JANUARY 2019 - FILMS + TV

A decent month's viewing - 7 films, 2 of them fantastic, 1 of them a re-watch and a couple of mini-series on TV - almost as I've yet to watch the final episode of the latest Luther series.

Wind River (2017)

Not a film I'd heard of until recently when an author interview with Finn Bell saw it hat-tipped and then seconded by Noirish blogger and film expert John Grant. My verdict - pretty bloody amazing. Jeremy Renner is fantastic, as is Elizabeth Olsen and the rest of the cast. The cinematography captures the cold and harshness of our setting superbly. I nearly had to put a coat on watching it. It's brutal, violent and a difficult watch at times, particularly the depiction of the attack on the victim, who's murder we are investigating and her boyfriend. Highly recommended.

From Wikipedia......

Wind River is a 2017 neo-Western murder mystery film written and directed by Taylor Sheridan. The film stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker and an FBI agent, respectively, who try to solve a murder on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal and Graham Greene also star. According to Sheridan, the opening "inspired by true events" card was a reference to the "thousands of actual stories just like it" involving sexual assault of women on reservations, his primary motivation for writing the film.

Wind River premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 4, 2017. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $45 million against an $11 million budget. While theatrically released by The Weinstein Company, in October 2017, following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, the film's distribution rights for home media were acquired by Lionsgate, with Weinstein's credits and logo being omitted on home media and streaming services, which caused TWC to lose distribution rights.

Dead Pool (2016)

My daughter's boyfriend is a massive Superhero film fan and he brought round the two film box set for us to watch over a couple of evenings. I was initially a reluctant viewer, but actually really enjoyed the first one a lot more than I was expecting to at least. Ryan Reynolds is watchable and the humour in the film tickled me. I must have been caught in an odd good mood when I watched it. I'll probably remember this one for a while.

From IMDB.....

A wisecracking mercenary gets experimented on and becomes immortal but ugly, and sets out to track down the man who ruined his looks.

Dead Pool 2 (2018)

More of the same and to be honest. My mood had soured a bit as the same kicks played for laughs a second time, wore a bit thin. Maybe if we had left it a month or so in-between one and two I might have enjoyed it a bit more. I just found it a bit tiresome after a while. Not the worst film ever though. Ryan Reynolds again.

From IMDB......

Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-travelling cyborg, Cable.

Tell No One (2006)

I read the Harlan Coben book a few years ago and enjoyed it without being stunned and amazed. Several people told me the film was good and a bit of post-Christmas charity shop browsing saw this one hoovered up. I really enjoyed it and the story came back to me as I watched. A French film and subtitled, but well worth a look if you get the chance. Assuming anyone else is about 12 or 13 years behind the times.

Harlan Coben - Tell No One (2001) - read in December 2012 - very sketchy thoughts here.

From IMDB ......

An accidental discovery near a doctor's estate stirs up some painful memories eight years after his wife's hideous murder, and now, things are bound to take a turn for the unexpected. Does the good doctor know more than he's letting on?

Manhunt (2019) - ITV drama

A 3 part mini-drama that I almost missed after seeing it advertised prior to airing. Fortunately I managed to catch up with the laptop as it was available on the ITV website, but not on the various catch up services available through my TV.

Martin Clunes has come a long way since his Men Behaving Badly days. He does serious pretty well. Interesting retelling of a police detective involvement running the investigation into the murder of young French women Amelie Delagrange in Twickenham in 2004. Terribly sad, particularly the scenes involving the young woman's parents. Disturbing how the friction between two police forces almost threatened the closure on another high profile case - the murder of Milly Dowler.

From Google.....

Looking at the work of Colin Sutton, who was the senior investigating officer in the hunt for Levi Bellfield, the killer of Marsha McDonnell, Amelie Delagrange and Milly Dowler in the early 2000s.

The Heat (2013)

A re-watch and just as funny second time around. I do like Melissa McCarthy, though she might not be everyone's cup of tea. Sandra Bullock grows on me, each time I see her in something.

From Google....

FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is a methodical investigator with a long-standing reputation for excellence -- and arrogance. In contrast, foul-mouthed, hot-tempered detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) goes with her gut instincts and street smarts to remove criminals from the streets of Boston. Sparks fly when these polar opposites have to work together to capture a drug lord, but in the process, they become the last thing anyone expected -- buddies.
Release date: 31 July 2013 (United Kingdom)

Den of Thieves (2018)

I have a major problem investing in certain films and series where I have an irrational antipathy towards one of the main characters. Step forward Gerard Butler. I really don't like him and I don't know why. I did enjoy the film. Butler's character is a massive bell-end. He probably didn't have to extend himself to fulfil the requirements of the role - ha ha only joking. I did enjoy it, though would probably have enjoyed it more with someone else as the lead.

From Google.....

Nick O'Brien is the hard-drinking leader of the Regulators, an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Ray Merrimen is the recently paroled leader of the Outlaws, a gang of ex-military men who use their expertise and tactical skills to evade the law. O'Brien, Merrimen and their crews soon find themselves on a direct collision course as the criminals hatch an elaborate plan for a seemingly impossible heist -- the city's Federal Reserve Bank.

Luther Series 5 (2019) - BBC drama

Step forward bell-end number two - Idris Elba. Hand on heart, I loved him in The Wire, or at least the first series and a bit of it that I've watched thus far. Enjoyed him in the first couple of series of Luther. Loved the book by Neil Cross - Luther: The Calling, read in the pre-blog days. Then just got a bit jaded by seeing him everywhere. I don't believe I watched the third or fourth series, mainly because of him and my aversion. He gives off the impression (probably wrongly) that if he was made out of chocolate he would have eaten himself a long time ago. Either three episodes from four watched or four from five. I expect I'll finish it in February.



From the BBC....

Idris Elba stars as DCI John Luther, waging his own passionate and ruthless war on crime.

Calvary (2014)

Joint tied for film of the month with Wind River. I haven't enjoyed everything I've seen Brendan Gleeson in. The Guard was a bit lame. Didn't mind him in Harry Potter as "Mad-Eye" Moody, loved him in In Bruges with Colin Farrell. Quite a topical film for me with my Irish blood and Catholic upbringing. Very funny, very dark. I wouldn't mind watching it again in a year or so.

From Google....

An honest and good-hearted priest (Brendan Gleeson) wrestles with a cynical, spiteful community after he receives a death threat from an unknown parishioner.

2 BY STEVE CAVANAGH

A couple this week from Northern Irish author Steve Cavanagh. Cavanagh is yet another author that I have stock-piled on the TBR mountain but haven't gotten around to reading yet.

Most of his output so far concerns one recurring character - Eddie Flynn, though there's a recently released standalone novel, Twisted and a collaboration with Mark Dawson, Scorpion also available.

The Plea is the second full length Flynn novel and was preceded by The Defence and a shorter introductory novella - The Cross. The Liar is the third in the series.

I do like a legal mystery though don't read enough of them in all honesty. Struggling to remember the last one. Maybe Cavanagh will get me back on track.

The Plea (2016)

Eddie Flynn earned his law degree in the school of hard knocks. Now this con-artist-turned-criminal defense attorney is about to take on his toughest case yet.

Billionaire David Child swears he didn't murder his girlfriend, Clara - even if the evidence suggests otherwise. Home security video showed no intrusion. The murder weapon was in David's own car. He seems guilty as charged. So why won't he plead guilty?

Meanwhile, the FBI needs David's help in taking down a huge money laundering scheme. Now it's up to David's lawyer, Eddie, to get him to take a plea bargain. Otherwise the FBI will use incriminating files on Eddie's wife to send her to jail. Still, David insists that he didn't murder anyone. . .

As the FBI pressures Eddie to secure the guilty plea, Eddie becomes increasingly convinced that David is telling the truth. With adversaries threatening, Eddie has to find a way to prove David's innocence and find out if there's any way he might have been framed. But the stakes are high: Eddie's wife is in danger. And not just from the FBI...

"If you're a fan of John Grisham... you will be a fan of Steve Cavanagh." - Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author

The Liar (2017)

A missing girl. A desperate father. A case which will tear them apart. Leonard Howell's worst nightmare has come true: his daughter Caroline has been kidnapped. He can't rely on the cops, so Howell calls the only man he trusts to get her back. Eddie Flynn knows what it's like to lose a daughter and vows to bring Caroline home safe. Once a con artist, now a hotshot criminal attorney, Flynn is no stranger to the shady New York underworld. However, as he steps back into his old life, Flynn realizes that the rules of the game have changed - and that he is being played. But who is pulling the strings? And is anyone in this twisted case telling the truth...?

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH ELGIN BLEECKER

Elgin Bleecker, author of the much enjoyed Lyme Depot is the latest willing interviewee prepared to answer a few questions for me.

Elgin's debut novel, Lyme Depot dropped recently and comes highly recommended.

5 from 5 and on the blog yesterday - here.

Is the writing full time? I guess not but if not, what’s the day job? Can you give us a quick biography of yourself?

I’ve been writing full time for a long time, but not writing novels. That is all new to me. I was a newspaper reporter for many years and I’ve had a brush with ad copywriting, too, as well as various freelance writing jobs along the way.

I must admit, you took me by surprise recently with your debut novel Lyme Depot. How long from conception to completion did Lyme Depot take?

It took a lot longer than I would like to admit. Years. My only defense is that it was not one long, unbroken string of work. The book got done in stages. There were times when I had other more pressing things to do and the novel had to be set aside until I could get back to it. Not the ideal way to write a book. Fortunately, I took Hemingway’s advice and left off at points where I knew exactly what I had to do next. Of course, he was talking about coming back to it the next day, not two or three months later. But, that’s the way it got done.

Was it a smooth process or were there many bumps in the road along the way? 

The beginning was bumpy and took a lot of time. But once I had it all figured out, then it went smoothly.

Did it end up being the book you anticipated at the start of the process?

I would have to say yes. I think it turned out pretty well. I was aiming for a fast-paced crime story, and I think that’s what I delivered. Now, I hope readers will enjoy it. 

What was the spark of imagination or seed that inspired Lyme Depot?

There were several threads that came together. One was the idea that there are people in every county who keep the police busy all the time, and I wanted to write something about that. Another was the idea of painting a picture of a semi-rural area and some of the people who live there. The setting, Drum County and the town of Lyme Depot, are combinations of several places I know. I mentally cut and pasted parts of towns, back roads, homes, into my fictional county. The same goes for the characters. They are composites. Some simply started as types and grew as the story developed.

What’s been the general reception to Lyme Depot? I loved it myself and I’ve seen some praise for it from Paul D. Brazill as well.

“Lyme Depot by Elgin Bleecker is a gripping, fast moving slice of crime fiction full of great characters and dialogue.” – Paul D. Brazill, author of Last Year’s Man and A Case Of Noir.

So far, so good. I hope it continues. I do think the book surprised some people. It could be because it took so long to finish. They may have been expecting a doorstop of heavy prose, but what they got was about 200 pages of country noir lite. Well, not all of it is light. There are moments of violence that are pretty darn serious.

It must be a scary moment, taking the plunge and putting your book out there for all and sundry to read and judge. At what point did you feel confident enough to take that step with Lyme Depot?

Well, it was a series of plunges. First, when I felt the story was ready to be read, I jumped into the cold water by running off a couple of copies and passing them around to close friends, other writers. I knew they would give me an honest opinion. That went well. I took their notes, did some rewriting and editing and then went head first off the high dive by sending it out to a few people who know the genre and can measure it against what has been published. That also went well. So the next step was to walk out onto a tightrope stretched over Niagara Falls. With the eBook and the paperback now available on Amazon, I feel like I’ve got both feet on that wire.

Were you always intending to self-publish the book, or did you try and approach some small press indie publishers? I’m always curious about this aspect of the writing game.

I tried not to think too much about that. It can be daunting to read about the number of books being published each year and the difficulty writers have in getting their work to an agent and to a publisher. It can seem like you have to be a TV star or a Washington insider to get noticed. At the same time, I was coming across articles about author’s self-publishing their work through Amazon and other places and the whole DIY thing appealed to me.

When I expressed surprise at Lyme Depot, I think it was because for a while on your blog sidebar - (The Dark Time) you’ve hinted at another book - Stealing Dawn as the WIP.

I sort of jumped the gun by putting word out about Stealing Dawn. Call it a rookie mistake. I thought I was close to publishing it. People who read it gave me positive feedback. But, it still needed work, and until I knew exactly what to do with it, I set it aside. I went on to Lyme Depot, which, as I said, took a long time. While Lyme Depot was being prepared for publication, I figured out what to do with Stealing Dawn. So, it is still alive and will hopefully see the light of day sometime soon.

On your writing in general, do you have a typical writing schedule? Do you write every day?

I would like to say, yes, to both questions. But the honest answer is, no and no. Well, unless you count research and planning and plotting and just noodling around with ideas on a yellow pad as writing time. I do a lot of that before I write. But I have read about Stephen King and John Grisham and Robert J. Randisi and James Reasoner and I admire their discipline.

When you have an idea and you sit down to construct a story – do you know what the end result is going to look like? Are you a plotter, or do you make it up as you go along?

A plotter. Definitely. With Lyme Depot, I knew exactly how it would wind up. Not that I knew everything the characters would say or do in the last chapters. Some of them surprised me when I got there. I also knew how the story would begin. But it is a job finding the exact point at which the story should start. And, because I had several parallel stories going in this book, I spent a lot of time figuring out where all the characters were at any given moment, because I wanted everything to fold together at the end.

Stealing Dawn aside, do you have anything else bubbling away? 

I’ve got Word files on my laptop with ideas, notes, outlines for other stories. Some of them set in Drum County. Others not. Some may be good. Some may stink. A couple have stuck with me for a while, so maybe there is something going on there that I need to get to.

Any advice for prospective authors out there?

I feel presumptuous giving advice. I still feel like one of the prospectives. But, OK, I’ll just say this: Write whatever you want and hang in there. It can be a long haul.

What’s the best thing about writing?

No boss. No deadline. No commute. You can write anywhere you want and anytime you want. And the best thing about writing is when someone reads your work and enjoys it.

The worst?

I would have to say editing and promoting the book.

Some writers edit as they go. I wanted to see if there actually was a book there, before I went back and corrected it. Either way, editing is no fun.

And as for promotion, I am just not comfortable with it. But it has given me an appreciation for what a great self-promoter Hemingway was with all that publicity of him hunting and attending bullfights and reeling in gigantic fish. You’ll never see me running through the streets of Pamplona, but if I ever get the chance, you might catch me having a cold one at the Floridita.

What are the last few books you’ve read?

The last four crime novels I read and really liked are on my blog: Himes’s A Rage in Harlem; Knighton’s Three Hours Past Midnight; King’s Worst Enemies; and Cizak’s Down on the Street.

I also read a fair amount of non-fiction. I got Bob Woodward’s Fear as a Christmas present, which I am taking in small bites. I did the same with Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. 

Just before Christmas I read two books about the golden age of the movie studios, Clown Prince of Hollywood, by long-time journalist Bob Thomas, about Jack Warner, who ran Warner Bros., and Don’t Get Me Wrong – I Love Hollywood, by Sidney Skolsky, once a top Hollywood gossip columnist who made Schwab’s Pharmacy on Sunset Blvd. his office during the 1940s and 1950s.

Who do you read and enjoy? Is there anyone I should be reading who has snuck under my radar?

Col, the Pentagon only wishes it had a radar system as good as yours.

There are so many current and new writers turning out outstanding work, I feel I will never catch up.

I also feel that way about my favorite era of noir novels – post WWII to the early ’60s. That’s when writers like Lionel White, William P. McGivern, and Chester Himes were turning out fantastic books.

There are writers of an earlier generation I enjoy and re-read, like W.R. Burnett and Dashiell Hammett, just to name two.

Three of my all time favorites whose canons I will never get through, but will enjoy trying are, Erle Stanley Gardner, Georges Simenon, and Rex Stout. They are all clever, interesting, breezy and make it all look so easy and effortless.

Is there any one book you wish you had written?

Yes. Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road. A great novel about the American suburbs.

A couple of others I would like to plug here are James Jones’ Some Came Running. The book is quite different from the Frank Sinatra-Dean Martin movie. Critics of the day trashed Jones’ book, but I think it is an amazing novel. And James Gould Cozzens’ Guard of Honor about a racial incident at an Air Force base in Florida during World War II, is another one well worth reading.

Favourite activity when not working or writing?

We have recently become empty nesters – which took some getting used to – so we have more time to hang out with friends. We go to a lot of movies and I watch even more on cable, DVD or streaming. Once a week, I play on a pub trivia team at a great dive bar (the owners probably won’t be too happy to hear me call it that. But then, how many great old neighborhood corner bars are left these days?).

What’s the last film you watched that rocked you?

I’m a pretty big movie fan, but I can’t say many of them rock me. But here’s one that did: “Tim’s Vermeer.” It’s an amazing documentary.

TV addict or not? What’s the must watch show in the Bleecker household?

Oh, yeah – I’d say I have quite an addiction. The No. 1 program or programs that are on most of the time in my house are the cable news shows. Other than that, there are still a lot of the original Law & Order episodes I have not seen, and we both enjoy those. We’ve binged on a few shows like True Detective, Line of Duty and Broadchurch. You recommended those last two. In the Spring and Summer, I consume a good amount of baseball. And, as I mentioned, I watch a lot of films.

In a couple of years’ time.....

I plan to have a couple more books out – if I can manage to speed up my process.

----------------------------

Many thanks to Elgin for his time.

He blogs at The Dark Time - well worth a visit.

Lyme Depot can be bought at......

AM UK  AM US  AM CANADA  AM AUSTRALIA

ELGIN BLEECKER - LYME DEPOT (2019)

Synopsis/blurb.....

“Lyme Depot by Elgin Bleecker is a gripping, fast moving slice of crime fiction full of great characters and dialogue.” – Paul D. Brazill, author of Last Year’s Man and A Case Of Noir.

Tyler will do anything – within the law – to help his brother, Jared.
Jared will do anything – period – to get out of jail and run off with Amber Lee.
Amber Lee will do anything – with anyone – to escape life in rural Drum County.
Misti just wants to stay out of trouble – impossible once she meets Tyler.
Felonies, misdemeanors, shootings, corruption, a jailbreak, the sheriff chasing Jared, and Tyler chasing the truth about his brother. All in a day in Drum County.

A debut novel from Elgin Bleecker and a right cracker it is too.

Lyme Depot delivers a small town tale of two brothers. Jared and Tyler. Jared is locked up and if the rumours he hears are correct, about to be transferred to a more secure facility. He needs money and younger brother Tyler is tasked with getting it for him - skip school and collect by visiting a whole series of unsavoury characters who owe his brother.

Events unfold within the space of a day in our busy novel.

An underage drinking party, porn films, a nosey neighbour, an impulsive corrupt cop, a chase through the woods, a reckless gunshot, an innocent victim, a loyal companion, a cheating, scheming two-timing, girlfriend, our girlfriend's sister, a video store stick-up, a habitual drunk driver, musicians, concerts and alibis, a new found friend, a mum with a drug-dealing boyfriend, a wife at the end of her tether, an honest sheriff, a jailbreak with an unwanted companion, a manhunt, sniffer dogs, a hunting party comprised of two idiot city slickers, another errant gunshot, an absent father, a hit and run, a stash of money and lots lots more.

Fast-moving, populated with interesting characters and a clever plot as all the characters and story strands are expertly drawn together in a satisfying climax. Everyone gets what everyone deserves.

Another plus point is the subtle humour throughout, almost comedic at times, for instance when one of our innocents get shot in the ass. By turn, events get dark and serious, with a young teenager carelessly shot and fighting for her life. I enjoyed the ying and yang of the novel - dark and light, serious and funny. There's a real freshness about the writing and a hook that pulls you into the tale.

Perfect length at 194 pages long, which I almost read it in an evening - droopy eyelids forcing me to halt 20 pages from the finish line.

Elgin Bleecker

I liked the contrast between the characters. Our honest sheriff and his corrupt underling; Jared's flaky girlfriend, Amber Lee and Tyler's new friend Misti and especially between Jared and Tyler. Jared - selfish, manipulative and self-centred; Tyler - loyal, dogged and honest. By the end of our tale, Tyler is a little more savvy, a little less innocent and under no real illusions about his older brother's character defects.

Pace, plot, characters, setting, style of writing, action, dialogue, and climax. All big plusses.

I look forward to whatever the author does next.

5 from 5

Read in January, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 194
Source - review ARC from author,
Format - PDF read on laptop

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH OWEN MULLEN

Owen Mullen is next up in the firing line answering a few questions on his reading and writing habits.

Out of the Silence was read and enjoyed recently. In Harm's Way entertained last year.


Can you give us a quick biography of yourself? 

Owen Mullen is a critically acclaimed and best selling author.

Owen graduated from Strathclyde University, moved to London and worked as a rock musician, session singer and songwriter, and had a hit record in Japan with a band he refuses to name; he still loves to perform on occasion. His passion for travel has taken him on many adventures from the Amazon and Africa to the colourful continent of India and Nepal. A gregarious recluse, he and his wife, Christine, split their time between Glasgow, and their home in the Greek Islands where In Harm's Way and the Charlie Cameron and Delaney series' were created and written. His latest novel Out Of The Silence is an epic revenge thriller set in Pakistan.

Is the writing full time? If not, what’s the day job? 

Definitely full time.

Your latest work and the one I’m currently reading – Out of the Silence (long done now) – seems a bit of a departure, setting-wise at least from your previous five books, can you pitch it to potential readers in a short paragraph?

Out Of The Silence is different to everything else I have written: it was an incredible book to write and I hope the reader can see it through my eyes.
Told from the perspective of investigative reporter Ralph Buchanan, It is essentially a murder mystery thriller that takes us into the culture of Pakistan.

How long from conception to completion did Out of the Silence take? What was the spark or germ of imagination that set you on the road with this particular tale?

The actual writing took about five months but the idea was planted several  years before after Christine and I had watched a documentary on the difficulties for women in Pakistan - it was a strong piece and stayed with me. Several years later on a trip to neighbouring India and a visit to the Thar dessert region
We saw a young woman selling salt, she raised her head as we came towards her and Afra was born. The story came to life in my head at that moment.

Was it a smooth process or were there many bumps in the road along the way? 

One difficultly I had was keeping all the suspects live while switching POVs. My ambition was to keep the reader guessing until the very last page. I failed. The murderer is revealed a couple of pages from the end. So it was a good try.

Did it end up being the book you anticipated at the start of the process?

Absolutely, although it has been re-written and edited many times as I attempted to tell a complex story in a simple way.

I read and enjoyed In Harm’s Way last year, which leaves four that I have missed so far. Can you tell us a bit about these other works, three of which form a series with main character PI Charlie Cameron?

Out Of The Silence proved to be a very difficult idea to sell to publishers: although they loved it they believed it crossed genres; a marketeers nightmare. Delaney was another difficult project too, because I'm not American I eventually decided to write something set in Scotland and Charlie Cameron came into my life. I absolutely didn't want to write a detective that is so common nowadays: jaded, at odds with authority and broken.  I wanted Charlie to be different and he is - a complete character. We get to see his whole life not just the cases he's on. Charlie's a real guy, as are his counterparts Pat Logue, DS Andrew Geddes and Jackie Mallon: you could bump into them quite easily in Glasgow. Although the series deals with serious crimes there is a lot of humour - anyone who has spent time in Glasgow will understand what an intrinsic part of the culture it is.

Any scope for more Charlie tales, or are his cases all solved and his race run?

I'm planning another Charlie Cameron story for further down the line. Actually, half of it is already written.
Can't say more or I'd have to kill you.

Is there one of your books which you are most proud of? Which would you press into the hands of a new reader first?

Out Of The Silence is definitely the baby, so if you only have time for one then this is it.

When you have an idea and you sit down to construct a story – do you know what the end result is going to look like? Are you a plotter, or do you make it up as you go along?

I always try to have the beginning and the ending - that just leaves that pesky bit in the middle. I am right in the middle of plotting and making it up.

What can we look forward to next? Any hints on the current work in progress?

I'm currently working on a follow up to In Harm's Way. We meet the main character five years down the line and life is still throwing challenges at her.

What’s been the most satisfying moment of your writing career so far?

Being long-listed for the McIlvanney Crime Book Of The Year - standing in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle with the top names from Scottish crime fiction isn't something you forget easily. I've attached a picture.

Any unpublished gems in your bottom drawer?

Yes one that isn't quite finished but that I'm very excited about.

Any advice for prospective authors out there?

Be lucky or keep going till you are.

What’s the best thing about writing?

When you've done the last edit, printed it out and it's sitting perfectly pristine with your name under the title.

The worst?

The way it swallows your life whole.

Who do you read and enjoy? Is there anyone I should be reading who has snuck under my radar?

Arthur Conan Doyle,  James Lee Burke and too many others to mention. My tastes change every few years.

Favourite activity when not working or writing? 

Travelling to far away places with strange sounding names.

TV addict or not? What’s the must watch show in the Mullen household?

Love BBC dramas and good American ones, when they stick to drama like Homeland. Also watch quite a few foreign series.

In a couple of years’ time.....

As Cal Moreland from And So It Began says, "Who knows where the road goes?"
-----------------

Many thanks to Owen for his time.

You can catch him at the following haunts.....

bit.ly/YouTube-OwenMullen

bit.ly/Twitter-OwenMullen6

bit.ly/FB-OwenMullen

bit.ly/InstagramOwenMullen

bit.ly/BookBubOwenMullen

JEFF JOHNSON - THE ANIMALS AFTER MIDNIGHT (2019)

Synopsis/blurb....

In this third novel in the Darby Holland Crime Novel series, Darby's past rises up to do more than haunt him. You can run, but in the information age you can only hide for so long. Midnight Rider Productions is a dark web nightmare machine, headed by the one man who years ago drove Darby to hide in the seamy environs of Old Town and make his life there. But Darby left his own mark back in the day and the shadowy head of production has a grudge to settle. Rider has found him at long last and plans to make an example of him. Every dark secret of Darby’s is exposed, every triumph reversed, every dream made real is set on fire, and as the Feds circle, smelling blood in the water, Darby has to run the most brutal rearguard action in the history of crime-meets-crime and gamble that he has finally grown powerful enough, crazy enough, and hard enough to beat the Devil himself. Meanwhile his best friend and should-be lover Delia, is about to be married to someone with his own dark secrets. With the help of his friends new and old, Darby must save Delia and himself and the rest of the Lucky Supreme faithful as he plays one force against another with desperate brilliance in an epic conflict that rages through the dark underbelly of Portland, Oregon.

An entertaining visit to Portland's dark side in the company of Jeff Johnson's series character Darby Holland. The Animals After Midnight is the third novel in the Holland series, and in truth, personally I would probably have benefited from reading the others first. (My bad.) That said I really liked this one.

Darby Holland is a criminal, though for large portions of the book, he actually seems to do very little that is illegal. Someone is pursuing him and making life difficult for him. So much so that the local FBI agents have temporarily put any thoughts of snaring Holland on hold and have unofficially teamed up with him to capture a bigger fish, Holland's pursuer.

We do get the story behind the story, as the whys and wherefores of Holland's predicament are revealed to us and we understand the shared history between Darby and Rider the man who's out to get him. Rider is tracking and recording Holland's every move. He's making a film of Holland's intended demise, a snuff movie on the go, as bit by bit he picks apart Holland's shaky foundations. 

In respect of getting the reasons behind Rider's hard-on for Darby, the book works well enough on its own. Maybe its my OCD talking when I state a preference for series reading in order and wanting to know as much as I can about a character's past before I join him in his present.

A lot of our story, concerns love and friendship. During the course of the book, we get to know Darby and his circle of friends. His on/off on/off romance with Suzanne is temporarily off. She's moved away to Seattle (I think) though plans are afoot to meet up and rekindle things. He does spend a lot of time contemplating a future with her, though you sense that she doesn't love him as he is and wants to enforce changes in his outlook and personality. She wants a new and improved model of Darby rather than the current version available. Darby himself frets about Delia his close friend. She's hooked up with a musician and contemplating their forthcoming marriage. Its not a great idea. Our scuzzball musician sleeps around and plays fast and loose with Delia's money. Darby has the age old dilemna of trying to support his friend without being the party pooper. Can he nix the wedding without Delia getting wise to him and hating him as a consequence. I think the truth is obvious - Delia and Darby are the best suited couple in town.

Bars, dark alleyways, drinking to oblivion, favours for friends, favours from friends, mentoring, a pet burial, a hornet's nest (literally), a confrontation with a proxy, an investigation, a bit of bribery, an uneasy alliance with the Feds, domestic woes, suit shopping for a wedding, hidden cameras and surveillance, late night subterfuge, paranoia, a black history, a tattoo parlour, food, death, train tracks, counter-surveillance, an illicit lock-up, arson and violent confrontation. Lots more besides.

I really enjoyed the characters in this one, as well as the story line. It meanders a bit getting to the confrontation and climax, but that was one of the many positives in the book, with an intriguing main character, dealing with the day to day minutiae of life, all the while knowing that there's a target on his back.

I liked the Portland setting, which I think was a first for me and as a Billy bonus, Johnson wraps everything up in 227 pages.

One of the benchmarks for me when reading a book is considering whether I'd want to read more from the author in the future. In this case - yes. I'm looking forward to reading about the younger Darby Holland in the two earlier books in the series - Lucky Supreme and A Long Crazy Burn.

4 from 5

Read in January, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 227
Source - Edelweiss Above the Treeline early reviewer site
Format - ePub read on laptop