Tangled Web UK Review February 2008
Villains by
Dick Kirby
pbk out March 08
(Constable)
at £7.99
I’m a huge Dick Kirby fan, having reviewed his earlier titles and interviewed him about his life in the Flying Squad. So I was delighted when his publisher sent his latest opus, Villains, to me.
The villains in question operated between the 40s and the 70s, masterminding everything from not-so-great train robberies to hijacking whisky-filled lorries. Safecracking was also popular in the days before manufacturers made more sophisticated safes with better alarms. Needless to say, the best laid plans often went awry, resulting in much black comedy, especially when the thief’s new best mate turned out to be an undercover cop.
Some of these underworld figures dealt mercilessly with their enemies. The Krays took a cutlass to two rival brothers whilst another ne’r-do-well put his enemy, still alive, through an industrial shredding machine.
Often there was violence on both sides, with a sadist slashing or raping his victim before becoming a victim himself of police brutality. In other instances there was an uneasy truce between copper and criminal, with the latter acting as a grass in order to secure a reduced sentence for himself.
Some of the villains got away with their heinous acts, but occasionally there was a sense of natural justice, such as when a distraction burglar who had robbed the visually-impaired failed to take his diabetic medication and went blind.
This is a fast-paced, riveting read, made even more enjoyable by Kirby’s trademark humour. It’ll appeal to anyone who lived through this era and to younger readers with an interest in unorthodox policing or in the London underworld. And British criminals who have fled to the Costa Del Sol - amusingly referred to as ‘the chaps on holiday’ - will lap it up. Dick even thinks that he knows the identities of the three unaccounted for Great Train Robbers. You read it here first.
(
Carol Anne Davis
Author of Children Who Kill)
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