but it is too deliberate. While I enjoyed Dead Girl Walking, Brookmyre didn't excite me in the way that he has in the Sharp/McLeod novels. Dead Girl Walking still earns my recommendation, and an intriguing ending sets up the next book in the series, which I'll probably read. I just hope it is a bit more energetic than this one.

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Bred in the Bone by Christopher Brookmyre

First published in Great Britain in 2013; published by Atlantic Monthly Press on May 6, 2014

When one of Glasgow's most notorious crime figures is gunned down in a car wash, DS Catherine McLeod is anxious to pin the crime on Glen Fallon, toward whom the evidence convincingly points. As readers of the series know, Catherine hates Fallon. Series readers also know that Fallon, apparently seeking absolution for killing Jasmine Sharp's father, has devoted his recent life to looking after Jasmine, who is now a private investigator in Glasgow and no great fan of Catherine.

The first quarter of Bred in the Bone sets up the novel's premise and reminds readers of (or acquaints new readers with) the complicated relationships among the characters. Much of the next quarter develops Fallon's backstory. Fallon is a killer, a loner, and a survivor, the abused son of a crooked cop, but there is a fundamental decency to him that makes him a compelling character (and easier to stomach than self-righteous Catherine). The novel works its way through the various grudges that people hold against Fallon and that Fallon might have reason to hold against others. It eventually develops Fallon's relationship with the gangster who was murdered in the carwash. At the same time, Jasmine delves more deeply into her own family history, much of which was hidden from her while her mother was alive.

The story eventually turns back to the parallel investigations that Jasmine and Catherine have undertaken into the carwash murder. The plot is complex -- you might need to take notes to keep track of the relationships between the various characters -- but it is entirely believable and all the threads come together without a missed stitch. The animosity between Catherine and Jasmine adds an additional undercurrent of drama to the story, as does Catherine's frustration that her superiors (as was true in earlier novels) are more interested in making deals with killers than arresting them. Catherine and Jasmine must both deal with uncomfortable truths about their fathers that add another layer of depth to the story. Toward the end of the novel, Catherine flashes back to a time when she behaved in a surprising, life-changing, and much more interesting way than she has at any other point in the series. The key scene is just a bit over the top but kudos to Christopher Brookmyre for keeping Catherine's character fresh.

In fact, all the characters are given a makeover in Bred in the Bone. The primary characters undergo dramatic changes during the course of the novel, as does the reader's understanding of the characters. The plot has plenty of twists but the story's strength lies in the evolution of its characters. The ending brings to a close a story arc that began in the first novel while charting a new direction for future books.

Brookmyre laces the story with welcome touches of humor but he also introduces relationship drama among secondary characters that lengthens the novel without adding much to it. Some parts of the story are told out of sequence, causing unnecessary confusion to no obvious purpose. Those are quibbles about a book that consistently surprised me, absorbed me, moved me, and made me think. It is the best entry to date in this strong series.

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When the Devil Drives by Christopher Brookmyre

First published in Great Britain in 2012; published by Atlantic Monthly Press on May 7, 2013 

Where the Bodies Are Buried introduced readers to actress-turned-detective Jasmine Sharp. In When the Devil Drives, Jasmine has inherited her uncle's detective agency. Alice Petrie hires Jasmine to find Alice's sister, Tessa Garrion, from whom Alice has long been estranged. Tessa was last known to be working as an actress before she dropped out of sight. As Jasmine tries to track down Tessa's past, it becomes clear that some or all members of a short-lived production company, now thirty years defunct, are concealing a dark secret about their past. A second storyline follows DS Catherine McLeod as she investigates the shooting of an arts patron that occurred during a production of Shakespeare at a castle in the Highlands.

When the Devil Drives has an interesting structure. The novel opens with a confession of murder, but we don't know the identities of either the confessor or the victim. The story eventually journeys back in time before, returning to the present, the two storylines converge. Toward the end, Christopher Brookmyre ratchets up the tension, adding the elements of a thriller to a murder mystery.

The plot is a multiple whodunit. In the tradition of mystery writers, Brookmyre sets up several suspects who may have committed murder. When one of those suspects is killed, the reader wonders whether that suspect murdered Tessa and was killed by someone else, or whether a different suspect murdered them both. The story is realistic, avoiding the over-the-top motivations that mar so many murder mysteries, while at the same time employing the sort of misdirection that has the reader wondering just how over-the-top the intricate plot might turn out to be. As Brookmyre peels apart his cast of flawed human beings, they all seem capable of murder -- and at the same time, they seem like people we might know.

Theater provides the novel's thematic setting. Jasmine trained as an actress and sometimes yearns for that life rather than the one that has been thrust upon her. The Scottish branch of the world financial crisis -- where, as everywhere else, bank executives eat caviar as the economy goes down the toilet -- furnishes the secondary setting. Although the worlds of theater and finance are miles apart, Brookmyre showcases the arrogance and passion that are prevalent in both.

Catherine plays a lesser role than Jasmine, but she's an equally intriguing character. Like Jasmine, she's capable of rethinking her positions, of listening to others and benefitting from their wisdom. Catherine dominates her passive husband, who (in a minor subplot) disagrees with her insistence that their son be forbidden from playing violent videogames. Whether imaginary violence begets real violence is a theme that animates the novel.

When the Devil Drives includes some flashbacks to the previous Jasmine Sharp novel that aren't particularly relevant to the story. It isn't necessary to read the last one to enjoy its successor. Both novels are infused with local color and written in effervescent prose. This one is slightly more enjoyable than the first (the conclusion left the trace of a smile on my lips), and I'm looking forward to the next.

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