Phoenix by
John Connor
hbk out January 04
Published by Orion
at £9.99
At face a straight forward
Police Procedural set among the moors and small towns of West Yorkshire and
East Lancashire. Well worn turf you may think. But Connor's portrayal of his
protagonist, DC Karen Sharpe takes the book out of the ordinary. Sharpe has a
past, one of which not even she seems to have full knowledge and from the start
of the book we know that the uncovering of the gaps in this past will be the
driving force behind the narrative.
When her ex drug squad colleague and his informer are found shot on the
moors the safe bet is that a mid league drug dealer had the hit arranged but
Sharpe senses otherwise and, realising she could be part of the mystery,
embarks on an attempt to solve the crime without compromising her past. In the
end the attempt fails and all comes to a head in a stand off on a lonely misty
moor.
Connor certainly knows his procedure, being a criminal layer with the CPS
this is hardly surprising, but the strengths of this tale are in the cast of characters
and the sense of place: Karen Sharpe; obsessive, violent, vulnerable, maybe
unhinged, her confused, emotionally insecure Superintendent - unsure whether
to be repulsed or attracted by her and all the disappointed, bored, corrupt,
overworked or bigoted colleagues trying to deal justice by any means in a
landscape of depressed towns and bleak moor land. A compelling, disturbing
read.
Phoenix by
John Connor
