Diana Kemp, journalist, rock’n’roll fan, crime-fiction aficionado is edging closer to her dream. She’s just cashed her first paycheck from magazine Lux. An enterprise launches with mate/surrogate brother Barry from Brum and wheeler-dealer, public school product Neil. Neil’s found a backer for Lux who now have new premises and a future that looks bright. Jon Jackson, famous film director is savagely murdered under the railway arches at Camden Town in a re-enactment of a brutal scene from his gangster film Bent. Lux possesses the last interview with Jackson, recorded the night before he died. While Neil schemes to make the most of the scoop, Diane is distracted by mercurial Simon Everill, a young author who has written a startling debut novel.
The same could be said of Unsworth; this is an assured and compulsive story, the hip world of music journalism, film, the London bars and clubs are portrayed with the surety of insider knowledge (Unsworth worked for Melody Maker for many years before joining Bizarre). But what really makes the book is her skilful characterisation. Diana and Barry are three-dimensional characters we come to care about very much. Unsworth gradually reveals dark and disturbing secrets. The Not Knowing is a shocker with soul.
The Not Knowing by
Cathi Unsworth
