Writing Prompts: the abandoned motel

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abandoned motel

abandoned motel

Travelling through the States I stumbled across this abandoned motel on the edge of a tiny town in West Virginia.

It seemed odd, that in a cute little town with artisan shops and traditional bars, a motel beside a picturesque river on the edge of a national park could fall into disrepair.

Old and crumbling, with broken windows and the door to the reception area just slightly ajar, the place looked like it’d been empty a while.

It got me wondering: what happened here?

Now there’s a prompt for a story …

Review: The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson

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Cover of "The Killer Inside Me"

Cover of The Killer Inside Me

Brutal. Compelling. And Utterly Absorbing: first-person narration at its finest

“Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas.  The worst thing most people can say against him is that he’s a little slow and a little boring.  But, then, most people don’t know about the sickness – the sickness that almost got Lou put away when he was younger.  The sickness that is about to surface again.”

I have to admit I was rather unsure how I’d find this book. On the cover is an endorsement from Stanley Kubrick. It reads, “Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered.” This made me worry that the book might be a little too much for me to handle.

But I didn’t need to. Because although Kubrick is absolutely correct: the story is both chilling and believable, and there is no doubt that the first-person narration of Lou Ford is decidedly warped. It’s also brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

A true story of gritty noir, Thompson’s honest and darkly charming style pulls you into the story and gets you to care about Lou Ford, even though you know things are going to get bad. And despite the fact that you know “the sickness” is coming, and that Lou is preparing to do some very bad things, you can’t help but want to read more.

But, let’s be clear, this isn’t a first-person narrated killer like Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter. Lou Ford’s not doing anything that’s justifiable or righteous in any way. And when the bad stuff happens, although you knew it was coming all along, it slams into you quicker than you think.

Lou’s actions are brutal and horrifying, yet you find yourself wanting to stay with him and keep following the story to find out where it leads. Because warped and wrong as what Lou does is, he’s a compelling and complex character that you can’t help but keep reading about.

Written in 1952, and adapted to film in 1976 and 2010, Jim Thompson’s novel still seems fresh and contemporary.

Highly Recommended.

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Finding Sherlock in the Maze

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the book maze

For me there’s something wonderful about the physicality of a paper book.

Perhaps it’s because of fond memories of childhood Christmas’ and treasured hardbacks given as gifts. Or perhaps it’s because from the moment I could read a book I’ve always had at least one on the go at any time. I just can’t imagine not having a current book (and a long list of ‘to reads’).

So, that said, you can imagine how excited I was to visit the book maze installation at Royal Festival Hall, London, a couple of weeks ago.

The maze was made up of Braille books and second-hand paperbacks and hardbacks of all genres from crime to self-help via chick lit, academic textbooks and romance – to name a few!

As I navigated the passages between the walls of books, I spotted novels by authors I love and authors I’d love to read.  In fact, I could have read them right there because the maze was designed to be interactive: see a book that interests you, pick it up and start reading … wonderful.

When finally, after flicking through many books along the way, I reached the end I was delighted to find stories about one of my favourite characters, written by the author that first got me interested in the crime thriller genre, displayed on the final twist of the book wall. It was a hardback copy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Study in Scarlet and Hound of the Baskervilles.

And so, in the end (and the beginning for me) there was Sherlock.

Sherlock in the maze

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Review: Come the Fear by Chris Nickson

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Come the Fear book cover

An atmospheric and chilling historical mystery

“March, 1733. Richard Nottingham, Constable of the City of Leeds, joins others trying desperately to put out a fire in an empty house before it destroys the entire street. The next morning, searching the blackened ruins, he finds the charred corpse of a girl, and something placed on her chest. Had the fire been started to conceal her murder?

Starting with just a single clue, Nottingham his deputy John Sedgwick and Rob Lister slowly piece together the girl’s past, a journey that takes them into the camps of the homeless, the homes of rich merchants, down to the poor and those beyond hope, deep into the dark secrets and lies that families keep hidden.”

I have to admit that I’ve not read much historical crime fiction, so this book was a bit of a first for me.

It’s the fourth book in Chris Nickson’s Richard Nottingham series. And, although it’s part of a series, I found it easy to get into the story having not read the books that precede it.

What I particularly enjoyed about this book was the way in which the multiple plot-lines crossed and then joined together. The gruesome discovery of the murdered girl in the burnt-out house is the main story, but through the eyes of the main characters the reader also discovers what it was like to police the city of Leeds during the period. Nottingham, Sedgewick and Lister encounter troubles with prostitution, theft (and thief-takers) and violent crime, and it’s through how they deal with these challenges, and the issues that they face in their personal lives, that the reader gets an insight into what it must have been like to live in those times, to have a relationship with someone outside the social class society deemed appropriate for you, to raise a family, and to cope with the joys and the tragedies that living in that period made commonplace.

Nickson paints a rich picture, conjuring the sights, smells and sounds of the period through his vivid narrative. That said, the novel moves with a quick pace and, as the reader uncovers the clues and events with the main characters, you’re soon swept up in the story and in trying to work out who did it and why.

Come the Fear gives a fascinating glimpse into life and crime in the 1730s, as well as providing an engaging mystery for the reader to unravel alongside Constable Richard Nottingham and his team.

Highly recommended.

Come the Fear is published by the Crème de la Crime imprint of Severn House on 30th August 2012 (UK) and in November 2012 (USA).

 

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Looking for a little Paper Passion?

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I stumbled across this via a link on the awesome Novelicious [http://www.novelicious.com] website.

Paper Passion is a new  fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine. The rather awesome packaging is by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.

Karl Lagerfeld is quoted as saying “The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.”

Well, I’m not sure about smelling like a freshly printed book myself, but I’m loving this for the packaging alone.

You can find out more about Paper Passion at http://www.steidlville.com/books/1312-Paper-Passion.html/

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Review: Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah

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A superbly chilling and complex psychological thriller

“Amber Hewerdine knows more than she is telling. She knows that she hasn’t slept since the arson attack which killed her best friend. She knows that it is not normal for four members of your family to disappear one Christmas morning, and then reappear the next day, refusing to explain or ever speak of it again. And she knows that somewhere, buried deep in her subconscious, is the key to what happened all those years ago at Little Orchard.

Kind, cruel, kind of cruel.  These are the words she keeps coming back to. But what do they mean? Any why is she arrested within hours of first saying them, for the murder of a woman she has never met?”

An insomniac, Amber is struggling against her own body, and consults a Hypnotherapist to she if they can help. Instead of the relief she needs, the session unlocks memories that Amber has unknowingly pushed from her consciousness. These confusing and still unplaced memories start Amber on a quest to discover where they come from and why the Police believe she holds the key to an unsolved murder case.

As Amber tries to piece together a series of seemingly unconnected events, and consults the Hypnotherapist for further sessions, things become murkier rather than clearer, and the demons in her past threaten to overwhelm her.

For me, Amber wasn’t a character I instantly liked, but the situation she found herself in, and how she reacted, made her highly intriguing.

As the story progressed, and I found out more about Amber: how she’d taken in her best friends young children after her death, how she always felt in the shadow of her perfect sister-in-law, and how she decided to help DC Simon Waterhouse solve the case, she became someone I really wanted to root for.

I’m a big fan of Sophie Hannah’s brand of complex psychological thrillers, and this story didn’t disappoint. It has a wealth of interwoven connections challenging the reader to solve them.

Kind of Cruel is a chilling and unsettling tale of how unseen pressures and secrets within a family can distort and twist the everyday into the chilling. A shocking glimpse behind the mask of a seemingly ‘perfect’ family, and as much of a ‘why done it’ as a ‘who done it’.

Highly Recommended.

 

 

 

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Daily Ponder: Remembering … Columbo

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English: Peter Falk as "Columbo".

English: Peter Falk as “Columbo”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday I got one of those emails from Amazon telling me about the great deals they’re doing on TV box sets.

Now I have to admit, I watch a lot of box sets, well, box sets and films.  That’s because I don’t watch programmed TV.  In fact, the TV isn’t connected to an aerial at all.  So if I watch a programme it’s on box set, and I’ve bought that box set on a trusted recommendation.

Anyway, the Amazon email was about retro crime series, and the first on the list was the full box set of Columbo (played by Peter Falk).

Wow, that took me back.  I used to love watching Columbo re-runs when I was a kid.  It was out-dated even then, but there was something about the seemingly bumbling, but oh-so-sharp detective that always had me hooked.

With his unassuming manner, he was rather like a less smug version of Poirot.  And his characteristic, ‘one last thing,’ style has inspired many a more recent character.  To name one, I personally think there are quite a few similarities between Columbo and Patrick Jane in The Mentalist.

And, of course, Columbo was a pioneer of the Detective-in-a-Mac look – a personal favourite of mine!

So maybe I might just order that box set.

Have you been inspired to write by any TV characters?

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The Affair by Lee Child

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A sizzling-hot thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing to the end

“March 1997.  A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi.  Just down the road is a big army base.  Is the murderer a local guy – or is he a soldier?

Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover.  The country sheriff is a former US Marine – and a stunningly beautiful woman.  Her investigation is going nowhere.  Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn’t she really want to find the killer?”

The story features a Jack Reacher who’s still employed by the army, and is set six months before the opening of The Killing Floor.  He’s still the Reacher fans of the series know and love, but he’s a little younger, a little less savvy of military politics, and perhaps (even) more of a Romeo than we’ve seen before.

To me this story is very much a modern day western.  There’s a town full of uneasy tension: where locals rely on the army base trade to keep the dollars flowing their way and keep their businesses alive, but harbour simmering resentment against them.  Reacher, as always, plays the inquisitive outsider to perfection. This story marks the beginning of the end for his military career.

It’s hard to write a review of this book without including a spoiler, but it’s a fast paced read with enough curve balls and misdirection thrown at Reacher to keep you hanging on right to the end.  While the story is just as strong as previous books, and Reacher is no less willing to fight (literally) for what he believes is right, personally I found it gave a little more time to a romantic encounter sub-plot than in the majority of other books in the series.  And this certainly added an additional fizz to the experience!

Okay, so you’ve probably guessed, I’m a bit of a Lee Child fan.  Even so, I rate this book as one of the best in the series.  Whether you’re a devoted regular, or a newcomer to the Jack Reacher series, I think you’ll find it a great read.

Highly recommended.

Ps.  The film JACK REACHER, based on Lee Child’s book ONE SHOT and staring Tom Cruise as Reacher is due for release in December 2012.  You can find out more at http://www.leechild.com/

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Today I’ve been moonlighting over on the Nomad Novelist Writers Group blog. Instead of my usual crime fiction, I’ve been finding out all about the awesome Space Captain Smith series and author Toby Frost …

crimethrillergirl's avatarNOMAD Novelist Writers Group

To our blog this week, I’m delighted to welcome Toby Frost, the comic mastermind behind the fabulous Space Captain Smith series. 

So Toby, how did you first get the idea for the Space Captain Smith series?

It came from an email conversation with a friend of mine who was reading H.G. Wells at the time. I remember thinking that it would be entertaining to have Victorians landing on other planets and demanding gin and tea from the bemused inhabitants, and it all came from there. I already had a vague idea for Suruk the Slayer, and Polly Carveth was a good foil for both him and Smith. The other creatures of the Smith world seem to write themselves. Shortly afterwards, during a holiday in Cornwall, I awoke from a cider-fuelled dream muttering about constructing “the moon-ship”. After that, I just had to write the thing.

What does an average writing…

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