Hell To Pay by
Shaun Hutson
pbk out March 04
(Time Warner)
at £6.99
Shaun Hutson has a long list of previous novels and he is a very competent
writer. I had the feeling that this one was a bit of a pot-boiler, but for those
who like gutsy writing, it's a typical crime story in the modern vein, with
plenty of the now-obligatory foul language and graphic descriptions of
sexual intercourse.
This is the second book I've reviewed in past couple of weeks which has
child pornography as an underlying theme, so this seems to be becoming the
'in' thing as far as crime plotting is concerned.
The body of a young boy is found naked at the edge of a reservoir, the only
signs of violence being two injection marks, a similar scenario having
occurred to other children in the area. Detective Inspector Fielding, a rather
embittered widower and great exponent of the 'f-word', investigates and
soon is also involved in the kidnapping of the young daughter of a wealthy
businessman.
A parallel plot describes how a couple are being hounded by creditors, who
threaten to encourage repayment by taking a hammer to their knee-caps,
prior to murder. In desperation, the wife seeks help from her criminal
brother, which ties the matter in with the dead children.
The investigatory methods of DI Fielding would have got him fired on the
first day, such is the unawareness of the writer about police procedure.
Given the plethora of information available in innumerable real crime and
forensic documentaries on the telly and shelves groaning with books on the
subject, these days one might expect a crime writer not to have his detective
smoking over a suspicious death and plodding around the crime scene
without his white suit and bootees! The culprit is finally identified from his
fingerprint being found inside the lip of the victim – a feat which has so far
eluded the world's forensic establishment. The unknown naked child was
somehow identified within the hour by the lady pathologist; how dental
records could be obtained for a totally unknown body is not explained.
The book begins with two pages of thanks for help to a legion of people, but
none of them seems to be a policeman, which might have helped to add a
little credibility to the investigatory side.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Hell To Pay by
Shaun Hutson
