The Day of the Dead by
John Creed
pbk out February 03
(Faber)
at £10.99
This is the second of the author's 'Jack Valentine' thrillers, using the rather
weary theme of a former covert agent-cum-hitman, who is persuaded to
come out of retirement to help an old comrade with a personal crisis. Written
by a Scot who lives in Ireland, he understandably has the US market in his
sights, as almost all the action takes place in New York and Mexico, with
the usual involvement of the heroin trade and CIA dirty tricks, and even a
gun battle in an abandoned subway beneath New York city.
The daughter of the friend has taken up with – or has been seduced/abducted
by – a rich Mexican crook and Valentine has agreed to retrieve her,
The result is a saga of unremitting violence, with a succession of shootings,
maimings, stabbings and assorted mayhem. With so much real suffering in
the world, one wonders why it needs to be added to so often in contemporary
fiction, as this book contributes significantly to the catalogue of pain,
misery, degradation and death that man inflicts on his fellows. Presumably
there is a large psychopathic readership out there that enjoys vicarious
violence, which is relentlessly portrayed in this book.
It is very well-written, especially if you like detailed descriptions of
weaponry and their horrific effects on the human body, along with car,
motor-cycle and helicopter chases, the mechanics of which are as unlikely as
the portrayal of the resilience of the human body to injuries which, though in
reality would inevitably have been fatal or disabling, allow the victims to
recover and continue fighting soon afterwards.
From the literary aspect, Day of the Dead is excellent, but like so
Americanised macho stories, it seems another book which need never have
been written.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Day of the Dead by
John Creed
