We Begin At The End - Chris Whitaker

 

New novel by Chris Whitaker released by Zaffre Books in April 2020

For some people, trouble just finds them.

Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer.

Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed.

Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town.

Murder, revenge, retribution.

How far can we run from the past when the past seems doomed to repeat itself?

Review
Whitaker does a great job of writing a thriller that reaches for the heights of American novella, the dual narrative structure of each chapter which takes us into the point of view of wither Walk (Chief Walker), the local sheriff who seeks to find answers to another murder in Cape Haven and the other side of the coin is the story of Duchess being displaced in Montana following the murder of her mother, Star.

Walk is one of those great American idealists like Atticus Finch and others, someone who seeks to do the hard work but overshadowed by past errors and the ill health that is befalling him at this vital stage of his investigation.

Duchess is written as a tough cookie of a young girl, who will not take any rubbish from anyone to fight her corner and protect her brother Robin, like her Mum, Star, did for them.

You have this contrast of a coming of age novel, and for Walk a coming to the end which is a unique take on two different paths for two lead protagonists.

This book was a pleasant one to read, the swiftness and nimbleness of the plot pays off dividends once the action is ramped up. The utilisation of Montana and the grandfather, Hal, who portrays the stillness of that landscape in contrast to the mayhem of California.

Whitaker paints a world that is both of now and from a timeless period - the Montana scenes read like something from a Richard Ford novel while the murkiness of California reads like a Michael Connolly story.  All the more staggering considering that Whitaker was born in London, he writes of America as good as any author I can recall.

Recommended for those who require to be whisked away from this mad mad world.

We Begin At The End is published by Zaffre Books on 2nd April.
My thanks to Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to review on the blogtour.

The Coldest Warrior - Paul Vidich

New novel by Paul Vidich, a tale of espionage and a cold case

Paul Vidich has written a fictional tale set around an almost too good to be true story, delving into the 1950s and the height of the cold war tension between America and the Soviet Union.

The story Vidich weaves revolves around the unresolved death of Dr. Charles Wilson, a government scientist, who died in 1953 when one night in his Washington hotel he 'jumped or fell' from the ninth floor plummeting to his death.

The full details of his death have remained buried for twenty-two years, so following the release of the Rockefeller Commission report on illegal CIA activities in 1975, the Wilson case becomes a hot topic in the nation's capital.

Wilson's family want answers, enter agent Jack Gabriel, an old friend of the Wilson family who is instructed by the CIA director to find the truth. Yet the deeper Jack digs into the past, the changing world comes back to nip him in the butt, key witnesses connected to the case die from suspicious causes leading Jack to believe his entire family and career are at stake.

Vidich following in esteemed footsteps of Greene, Le Carre, has weaved a gripping novel that grips you throughout; yet Vidich does a great job of painting a picture of how Washington must have been during the 1970s when following Watergate the city was a perilous pit of distrust and paranoia.

The tale whips along at quite a pace, yet the tensest moment of the book was when Charles Wilson's body has to be exhumed - the tension of the piece as Wilson's son stands awaiting the coffin to open is cranked up to maximum effect and is the lasting impression of this book.

While already forming the basis of the Netflix series, Wormwood, the story is again ripe for another adaptation with sharp 1950s suits combating against each other in the search for truth - the battle was less agains the USSR but more between the CIA and FBI in this battle alliteration confrontation.

The Coldest Warrior is published by No Exit Press on 27 February 2020.

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things for the review opportunity and to appear on the blogtour starting February 24th.