The Broken Hearts Club by
Ethan Black
hbk out January 99
Published by Headline
at £17.99
Don't judge a book by its cover. In this case the cover is great but
the book leaves a lot to be desired. Essentially this goes over very
familiar ground. It is in the police procedural/serial killer mould
with the all too familiar "super-cop" (sensitive but vulnerable)
chasing the all to familiar barking-mad-but-fiendishly- clever killer
(with enough split personalities to mean he's never going to have to
spend much on the cab fare home).
Black tries to inject a bit of life into all this by using a "Here and
Now" first person narrative fixed in the present. Amongst other things
this leads Black in some very strange directions. Often, for example,
he recounts past events as if they are happening now. A lot of the
characters are referred to as ,eg,"the Banker" and so on. When the reason
for this becomes apparent it's just too hard to take seriously. There
is also a lot of plain bad writing: "She sees the shadow man, behind
her, bring the golf club down. She screams. There is a crunching sound
and the screaming stops." The whole thing ends up in a kayak (don't
ask) chase up or down the East River - possibly something of a first.
The overall effect is something of an oddity, at best.
The Broken Hearts Club by
Ethan Black