Get Carter by
Ted Lewis
pbk out November 99
(Allison Busby)
at £6.99
The film of this book, starring Michael Caine, was almost a cult movie in
the 1970s, and yet many of us, like me, never saw it. Having heard about it
for several years, I wanted to find out what it was about; not having a TV,
the best approach was to read the book.
Get Carter is now a historical piece. The violence surrounding the seedy
underworld of English towns may be as contemporary as the latest Val
McDermid, but it felt odd to read of a large northern town lighted at night
by the glow of steelworks all around, where the inhabitants were employed
all by the works, and people still remembered Kardomahs and corporation
allotments; it has somehow dated in the same way as The Sweeney has, with
their flared trousers and three-inch-thick lapels, but for all that it is a
superbly crafted thriller.
Jack Carter, an enforcer for a vicious gang in London, is the narrator. He
is on his way back north to his home town to see to his brother's funeral,
who has died in a carcrash while drunk. But Jack finds his brother's death
more than a little curious: his brother was always careful about driving,
and never touched whisky. Jack is not satisfied with the explanation of his
brother's death, and he visits the people he knows best, the criminals of
the town, in his relentless search for the truth about his brother's death,
and it is in the way that he tells his story as he speaks to thugs,
prostitutes, and gangland leaders that we discover much about him and his
life. Not all the folks he sees are crooks, though. One is the woman his
brother married, and yet even with her Jack's narrative tells us much about
him and his relationship with his brother. The story is told slowly by Jack
releasing snippets. This keeps the suspense going, and incidentally glues
the reader to the pages. I picked up the book late in the afternoon a little
before Christmas, and Ted Lewis is responsible for my losing an evening (I
couldn't put it down) and quite a lot of the next morning (for the same
reason).
I thoroughly recommend it.
(
Michael Jecks
- author of the highly acclaimed Furnshill & Puttock series)
Get Carter by
Ted Lewis