Mark Timlin is a British author best known for his series of novels featuring Nick Sharman, a former Metropolitan Police officer who takes up the profession of private investigator in South London. He is also a renowned book reviewer and literary commentator. His most recent work is REAP THE WHIRLWIND. In his early years he did various jobs including work as a member of the road crew for THE WHO, including working backstage at Woodstock in the 1960s on the lighting cranes
More info > http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-return-of-nick-sharman.html
Here’s one for fans of Law & Order, The Wire, and Homicide: life on the streets. Yes, it really is that good.
It’s Christmas time 1993 in South Central Los Angeles, and the only snow is sold in dime bags. The System follows the journey of a bunch of low-life LA losers as they escalate from drug dealing to murder in short order. From the crime to the jury’s verdict. The accused are pretty dumb, most of the cops are corrupt, and the lawyers who try the accused and the defense team are only interested in their future careers. The legal system is at full stretch. Things go wrong. Innocents get mashed, and the guilty go free.
Gattis’s latest is not the easiest book to get into, and not for the squeamish, especially the details of drug muling, with the dope all wrapped up in soapy condoms and sliding around inside the carrier’s bowels.
But, like the system itself, once you’re in, you’re in. As one character explains: “The system is the system. It always gobbles up the ones with the lowest distance to fall. Think about it.”
The style is dense but lyrical. The language foul but poetic. Was it enjoyable? Not really. Did I enjoy it? Not really. And even though, with one or two exceptions the characters were obnoxious, something kept the pages turning and, in the end, - I missed them, and wished the survivors well.
