THE SIMIAN CURVE begins with two un-related incidents. First of all when young Hattie Locke becomes stuck in a narrow walkway between two lockup garages in London, a headless corpse is discovered.
Hundreds of kilometres away in a Frankfurt court, the charges against small time villain Gregor Aleti are withdrawn and he is allowed to go free.
DCI Diane Cresson and her small homicide unit, known as Homicide East, are assigned the London case. Cresson has an enviable clear-up rate of 98%. And the commissioner recognises her as a high flyer, even if her immediate superior doesn't. Cresson and her team identify the garage as belonging to a scientist who used to work for the Ministry of Defence. He seems to have been missing for about 6 months, and his house, now stripped bare, seems to have very unusual security measures.
In 2002 THE SIMIAN CURVE won the Harry Bowling Prize, given for the first chapter and synopsis of a novel set in London, written by anyone who has not previously published an adult novel.
So far this is Mark Lalbeharry's only novel. I thought the author struggled to bring all the threads of this novel together and some connections were very under-stated. I did like the major characters such as Cresson, and her main assistant Mike Arnett, and the action moved well.
My rating: 4.1
I reviewed this book for Euro Crime the other week. I agree with your take -- some of the scientist aspects were a bit unbelievable, as well. I thought the book could have done with better editing to make it read more smoothly. But I did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI thought the book was quite good. But then again, I did write it.
ReplyDeleteMark :)
So is there another book on the stove Mark?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. There is another novel in the works. It’s also a thriller. It should be completed some time this year. I will let you know more once I have finished it.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Mark