Birmingham Noir: Urban Tales of Crime and Suspense by
Lane J & Bishop S
pbk out October 02
(Tindal Street Press)
at £7.99
Noir has been abused by many publishers searching for a new buzz word -
but the editors of Birmingham Noir genuinely understand the genre. They
promise us kick ass narrative with literary depth.
Joel Lane certainly delivers this in his story where the narrator picks
up a woman in a karaoke bar. We're told that 'With the men, there's a
certain kind of song you always get. Three generations of self pity:
Roy
Orbinson, Neil Diamond, Robbie Williams.' He and the lonely, tense
woman
go back to his flat and have sex but then... When you reach the end of
this story, you'll probably want to immediately reread it. Few writers
can create a mood and combine it with a chilling storyline as expertly
as Joel.
Meanwhile, Simon Avery's equally well-observed narrative delivers
shocks
from the start when a Romanian teenager finds herself forced into a
life
of prostitution. Her experiences are entwined with the actions of a
middle-aged man whose marriage is failing. 'Once you begin to pick at a
frayed thread, you find that everything unravels at a frightening
speed.'
Other well known names in this collection include John Harvey, Judith
Cutler and Nicholas Royle. But newcomer Elizabeth Mulrey also deserves
a
mention for her story, Passing Over, about a girl who loses her
brother.
It's well written and atmospheric with a powerful twist in the tale.
Like all anthologies, this one is uneven - but the best stories both
outnumber and overpower the occasional simplistic one. Noir never had
it
so good.
