First time crime writers
OK this is my first blog and I've decided to dedicate it to crime fiction writers I have discovered, specifically those who have just come on the scene. Over the past few years, first-timers that stick in my mind include Alice Sebold, Jilliane Hoffman, Stuart MacBride, Sandra Ruttan, JA Konrath, Brian Freeman and Mo Hayder - most of whom have gone on to write their second, third or even fourth novel since.
Today I'm going to single out NICK STONE whose debut novel MR CLARINET came out in 2006.Actually I haven't finished it yet but, as Old McDonald would say, I'm loving it. Full of fabulously realistic imagery, it's unusual in offering wide-ranging and colourful characters yet the most vivid of them all isn't a person - it's a nation. I'm talking about Haiti, which Stone clearly has a great deal of knowledge of as opposed to having just done some research about it. Despite the country's appalling poverty and dark, sinister underbelly, the way Stone portrays it gives the impression that it is almost a living, breathing entity. It sounds like a place you couldn't imagine going to yet you would be too curious to be able to decide not to. I won't give anything away - mainly because I'm less than halfway through! - but the story centres around an ex-cop/ex-con and now private investigator who leaves New York (and his native Miami) for Haiti on a mission to find a little boy who was abducted two years earlier. The story is set in 1996 by the way. I really do like Stone's attention to detail, in particular his ability to 'paint a picture' of any given scene or situation. You can feel the heat, smell the decay, sense the danger of all the people and places he describes. And despite this being our first experience of central character Max Mingus there's a lot of looking back into his past to savour; so much so that the sequel (just released August 07) is actually a 'prequel' which if I remember correctly is set in the early 1980s yet involves not only Mingus but a key nemesis who features in Mr Clarinet. It's brave doing that, but Coppolla got away with it with Godfather 2 so I'll keep an open mind!
In the meantime I'm giving Nick Stone a well-deserved plug on here, I think his will be a name that millions of crime fiction readers will come to know and love over the coming years. You heard it here first...
Today I'm going to single out NICK STONE whose debut novel MR CLARINET came out in 2006.Actually I haven't finished it yet but, as Old McDonald would say, I'm loving it. Full of fabulously realistic imagery, it's unusual in offering wide-ranging and colourful characters yet the most vivid of them all isn't a person - it's a nation. I'm talking about Haiti, which Stone clearly has a great deal of knowledge of as opposed to having just done some research about it. Despite the country's appalling poverty and dark, sinister underbelly, the way Stone portrays it gives the impression that it is almost a living, breathing entity. It sounds like a place you couldn't imagine going to yet you would be too curious to be able to decide not to. I won't give anything away - mainly because I'm less than halfway through! - but the story centres around an ex-cop/ex-con and now private investigator who leaves New York (and his native Miami) for Haiti on a mission to find a little boy who was abducted two years earlier. The story is set in 1996 by the way. I really do like Stone's attention to detail, in particular his ability to 'paint a picture' of any given scene or situation. You can feel the heat, smell the decay, sense the danger of all the people and places he describes. And despite this being our first experience of central character Max Mingus there's a lot of looking back into his past to savour; so much so that the sequel (just released August 07) is actually a 'prequel' which if I remember correctly is set in the early 1980s yet involves not only Mingus but a key nemesis who features in Mr Clarinet. It's brave doing that, but Coppolla got away with it with Godfather 2 so I'll keep an open mind!
In the meantime I'm giving Nick Stone a well-deserved plug on here, I think his will be a name that millions of crime fiction readers will come to know and love over the coming years. You heard it here first...
Comment
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Comment by Linda Lee on November 9, 2007 at 8:10pm
- Like your list of authors there. Can I add Gillian Flynn, Chelsea Cain and Paul Cleave...writers whom I am sure we will be reading a lot more from.
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Comment by Sandra Ruttan on September 5, 2007 at 8:39am
- This book is on my tbr pile and I'm looking forward to devouring it. Your comments only make me sorry that my current schedule is going to prevent me from reading it right away!
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