A Certain Justice. P.D. James.Penguin Books (1997)

This is a beautifully constructed and engaging crime novel. Venetia Aldridge successfully defends a man against a murder charge. She is poised for another professional advance when her daughter reveals that she has become engaged to the man Venetia has defended, a man Venetia believes to be a murderer. As Venetia tries to prevent the engagement she is found murdered in her office. Commander Adam Dalgliesh investigates the death and discovers that there are multiple suspects and motives. The plot reveals are perfectly staged and the slow, cold unwinding of the story is gripping. The final revelations are stark and satisfying.
This is a purposefully unhurried book; the set up for the murder of Venetia Aldridge is long and extensive. It creates a vivid picture of a proud, compelling and very unpleasant character. Venetia is never monstrous in her dealings, she is hard and unflinching, lacking in any human sympathy to cloak her cold brilliance. When she turns to others for help she reaps a bitter harvest, which does not spare anyone. Her male colleagues are as unsympathetic as Venetia, they have a mixture of small cowardice in them, which her presence magnifies and makes them look shabby by comparison.
P.D. James has written a wonderful modern version of a revengers tale, where the revenge, initially appearing justified becomes a greater outrage than the first offence. With a stubbornly flinty character like Venetia Aldridge, this is a very considerable feat. The plot slowly becomes clear through the investigation of the police team and the terrible consequences of revenge become clear. The cast are wonderfully realised, they are, for the most part, unlikeable, they all possess a clear vigour and individual life. They are not shadows or puppets, they move across each other with force and weight. The impact of the many crimes in the story is forceful and vivid. Written with a tightly controlled ferocity, this sharply and sourly satisfying book is a great read.

Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex Volume 1. DC Comics (2005)

A collection of very entertaining Western stories with an engaging lead character, great art and a dry as dust black humour. Jonah Hex with his mutilated face and worn Confederate officer's uniform is a bounty hunter in the post Civil War West. A fast draw and a merciless hunter of outlaws he is described like this,"He was a hero to some, a villain to others;and wherever he rode, people spoke his name in whispers. He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions: one was death itself...the other...the acrid smell of gun smoke." Happily the stories in the collection live up to the promise of that description.
The West that Jonah Hex rides through is a brutal and savage place, the most significant difference between Hex and those who hire and despise him is that he is honest about his actions, the others hide their murderous greed behind a thin veneer of polite society. In "Bigfoot's War" written by Michael Fleisher with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Hex is hired by a rancher to recover his daughter who has been kidnapped by Indians. It becomes clear that the rancher has a nasty secret and his daughter is a very unpleasant, utterly spoilt woman. The story is fast and bitter, the action is very well staged and Hex emerges as the most honest character.
What all the writers of the stories in the collection get exactly right is that Hex is never pleasant or likable, his bitter humour and bleak honesty about his own self interest would make him unbearable in any other context.
In "Showdown with the Dangling Man" written by Michael Fleisher, art by Noly Panaligan, one of the outstanding stories in the collection, Hex's indifference to others is given full rein. The beautiful art captures the vivid details of the locations and the cast, the very grim conclusion is everything it should be. This is unheroic Western storytelling at its compelling best.This collection is packed with great art, excellent writing and hard-bitten spirit of the mythical American West, a pleasure.

The Best of 2000AD. Rebellion (2008)

While it is not as wide ranging as the title would suggest it does contain a big slab of very engaging and entertaining stories from the comic. The dominant themes are violence, sport, war and black comedy, all together where possible.
Harlem Heroes is one of the least violent stories, Aeroball "The Sport of Tomorrow" is a mixture of Football,Boxing, Kung Fu and Basketball played by teams equipped with jet packs. The all black Harlem Heroes are a star team until an accident kills some of the team and a new squad has to be recruited. Rebuilt with a rookie, two reserves and a forty-year old veteran they set out to win the world championship. The story breathes life into this cliched set up with vigour and energy, the art gives the action energy and aerial grace, the cast are given a chance to step out of their stereotypes a little.
Flesh is a much bolder and considerably more violent story, time travel has enabled the Trans-Time corporation to go back to the Triassic era and build a huge fishing station to farm the pre-historic seas for food for their 23rd century customers. The details of the factory and the work are superbly laid out and the plot mechanics are set up with economy and skill. It is big and loud science fiction with a sharp edge. Shako is concerned with a polar bear who has swallowed a capsule that the C.I.A. want back and they hunt after the bear. The bear responds by hunting the humans and eating them. The bear is easily the most sympathetic character in the story and the black humour is nicely pitched to give the story a lift.
Rouge Trooper, featuring a biologically engineered soldier, designed to fight in the poisonous atmosphere of Nu-Earth who has gone rouge on a private mission is the stand out war story in the collection. The art is bold, the ideas are focused and tightly written and the lead character has a strong presence. It is Judge Dredd who has emerged as the most famous character from 2000AD, there are some early stories about him, they are in a distinct second place to the extraordinary Judge Death episode. The art is stunning, the details are precise and the cast are given breath and depth. The story idea is bitingly sharp and superbly realised.
The stories the 19 different strips in this collection are distinctive, brutal and delivered with wonderful energy and a willingness to push an idea very hard, well worth reading.

Give Me Liberty. Frank Miller (Writer), Dave Gibbons (Art), Robin Smith (Colours). Penguin Books (1990)

This book is a production by enormous talents using skill, craft and intelligence. Martha Washington is a child of an enclosed ghetto in a very unpleasant future America. She escapes from the ghetto via the imprisonment in a mental hospital, finding freedom when the asylum is closed due to budget cuts. Martha joins PAX, the Peace Force, who promise to wipe your record clean. Martha then finds herself at war in Brazil, fighting a renegade fast food corporation call Fat Boy. She falls foul of Lieutenant Moretti and the story of their conflict, and how Moretti’s hatred for her entwines itself through his plans for power, forms the core of the book. The bigger story is the collapse of the United States of America as environmental disasters, civil unrest, and military mistakes all combine to undermine the country. The ease with which Frank Miller manages his large cast and the way that splintering of the country is described is amazing. The book has fake newspaper and magazine articles, now a bit of a cliché, but still they give great depth to the book, adding greatly to the portrait of the society. Frank Miller also uses television newscasts, much as in The Dark Knight, I think to better effect in this book. The connection between Martha Washington’s story and the larger story is natural and unforced, they strongly reinforce each other to deliver a hugely satisfying whole.
Martha Washington herself is a great leading character. A first-rate action hero, brave, confident and very resourceful, the story treats her harshly but never disrespectfully. I think she is easily one of the best female characters in comics.
Give Me Liberty lies far away from the constrictions of copyright characters like Batman or Daredevil and far, far from the repulsive sexual politics of the Sin City sequence. The creative team of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons are both at the top of their powers in this book; the colouring by Robin Smith is fantastic also. Dave Gibbon’s art is astonishing, very different from the formal layouts in Watchmen, it flows with the action and yet is packed with telling detail. The characters are individual and expressive, they move like humans, their faces are eloquent, and he gives the terrifying implosion of the USA real weight and substance.
A masterpiece, a powerhouse of a comic that should not be missed.

The Tenth Case. Joseph Teller. MIRA Books (2009)

A highly entertaining courtroom drama that has a great cast, a smart plot and strong current of sharp humour. Jaywalker is a criminal defence lawyer who is about to be suspended for the methods he has employed to defend his clients. He is allowed to finish of ten of his current cases before the suspension comes into effect, the tenth case is a murder case. Samara Ross is accused of stabbing her husband to death, he was a billionaire and she was a waitress in Las Vegas before she became his third wife. The case against Samara gets more damming at every turn, in the face of it all Samara protests her innocence. Jaywalker commits to the case in the face of mounting evidence, determined that Samara should have the best chance she possibly can. The courtroom schemes are very well played out, the reveals are cunningly staged and the conclusion is entirely fitting and satisfactory.
Joseph Teller uses an interesting strategy in this story, he provides a very strong and visible authorial voice, so much so that it is a very significant character in the story. The effect is that the reader is being directly told the story about Jaywalker and his case with the editorial questions and opinions that would come naturally. What is impressive is that a process that could be distracting or overbearing adds greatly to the story. When required the storyteller steps back and allows the events to unfurl on their own, the switch is smoothly done and matches carefully to the requirements of the story.
Jaywalker is a great character, his headlong commitment to providing a defence for his clients, his passionate belief in the requirement to have a well prepared and thorough defence is stimulating and deeply engaging. His opponent is allowed to be a decent man who is trying to do is job as a prosecutor as competently and professionally as possible. Their courtroom actions are smart, articulate and gripping. Smara is nicely under explained, she has enough shadow to remain a question and to test Jaywalkers commitment to the limit.
This is a book with an opinion, willing to be angry and articulate without ever sacrificing one iota of tension or skimping on thoughtful plot mechanics. It is a pleasure to be buttonholed by Joseph Teller and to hear his story about Jaywalker.

The Price of Darkness. Graham Hurley. Orion Publishing Group (2008)

A gripping police procedural with a very engaging cast and a sharp plot. A property developer is murdered in his house in Plymouth with brutal efficiency and a professional attention to detail. Detective Inspector Joe Faraday is assigned to head up the investigation, which is hampered by the scrupulous care with which the murder was carried out. A second murder follows, that of a Government Minister, shot to death when waiting in traffic. DI Faraday is involved in the second investigation until he is pushed out to focus only on the murder of the developer. At the same time disgraced ex-policeman Paul Winter has joined the ranks of Bazza MacKenzie ans major criminal. Winter is on an undercover operation, he finds that his position is growing more and more unclear. The murder investigations unfurl with great care, the reveals are cleverly staged and the evidence gathered in a plausible and engaging way. Winter's position with MacKenzie becomes more and more questionable. Both threads conclude in entirely satisfying ways.
Graham Hurley has written a genuine mystery story, the investigation follows leads, loops back on itself and gradually finds a focus in an gripping and thoughtful way. The cast are given the opportunity to be competent, capable and sometimes simply smart. DI Faraday is a very engaging character, with a passion for bird watching, a deaf mute son and a loving partner he is as committed, cranky and engaged with his life as a experienced professional would be. He is nicely countered by Paul Winter, a policeman who always prided himself on cutting to the heart of a case regardless of the rules and policies. Working without a safety net undercover with a man he is coming to respect Winter is facing life shaping decisions. The thread of police politics that ties the two story lines together is unobtrusively effective.
The tone of the book is low key, the action is is more in the clash of character than in physical confrontation. The depth of the cast and the great context give the action a genuine edge and danger, conversations have heavyweight consequences as much as a gunshot. This is a deceptively straightforward book, there is a great deal going on and Graham Hurley is masterfully directing and controlling the story. A treat.

Down into Darkness. David Lawrence. Penguin Books (2007)

A very grim, brilliantly structured and superbly written crime story. A woman is found hanging from a tree in London, she has the words "DIRTY GIRL" written on her body. Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney is part of the team investigating the murder, it is hampered by the difficulty of identifying the woman. A second death and a second message on the body do not help clarify matters. As the team try to understand links that may only exist in the killer's mind, the return of Stella's mother to the notorious Harefield estate create problems for Stella. The events in Harefield and the killers plans starts to slowly interact as the plot cunningly develops and grips like a vice right up to the ice cold conclusion.
Matching a superbly developed cast with a cunningly constructed plot, David Lawrence creates a compelling vision of a seething, corrupt city. Stella Mooney is driven, competent and deeply committed to her job. The investigation she is involved in is run with care and attention to detail. The rest of the cast pulse with life and have a chance to develop and have lives outside the investigation that never slows the book down. The extra detail about their lives gives a greater context to their actions and gives the story depth and heft.
The most important character in the book is not human, it is the Harefield estate itself. A housing complex it is alive with criminal activity, creating opportunities and destroying lives with carefree indifference. It is a huge factory creating tainted money that swirl corrupt eddies throughout the city and further. This pulsing lawlessness is repeated in greater and lesser degrees all over the city as the story ranges across London. The context for the story is a vivid city where serious trouble is always breaking out. This hothouse atmosphere adds to the pace an force of the story. Lush, cynical and unforgiving, this is a great read.